Edward Scissorhands

Now that I don't have the internet, I'm making the obvious attempt to catch up on movies I haven't seen, or haven't had the chance while it was out, but always wanted to. After all, I have no internet, that means I have to do something while eating. I've become so accustomed to watch something as I eat that it feels a little lonely without a program or a show to view and think over as it accompanies me over dinner.
I've been renting movies here and there for night where I know I will be home and early for that matter of fact and have the quality time and peace of mind to watch them.

It's going to sound a little odd, but I had never watched Edward Scissorhands. I know, I know, everyone had watched it before. I hadn't. I mean, I know that Johnny Depp plays in it and he is hideously scarred, he has hands for a scissor and Tim Burton directs it. Yes, I know all of the background, but I had never watched the movie at all. I am glad, I gave my chance and happy my lack of internet has created this opportunity to catch up on such a what's now considered a classic.

I am not sure what I expected before I begun viewing this movie, but let me say, it wasn't what I expected at all. I guess for some reason, I expected it to be more in the horror genre--not to say that there is a young man who dies isn't a horror. Or the fact that there is a humanoid creature out there, that's been isolated for such a long time, and the brief encounter it has with other humans leaves it eternally wounded and bruised in which he will have to shoulder all of his emotions and the solitude on his own. Solitude...is an extremely difficult, vigil, solemn and a maddening thing. It leads people to do all sorts of things where the mind can rationalize anything and everything. After all, who can judge your mistakes and who can straighten out your misguided actions if there are any? There are so many elements in which I can sympathize and even understand Edward. Because in a lot of ways, I am just like him. I am mostly solemn in my solitude (usually by choice), sometimes by principles I've adopted until now. I am also surprised how convincing Depp's acting is, especially considering the limited number of words he has for this role. I am seeing Depp in an entirely new vision now.

Though still, as romantic as it might be (to some, definitely not for me) I can understand the message wanting to be laid out and clearly given, I am not quite fond of the ending. I think it was a little tactless and done abruptly. Clearly though, the climax was hinting of such an ending, just the way it ended all...was abrupt.

I guess even masters like Tim Burton had their time in learning where they have made mistakes.

Watching this movie reminded me of Kafka and his story "A Hunger Artist" for certainly both Edward and the Hunger Artist are artists, though their mediums of expression are only appreciated briefly, and never fully understood and they are set isolated from society, Edward in the castle it was created and the Hunger Artist in the cage it has physically created for itself.

More thoughts on artists and Franz Kafka's short-story to follow, some other time.