The Philosophy of Tim Burton

Introduction

1 introduCtion No contemporary director-producer has as deliciously macabre a signature as Tim Burton. Known for his quirky characters and delightfully sinister settings, Burton displays an undeniable knack for the fantastic. Alluding to sources as varied as Lewis Carroll, Mary Shelley, Washington Irving, Edward Gorey, Salvador Dali, and Dr. Seuss, Burton’s creations fascinate audiences by virtue of their ability to elicit both alarm and wonder. And Burton’s influence extends beyond the screen. After over a decade spent establishing a reputation primarily in the cinematic arts, in 2007 Burton released The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories, a collection of short fiction. Then, in 2009, he received critical acclaim for an exhibition of his original artwork at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. This multimedia collection was exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2011. The next year, 2012, brought the release of several Burton productions, including Dark Shadows, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (co-produced with Timur Bekmambetov), and a feature-length 3-D remake of Frankenweenie. As the variety and popularity of his works suggest , whether in an offbeat animated feature, a box-office hit, a collection of short fiction, or an exhibit in the visual arts, Burton pushes the envelope of the imagination with his uncanny productions and in doing so has emerged as a powerful force in contemporary culture. This collection examines the philosophical significance of Burton’s corpus, a body that includes Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Mars Attacks! (1996), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Planet of the Apes (2001), Big Fish (2003), Corpse Bride (2005), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Sweeney Todd (2007), 9 (2009), Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Dark Shadows (2012). Burton’s work invites philosophical consideration for a variety of reasons. Clearly, to the extent his most prominent achievements have been within the visual and performing arts, his work invites aesthetic analysis. Aesthetics is the philosophical discipline that studies art. Philosophers who specialize in aesthetics consider questions such as What is the nature of art? What is the nature of artistic genius? Can art educate? And 2 The Philosophy of Tim Burton what role do negative emotions play in art? Certainly, when one considers Burton’s unique style, often disturbing content, and popular appeal, one can see how the aforementioned questions can be directed to Burton’s corpus. We can ask whether his work should be considered art, whether he should be regarded as a genius, whether his works educate, and whether his ominous style augments or compromises the aesthetic value of his work. But Burton’s work inspires more than aesthetic examination. In a less disturbing fashion than Sweeney Todd, Burton’s characters and plots provide ample “meat” for satisfying discussions regarding other long-standing philosophical topics, including identity and authority. Indeed, this collection is organized around these three core topics: identity, authority, and art. Part 1 looks at the issue of identity. Philosophers have been debating the nature of the self for centuries. Historically, there have been two schools of thought on the subject. The essentialist viewpoint asserts that individuals have an essential identity, namely, a core self that endures and is immune to empirical influence. Conversely, the empirical viewpoint maintains that the self is an emergent phenomenon and mutable entity, one predicated on, and modified by, experience. Ken Hada’s “Fishing for the [Mediating] Self: Identity and Storytelling in Big Fish” exemplifies the empirical viewpoint. Drawing primarily from the works of Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), George Herbert Mead (1863–1931), Mitchell Aboulafia (1951–), and Walter Benjamin (1892–1940), Hada argues that Burton’s film Big Fish illustrates the fact that personal identity emerges within a social or intersubjective context and is intimately connected to linguistic activities. In particular, Hada argues that Big Fish illustrates that the self has a narrative structure; namely, it is a conceptual figure that develops in and through experience. Ryan Weldon directs readers’ attention to the topic of gender identity, particularly feminist theory and ideals of feminine identity, in “Catwoman and Subjectivity: Constructions of Identity and Power in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns.” Drawing from the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986), Weldon examines the implications of Selina Kyle’s transformation into Catwoman for feminist theories regarding identity and agency. In the final two essays in the section, contributors Daniel Sullivan and Mark Walling return readers to broader issues of...