Symbolism In The Corpse Bride

Tim Burton’s unique style is prominent in his films; he makes relatable characters, he includes contradicting themes, and utilizes symbolism to enhances the storytelling. He uses cinematic techniques to further improve and deepen plots, as well as contrast and repeating themes that tie the plot together from start to finish. The Corpse Bride is a film by Tim Burton about a man named Victor who is put into an arranged marriage. He proposes to an undead woman by mistake while practicing for the wedding. Victor must return to the overworld before his original fiance (Victoria) marries Barkis Bittern. Edward Scissorhands, also by Tim Burton, is about a boy named Edward who was created by a scientist, but in place of human hands had scissors. He

The Corpse Bride deals with being forced to marry for money yet it has big dance numbers, entertaining songs, and jokes to keep the children engaged and the parents delighted and maybe even a bit disturbed. His lighting has a big impact on scenes that are important and that are for comedic relief from the darkness of the stories plot. When Victor enters the underworld the colors become distinct versus when he was on Earth, there were literally no colors at all everything was either black, gray, or white (like in old films). The underworld represented a place where Victor could live different life from the pressures of having to be perfect because in the Underworld no one there was. Victor is having trouble with his vows and is going over and over them to get them correct because he doesn’t want to be a disappointment to his family. He finally does and he slams the ring on a tree branch on celebration. This is actually the Corpse Bride’s hand. She then brings him down the the underworld. Victor has started to get to really know Emily his bride and they have many conversations together getting to know each other. This shows that even though

Tim Burton is symbolizing from the story that her legacy lives on. At the beginning of the story the butterfly (Emily) is swatted away by her murder, Lord Barkis, and the butterfly disappeared. This foreshadows what happened to Emily when she died; Lord Barkis met her in the woods and killed her, she disappeared from the town and was never seen again. Though Lord Barkis never loved her, Emily found someone who she truly loved which allowed her to move on from Lord Barkis and allow her legacy to live on as well. She found a way to move on without a marriage and she helped Victor be happy with his true love. Tim Burton’s style has a way of having poetic endings that while they represent life you feel warmth inside of magic and fantasy. In Edward Scissorhands, snow is a repeating theme. It’s brought up from the start to the end and ties themes together in a satisfying way. Cinematic techniques such as non-diegetic music are used consistently to establish the mood along with symbols. There are two specific examples of snow as symbolism in Edward Scissorhands. In order of how they appear in the film, Kim starts by dancing in the snow. As Edward continues to create snow with his hands, pleasant music floods the scene and the light focuses on Kim’s bright colors. In the next scene, at the end, Kim explains that she still believes Edward lives on or else snow wouldn’t come. By providing zooms in the right moments