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Kimberly Inga, Jose Salgado, Jackson Mackay

FLM 1023

Relative Reality

December 11,2017

If youve ever had that feeling of loneliness, of being an outsider, it never quite

leaves you. You can be happy or successful or whatever, but that thing still stays within

you (Pringle 2010). Spoken from one of the most known directors for auteur in his

movies, Tim Burton. What is auteur and who is Tim Burton? We will be discussing the

many unique elements in Tim Burton's movies and how he makes it his own. Also what

makes his movies relevant to modern day society and what makes him an auteur

director.

The auteur theory is a way of looking at a film where you can tell who the director

is due to their artistic themes and visual queues that make them look like the author.

The auteur theories origin was from a specific articulation of the auteurist attitude that

was first put forth by Alexandre Astruc in 1948 and that was over the following decade

refined as a politique des auteurs by the auteur critics of Cahiers du Cinma

(Andrews pg.38). So Alexandre Astruc was responsible and his auteurist attitude helped

shape how auteur is seen today because of Andrew Sarris. In the 1960s, Andrew

Sarris translated this auteur policy into the auteur theory as it is known today to English-

speaking audiences (Andrews p.38). The auteur theory was put into practice by

Andrew Sarris as a way to judge films by way of the director.

There are three premises on deciding whether a director is an auteur. First is a

great director must have technical competence on directing which is the craft and

technique of filmmaking. Second is the director must have a distinguishable personality

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that can be seen over again throughout their movies. Lastly an auteur creates their films

with interior meaning which is taken from the directors personality and the material that

is used. So now we should just judge the artist by the movie but not the other way

around. However any director, a writer, actor or producer and special effect artist can

have auteur and is not necessarily seen only in directors ( Makeriq 2015).

Tim burton is an American film director, producer, artist, writer, and animator.

What makes Burton an auteur is he relates to a lot of his movies and is shown to put

some of his beliefs into his work. Tim Burton grew up in the suburbs of Burbank,

California and because he wasnt like everyone else, he was often misunderstood and

felt like an outsider. His experience living in the suburbs as a child left him with the

belief that society tries to opress anything that makes people individual (Alexander

2015). His anti-society views started early on. It is often shown throughout his movies of

the main character relating to lot of what Tim has gone through. Burton spent his

childhood watching horror films (especially monster movies) and drawing. He enjoyed

watching films with monsters who were misunderstood by those around them. Which is

mainly what most of his main characters portray.

The films that moved him were mainly stop-motion animations and films that

reflected German Expressionism. Before he started directing his own films, he has done

work for Disney studios. He enjoyed and identified with the work of Edgar Allan Poe,

and his hero's were Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl for their imagery and symbolism from

their books. His experiences as a child helped give him a distinct point of view that now

shapes his films in adult life. Its these beliefs that give his work their own distinct style.
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Tim Burton movies are shown to have three types of stylistic themes and specific

mise en scene elements. Some common themes revolve around wealth vs. poverty,

fantasy, and the main characters are often misunderstood. The main character are often

quirky, and the cinematography is unique. Elements Burton uses are the distinct color

contrasts and this is visible in his films. His films are depicted in low-key lighting and

gray colors, the costumes also reflect the same goth-styled themes and feature themes

of wealth vs. poverty where there is often stereotypes for the fantasy characters. He

also comes up with complex gadgets and manufacturing machinery in his movies.

Throughout his movies burton uses past props or images to reflect symbols that are

sometimes recurring. Most of his genre is comedy,animation and horror. A lot of his

editing techniques do close ups, highlighting the characters reactions.

He often works with the same actors and film professionals. Often the main

characters background stories in his movies use the same editing technique the

flashback, an example would be in James and the Giant Peach, where James gets

traumatized from constant flashbacks of the rhino. Burton uses this technique to tell the

parental conflicts or tragedies that likely led to some of the personality quirks in his

characters, and this is noteworthy in all three films ( Presswo 2017). There are also

often songs that are either upbeat sadness or creativity of being different. All in which

create a distinctive note on who the director of the movies are.

Tim burton work is distinctive from its movies characters and setting because he

makes them all relevant to what people may be thinking or feeling in modern or past

times. In one movie, Corpse Bride, the main character, Victor lacks confidence and is
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very timid with his parents and others. When he plays the piano he is seen as messing

around and is misunderstood because no one get him besides his partner. Which is

often a common link in Burtons movies. This scene has been pretty relevant to how a

teenager may feel when meeting people for the first time. Also when Victor goes to the

underworld his personality changes slightly to someone more confident because he

wants to get out of there. This is another common theme when the main characters are

placed in another world and at first or in the end enjoy the world they were in. Therefore

many people can relate to how Victor may be feeling and connect with the character.

Which shows how great the director is at connecting with the audience.

Another big connection in Burton's movies is his idea of creating a whole different

world of fantasy that is unimaginable and original. Such as the fantasy he has created

on screen like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or Alice and Wonderland or James

and the GIant peach, where they all are set in different worlds with different values. The

elements of the world include characters that help or go against the main character. The

character overcoming their sadness or embracing their differences. Which can relate

also back to TIm Burton's views on society on wealth vs. poverty and how it really

reflects in his movies. This is of course is relevant to how our society was run a century

ago and sometimes currently.

Tim burton views society's economic struggles with wealth and poverty as a wall

that blocks imagination and expression. In his films such as Charlie and the Chocolate

Factory, Burton shows deep greys for the family living in poverty and then the wealthy

as something bright and gold full of life. In Alice in Wonderland the characters who are

wealthy are seen as snobbish and not understanding. Burton views the wealthy as high
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class ungrateful snobs and the people in poverty as the only people who are sane and

open minded. However in some of his movies, the wealthy main character is often

misunderstood like in the Corpse Bride and Alice and Wonderland. His views on society

has always been shown in his movies and have had something related to being isolated

from others.

Some other cultural elements that are addressed in Tim Burton's films can be

seen as stereotypical and over generalized. Some examples can be seen in Charlie

and the Chocolate factory, where Burton stereotypes people from all over the world as

they come together at the factory. Also in Edward Scissorhands, he stereotypes 1950s

women as housewives and domestic workers (Wordpress 2011). In his films, his mise

en scene with the characters costumes are uniquely gothic and really portray the

characters personalities. However they may also be seen as stereotypical like in scenes

in Charlie in the Chocolate Factory where Mr.Wonka goes to find the Oompa loompas

and communicates with them through fart noises and mouth clicks and they are dwarfs

with dark tan skin that can be seen as related to Native Americans.

The auteur theory is relevant in today's time even more than ever. The reason

being that right now people are recognizing originality more and are supporting change.

Auteur is seen in more areas than directors such as youtubers. It has been one of the

biggest ways to show creativity for an audience or just oneself. Not only this but there

have been countless apps like vine, musically, viva video and snapchat that has let

creators get their work out there for people to see and become recognizable. It yields to

any age and is perfect for people to show individuality.

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Tim Burton is an unique auteur director and has inspired many people to go

beyond the norm in creativity. His techniques and elements themes are mainly around

wealth vs. poverty of society, fantasy and the main characters being misunderstood. He

has created his own signature theme that relates to his own beliefs and the audiences.

Including anyone watching his films could tell who its directed by which makes him an

amazing auteur of our time. In the end Tim Burton films are relevant to modern day

society because of the idea of being different is cool and that reality is all but in the

imagination.

Signature: Ruby Hernandez

WORK CITED
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Pringle, Gill. Tim Burton: Boyhood traumas of a director. (2010, February 25). Retrieved

December 11, 2017, from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/tim-

burton-boyhood-traumas-of-a-director-1910871.html

McMahan, Alison. The Films of Tim Burton : Animating Live Action in Contemporary

Hollywood. Bloomsbury Academic, 2005. EBSCOhost,

libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nleb

k&AN=377467&site=eds-live.

Andrews, David. "No Start, No End: Auteurism and the Auteur Theory." Film

International (16516826), vol. 10, no. 6, Nov. 2012, pp. 37-55. EBSCOhost,

libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aft&

AN=85363822&site=eds-live.

What is Auteur Theory and Why Is It Important? (2017, August 15). Retrieved December 11,

2017, from https://indiefilmhustle.com/auteur-theroy/

Alexander, Shaquilla. Tim Burton. So The Theory Goes, 6 Nov. 2017,

www.sothetheorygoes.com/auteur-tim-burton/.

Whatyourwatching. Tim Burton as an Auteur. Whatyourwatching, 11 Feb. 2011,

whatyourwatching.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/tim-burton-as-an-auteur/.