When I was growing up, we had the DVD of Edward Scissorhands in our home. Although I haven’t seen the film in years, many different aspects of Mary Shelley’s novel reminded me of this Romantic dark fantasy film. Edward Scissorhands was released in 1990 and directed by the famed Tim Burton. For those who don’t know, his style is very dark, gothic, and spooky- just like Frankenstein. The plot of the film Edward Scissorhands is essentially about an old inventor or “mad scientist” who forms this creature with scissorblades instead of hands. His creature died before completing and raising him. Edward eventually is found by a nice family who takes him in. Edward seems like a dangerous being but we soon see how compassionate and kind he is. He ends up falling in love with a woman named Kim, and discovers that he can use his bizarre feature for something beautiful and positive- cutting and carving bushes. Unfortunately, things changed for the worse when he accidentally causes troubles in the town.
It is pretty evident how many similarities there are between these two brilliant tales. Tim Burton and Mary Shelley’s texts both present the idea of a vicious society in which prejudice and acceptance are constant struggles.
The style of the stories are similar as in they are told within frames. In Edward Scissorhands, the grandmother is telling a story to a young girl.
Both scientists had principled intentions in creating this being. Similarly to Victor, Edward’s creator wanted a sort of companion, someone he could treasure, nurture and teach. Victor implied his reason for creating by saying that he wanted to have “a new species [that] would bless me as its creator and source”. (54) Contrastly, Edward Scissorhand’s creator instilled a sense of acceptance from the start- and Edward Scissorhands was able to function within society. Edward felt love and therefore he differed from the creature in Frankenstein with his emotional stability. I believe both these works had this notion of putting something in a certain unfamiliar and uncomfortable environment and both creatures returned to their original familiar state.
The second similarity is that both creatures lived the first part of their lives in total isolation. Frankenstein’s monster was abandoned and on his own, as was Edward Scissorhands when he lived in his creator’s house for years before being found. This time of isolation had a large impact on their interactions with other humans.
A symbol that appears in both tales is that of snow and ice. In Frankenstein, Victor gets stuck in the mountains full of snow/ice and find the creature in the ice. Ice is a restriction and obstacle, yet it brings Walton, the creature and Victor together in different scenarios. In Edward Scissorhands, he discovered the beautiful sculptures he could carve from ice with the thing that made him look so evil. With this, he made a lasting positive impact and the snow brought him closer to society.
Edward Scissorhands and Frankenstein were written in very different time periods, however, society is vicious in both. This provokes the readers and viewers to reflect on common discourse and issues in society today.