What is it about Tim Burton’s imagination? There’s something about Edward Scissorhands that speaks to just about everyone: a Pinocchio-like boy invented by a scientist who suffers a heart attack before he can give him hands is discovered by a benevolent family who bring him home to take care of him.
In colorful suburban California, this young-man-bot dressed all in black somehow thrives, showing aptitude for trimming hedges, hair, and sculpting ice.
Within the character of Edward Scissorhands is comedy, love, heroism, gothic strangeness, and the weird allure of Frankenstein-esque creatures.
While the film may seem like science fiction, it is really a reflection of Tim Burton himself. The movie originated with a self-portrait that Burton drew when he was a teenager. It depicted a thin, solitary figure with sharp, long blades for fingers. “I get the feeling people just got this urge to want to leave me alone for some reason,” recalls Burton, “I don’t know why.”
People who bear Tim Burton’s iconic character in tattoo-form feel like outcasts, people who arrived in their current space and time unnaturally and just want to fit in. These are the true gems of society, the people who steal the girl from her asshole jock boyfriend in spite of themselves. They display special talents, allowing them to fit in and progress in society, but these same talents can also lead to their downfall, estrangement, and even violence.
