Frankenstein And Edward Scissorhands English Literature Essay

The idea of playing God has intrigued mankind for centuries. From Prometheus to Frankenstein… mankind has always had this fanatical interest in upstaging as the master. Teachers are no different. Why do you think they teach high school? For the academic pursuit? …To challenge the notions of a platonic ideal? No, and I’ll tell you why. It’s so they can lord over a bunch of 17-year-old tards who must kiss their ass to get a good grade. Well, not really, but some might think so. No offense Tuthill. Anyways, this whole lesson with the concept of “playing God is wrong because we instill into our Gods the exclusive power over life and death and no one can alter that”… does a great job grounding the young theologian. Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, for example, shows clearly the unintended consequences of playing God, of creating life, and at the end it’s the creature that has to suffer. Much like Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands also takes on the story of an artificial “monster” …who after the death of his creator, faces rejection, and, is ultimately left to suffer in alone. Tim Burton’s, Edward Scissorhands and Shelley’s “Frankenstein” serve as an indictment of our sometimes shallow culture -one that condemns people who are different from its morally, physically and mentally accepted. The scene where Victor’s monster, who desperate for human contact, finally decides to reveal himself to the family he’d been watching from afar and had fallen in love with, only to have them withdraw in horror when they see how repulsive he is…truly breaks your heart. I’m just kidding. I don’t have a heart. Well actually I do, but it’s really small. It’s about the size of a dried fig complete with the tiny wasp inside which dies after assisting with pollination. But due to the many horrible, repeated, conversation-killing psychic wounds I have received from bad teachers over the years, it’s now covered with scars resembling nothing so much as a dried lanyard knot of algae enclosed with a sort of dock rope that’s attached to an enormous pirate ship of unsightly neuroses. And yes, I’m Captain Metaphor! I guess I should actually be writin’ somethin’ ‘stead of just saying what it be like? Only a bilge rat be writin’ like that! I really do need to make peace with my inner pirate. Speaking of pirates, Johnny Depp is AMAZING. Edward Scissorhands?…not so much. See? I hate it so much I’m not even going to bother italicizing the title! And it’s not so much that I hate Edward Scissorhands, as I do Tim Burton. If Tim Burton directed it, that practically guarantees I’ll loathe it. In the miserable Edward Scissorhands, Burton tells the story of a freakish guy tormented by the “normals”. BO-RING. So boring in fact, that watching it made me want to jam scissors into my eyes, repeatedly!…or something equally lovely of that nature. Anyways, if you look at Burton’s other movies, like the somewhat less than miserable, but OK Beetlejuice, he tells the story of a group of bizarre people (either dead or EMO or just Goths) also tormented by the “normals”. Yeah, definitely did not see that one coming! In Batman Returns as well, it’s essentially the same story, with a different character (still freakish)…again, tormented by the “normals”. It’s obvious Burton has a favorite theme. Either that or he’s is the epitome of people who were picked on in school by cruel “normal” people that just didn’t seem to understand them. I’m guessing the latter. In and of itself, that is not a problem. I’m sure we can all relate. OH. WAIT. No we can’t. That’s right Burton… you’re a millionaire now who only dates models and actresses, so your Goth/Emo street cred is bullshit! But really though, this guy is so overrated! And also, must the outsiders in Burton’s movies be portrayed as better than normal folks?? Why??! Why do the “normals” have to be the shallow, superficial silly twats who lack the “particular deepness” like those of Burton’s protagonists?!?!?!?! I understand I went a little off topic, so I’m gonna end this rant by acknowledging that of all the classic pieces of literature turned into a Tim Burton syphilitic eruption, Scissorhands just cuts it. It’s horrible. I’m sure many would agree…or disagree…or agree to disagree only if the disagreement doesn’t end up agreeing to not agree to that agreement in a new line of agreements…I disagree. I mean agree. AGH. Whatever. It was a weird film is all I can say–covered with the whole “give me sympathy” emotional string tugging. CONSTANTLY! Also, I realize that I got into a 1+ page rant on Burton, but I really do hate this guy-even more so than I do Michael Bay (which is a whole different rant in itself). Also, the monsters, both in the book and movie are externalizations of their creator’s internal emotional state. With the case of Frankenstein’s monster, we see that he’s a social outcast, misunderstood by society because of his outward appearance. Similarly, his creator is also an outcast when he decides to isolate himself from the rest of the general public, whilst consumed with work. With Edward, this is embodied with the appearance of scissors for hands. Which is kind of ridiculous, because the whole time you’re wondering, how is he supposed to go the bathroom? But in and of itself, you realize that with scissors…you have to be careful/”careful with the scissors”. Edward’s creator gave him scissors for hands so that he’d learn to be cautious, delicate, and gentle. Much like Edward, his creator was a gentle person, with “intimidating” hands (not literally of course, but figuratively). He was an odd, sort of peculiar inventor, who created a number of other robots as well. The fact that he has “intimidating hands” because he could create what others could not, would explain why he chose to live in an isolated castle all by himself. Which is totally relatable…I can’t tell you how many times I’ve considered completely removing myself from society and venturing out to some far away castle myself. During Christmas. Especially during Christmas! That’s when I’d just gaze out feeling like an outsider. A complete loser…my senses completely cut out by the glittering, metallic strips of tinsels outside the shop window, the smell of resinous substances …probably fir and all these ruddy anglo-saxon faces immersed with goodwill as though a particularly enjoyable riot had occurred. ha-ha, no offense. I just didn’t know what else made Christians happier! Eggnog would be sipped, hugs exchanged and the spirit of giving in the air, a concept both far-off and frightening to Muslim people. I mean I’d try to participate, but my heart was never in it. Whenever I hung stockings by the fire it wasn’t with care, but with a certain degree of sarcasm and hate. Plus, there was that maddening shock of pain that would scorch through my body whenever my demonic Muslim eyes accidentally gazed upon a cross or if I brushed up against a stumpy Christmas ornament! YE-OWTCH! Just kidding, Yall. Speaking of demonic, eventually…through the ostracism both creations face in “Frankenstein” and “Edward Scissorhands”, they become what they are accused of being, and remove themselves from society to live out their lives alone, or dead. In Frankenstein, right after the monster is created; he is deserted by his sole creator only to face rejection once again by the general public. The monster becomes a person filled with hatred and rage and blames Victor for all the spiteful things that he has experienced in his short life. He decides that man is not worth sympathy if man is not willing to sympathize for him. Subsequently the monster transforms into this cold, manipulative, and powerful killer who kills for the sake of killing, and does so knowing full well what he’s doing. And when it helps to tear down his creator, he often enjoys doing it. At the end though, the monster destroys himself in a fire. In Scissorhands, towards the end, Edward is driven back to his castle, because he ends up murdering one of the characters and with him any chance to return to the world below. Makes sense, because first off, he doesn’t socialize well and, secondly, he has scissors for hands! Remember how scissors, you know, cut stuff? Isn’t that the central idea of the story. I don’t know what bothers me more though. THAT or the fact that Kim doesn’t tell anyone how she and her boyfriend were the ones who broke into the house–even though she pretended to be all high and great by playing Jim’s “conscience”, and how everyone bought the story when she claimed he was gone. I mean they’ll believe her, but not Edward. It’s like that episode from the Twilight Zone, where that old dude saw that gremlin thing on the airplane wing, wrecking shit????? Tearing out wires and shit??? eeek, remember that. And like everyone else on the plane was all: “Yo, there’s nothing out there, son- chill!” But that kid was right, yo!! The thing was out there… on the damn wing!!!! Or when women in the 19th century were all like “I’m dying of uterine cancer.” and everyone was like, “Yea right toots, why don’t you go bake me an apple pie or something eh?” I guess this just goes to show you what happens when you mess with nature…you invite a degree of calamity that only religious extremists can dream of. Like for example, when you talk about extending life, creating life where previously there was no life (like in the case of Edward, and Victor’s monster)…morality and ethics come into play. Is it ethical to go against nature and create life? Is it wrong to extend peoples’ lives much further than they’re intended? Is it wrong because its “playing God?” And don’t we “play God” much if not most of the time? When you take your cholesterol medication for instance, do you even give the slightest thought as to whether God wants your LDL to go down and HDL to go up, or vice versa? It’s funny though how we ruin so many people’s lives, or callout in the name of God, or even loving a zombie.  When you think of it like that, Christianity seems nice.  But Jesus didn’t eat enough brains…then again…OMG Southern Baptists are scary.