Sunday, April 28, 2013

Babineaux Frankenweenie

 
The 2012 version of Frankenweenie is a hit in my opinion. It is unique and full of depth. The 1984 version is good as well, but it cannot compare to the visuals of Tim Burton. The 1984 version used real people. The movie was short as well, but it got the point across.  In both films Victor is in love with his dog, Sparky. Sparky is no ordinary pet. He is more like a son to Victor more than anything else. Unfortunately Sparky dies, and Victor loses every piece of joy that was in his simple life. Victor still has to go to school and live as though everything is normal. One day his science teacher gives him an idea, and he decides to bring Sparky back to life using electricity. All of these aspects remain the same in both the 1984 version as well as the 2012 version. There are many differences that make Tim Burton’s stop-motion picture stand out from the previous 1984 version. The 1984 film uses real people which limits the entire movie. Yes real people convey true emotions in films for viewers to relate to, but they also make it hard for viewers to believe what is happening. Real people limit imagination when it comes down to certain films. This film causes for much imagination. The fact that things can be bought back to life may be disturbing to some people, and they would not want to watch that on television. Stop-motion opens the door for many things. The 2012 Frankenweenie is much longer than the Frankenweenie before it. It exaggerates on many things and has sub-plots within the plot. The 1984 version just kind of gets straight to the point and doesn’t really expand on other things. 2012 Frankenweenie allows its characters to really convey messages. The way these characters can over exaggerate everything really brings a certain needed aspect to the film. These characters say exactly what they want and how they want too. This only makes the film better and much more interesting. Like the 1984 film, the 2012 movie was in black and white as well. Black and white always gives a certain intensity to films. This intensity was definitely needed because it increases the drama and importance of every little thing that occurs in the movie. Black and white also helps the overall effect of the film because of the shadows the are evident in every scene. Tim Burton likes to make his works have a particular gothic feel. Not because his works are always depressing and  gloomy, but because he believes in making all of his viewers actually feel what is being portrayed in the films. All in all, the 1984 Frankenstein is great and successfully makes believers understand how deep of a bond Victor and Sparky shared, but the 2012 version is incomparable. The stop-motion film is creepily spectacular with the use of the many elements Tim Burton decides to add. Tim Burton is a great artist, and Frankenweenie is simply proof of that.


Friday, April 19, 2013

Babineaux's Sweeney Todd

 
          Tim Burton’s film Sweeney Todd does indeed make viewers sympathize with both Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett even though they do not make the best decisions morally. The way music is used in this film greatly influences our feelings toward Sweeney and Lovett. The passion they portray through their voices makes viewers want the best for each of these significant characters in this movie. Burton overcomes the moral disgust, murder, and cannibalism illustrated by down-playing it the same way he does in his other movies dealing with death. Usually Burton decides to use humor to weaken the emotions that usually come from death, but this time he decides to use rather nonchalant mannerisms. These mannerisms are used while performing the actual murders and when the idea comes to make Mrs. Lovett’s pies. Cannibalism is a central element in this film along with the other remakes of this story. In order for cannibalism to come into play, murder has to occur. Sweeney Todd ends lives very easily in this film showing no sort of regret or remorse after doing his dirty deed. He goes on to live regularly as if he always murdered people every day of his life. Mrs. Lovett condones the idea and action of murder, she even influences him so that she can continue making her human meat pies. The way Mrs. Lovett made people consume other human beings really dehumanizes their environment. Since they make it seem so easy to eat people, it suggests that humans are not worth much at all. It also suggests that the people who get murdered are weak people because they do nothing to protect themselves; this gives them a rather unintelligent factor as well. The killing of the weak directly points to the survival of the fittest. Even though Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are not very prosperous, they show that they can be stronger or cleverer than the upper-class persons of their society. This is how the cannibalism in this film relates to urbanization in London. The overpopulation of the city along with the manipulation of the poor leads to classification and stereotypes of urban people.


Friday, April 12, 2013

Babineaux's Big Fish

 
 
Edward Bloom has to be one of the most optimistic people in fiction these days, and Burton did a great job in portraying that for us to see. We see Edward go through so many things in the course of this film, and every single trial that comes his way he undoubtedly makes the best out of it. Sometimes Edward creates these rough, daring difficulties he goes through himself. Included in these difficulties/journeys he goes through, Edward manages to meet all sorts of people. These people are usually quite unlike Edward. Edward is an overall happy character which is why he could justly be called a sunny person. On the other hand, the people he meets are usually not as “sunny” as he. For instance, the scene where Edward meets the giant is a rather dark scene that actually matches the grotesqueness of the giant himself. This giant is unbelievable tall, and since he is his limbs look somewhat deformed as well as his facial features. Undeniably, the giant and Edward really get along with each other. It is obvious that they like each other. The giant finally found a friend in Edward, someone he could talk to. And Edward in return found someone willing to explore with him. Edward even earns trust from the giant by keeping his word and shoelessly meeting him at the end of the road they traveled on. Trust seems to have been a slight theme in this movie, because Edward proves to the woman, who was only a little girl, in Spectre that he keeps his word and return to places he says he will. In this scene Edward returns to Spectre after many years and decides to renovate the entire city by making it seem just as it did when he first visited it. He even fixed the woman’s home even though she was reluctant to the change. Her reluctance and Edward’s drive shows how he does not take “no” for an answer. This is what else draws so many people to Edward, his personality. The people in this film, especially the ones from Spectre, cannot help but admire and respect his helping people and overall outlook on life.


Friday, April 5, 2013

Babineaux Sleepy Hollow

 

Tim Burton bases his film Sleepy Hollow  on Washington Irving’s short story. Burton does use quite a number of things from the short story, but he also manages to make it his own unique project and it would not be Tim Burton if he did not. Burton manages to create an entire new feel and atmosphere to the original story. Washington Irving’s story has much to do with the outside and other aspects of nature. It actually has a sort of pastoral feel to it, leaving one to imagine just how high-key it has the potential to be. Burton’s film on the other hand is not high-key at all. It is very foggy and dark, leaving it to be low-key. With the use of atmosphere, Burton develops an entire new genre from Irving’s story. Along with the genre, Burton changes much about the main character Ichabor Crane. Minor changes to other characters that are not essential to the plot do not really effect the story. But Burton did not majorly change other characters, he decided to make the change with Crane. Along with changing his physical appearance, Burton also changes his occupation which in turn alters the storyline greatly. Another character who is important to the film who Burton changes is Katherine Van Tassell. In the story she is not interested in Crane and does not want to marry him. Burton makes Katherine actually fall in love with Crane. They share an undeniable connection and it is obvious that they will end up together by the closing of the movie. All of these differences had the power to completely change Irving’s story. Also, in Irving’s story people do not have a horribly gruesome death by getting their heads decapitated from their bodies for instance.  No one even dies in Irving’s story. This all goes to show how Burton created a new film from the skeleton/ blueprint of Washington Irving’s story. It is safe to say that Burton takes the bait (Irving’s story being this bait) and runs with it. Burton no doubt is a very creative individual and is perfectly able to create anything out of anything.


Friday, March 22, 2013

Babineaux Planet of the Apes

 
 
 
Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes is compacted with dualities. One of the most vital contrasts is the duality of education vs. illiteracy. The humans of this film are obviously the characters who are educated. This movie implies that the only reason why humans have superiority over apes are because of the power to think and reason. The humans have this thing called technology that allows them to have more power than other beings. They actually use monkeys to do the degrading or dangerous things that they do not want to do. The main character, Davidson, does not really care for the monkeys, especially not as much as the woman who takes care of the animals on the aircraft. That woman was much like Ari compassionately and sympathetically wise. This brings in a duality within another duality, one concerning gender and species. The women in this film were both obviously very intelligent. Maybe this had something to do with the aspect of their sympathy for the other species along with the fact that women are naturally more empathetic to living beings because of their motherly instincts. The scene where the animal woman tells Davidson not to tease the monkeys perfectly portrays how concerned she is of the monkey’s well-being. The scene where Ari protects Davidson is also a great depiction of her motherly instinct seeping through. Ari and Davidson use their intelligence and technology together in order to escape from the city. The apes in this film are not really smart. They surround their ways of life around using their strength. They are smart, but they know they have no way of achieving the technology of the humans. Thade definitely knew this which is why he wanted to kill Davidson before his use of technology overpowered his strength. This movie made many points about the society we live in today. Most of them were not good, but unfortunately they were indeed true. Tim Burton used his gift to critique Americans and let them know how seriously the problems of society were. This film opened people’s eyes to things they had never really seen before.


Friday, March 15, 2013

Babineaux Mars Attacks!

 
 
             Tim Burton obviously satirizes the government, military, and many other attributes of America in his film Mars Attacks. Although he has many scenes that illustrate the parodies he tries to get across, there are two that I would like to write about. Those two are the scenes that show the president doing a whole bunch of nothing and the scene that shows how the general just wanted to kill everything from the beginning. The president in this film does absolutely nothing for the citizens of the country. People constantly look to him for direction and guidance, but he never really knows what to do. Instead, he asks everyone else what they think should be done. This is very different from the president in Independence Day. The president in that film is very strict and stern and is always taken seriously. Sometimes he is taken too seriously, which is why Burton makes a parody out of the president. Burton also shows that the president dies, but it really made no impact on the country at all. The people did not really even need him in the first place. The scene that shows the general shows how Americans mostly care about destruction. When the general found out the Martians were on planet earth, he immediately thought of using weapons in order to stop them. He did not care about the aliens or what they could have possibly wanted. This film is definitely one of science fiction, though it is not like the ones prior to it like Blade Runner and Alien. Mars Attacks is very comical and cartoonish compared to the other sci-fi films. A prime example that displays its cartoon traits is the way the Martians look. They are very vibrant and imaginative compared to the aliens of other movies like Independence Day for instance. The aliens in Mars Attacks also had no real reason to do what they were doing. They were quite the tricksters of this film because all they did was make chaos and destroy the world. They also made jokes out of everything. This film has many subsidiary points that are not so evident when they are not expected.


Friday, March 8, 2013

Babineaux Ed Wood

Ed Wood
 
Ed Wood and Tim Burton's Parallels
With Ed Wood being notoriously known as “the worst director in history” and Tim Burton being known as a stylish genius, one would not think they have much in common. Ed Wood’s films are usually not mistaken as other people’s work, and Tim Burton’s films usually are not either. Both directors have distinct visions that most people do not quite grasp. They both strongly believe in their imagination, and they know what they want. Both artists are very passionate about their work. Wood’s excitement and determination just does not really have a purpose. For example in the film Wood was given a few movie clips that really had no meaning or purpose, but he just sort of threw them in his movies in sort of random places. Burton’s weird ambition is usually followed up with meaning, even if fans do not understand them at first. Ed Wood and Burton are both interested in peculiar topics, and not surprisingly they were both very fond of sci-fi. They are both interested in things such as monsters and outer-space. These subjects always seem to be more of thoughts in the subconscious rather than reality. Another thing that Wood and Burton have in common is them having prominent role models that they almost obsessively loved. Wood’s idol was Bela Lugosi. Lugosi was a famous actor in his time, and he was well-known as playing as Dracula. In his prime he was very popular, but over the years he became poor and unfortunately addicted to drugs. Burton’s idol was the legendary Vincent Price. Both Wood and Burton were able to meet and even work with their childhood stars. Wood actually became friends with Lugosi and put him in his not so prevalent films. Burton got the chance to do the same with Price after he got famous enough. Johnny Depp got a taste of all of those things by playing in Edward Scissorhands and by being Ed in Ed Wood. In the end, we realize that Wood and Burton are just about positivity and doing what they really believe in by forgetting everything society has to say and not taking no for an answer.