Director and producer Tim Burton impresses audiences with stunning visuals, sinister fantasy worlds, and characters whose personalities are strange and yet familiar. Drawing inspiration from sources as varied as Lewis Carroll, Salvador Dalí, Washington Irving, and Dr. Seuss, Burton’s creations frequently elicit both alarm and wonder. Whether crafting an offbeat animated feature, a box-office hit, a collection of short fiction, or an art exhibition, Burton pushes the envelope, and he has emerged as a powerful force in contemporary popular culture.
In The Philosophy of Tim Burton, a distinguished group of scholars examines the philosophical underpinnings and significance of the director’s oeuvre, investigating films such as Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Nightmare before Christmas (1993), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Big Fish (2003), Sweeney Todd (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Dark Shadows (2012). The essays in this volume explore Burton’s distinctive style, often disturbing content, and popular appeal through three thematic lenses: identity, views on authority, and aesthetic vision.
Covering topics ranging from Burton’s fascination with Victorian ideals, to his celebration of childhood, to his personal expression of the fantastic, the contributors highlight the filmmaker’s peculiar narrative style and his use of unreal settings to prompt heightened awareness of the world we inhabit. The Philosophy of Tim Burton offers a penetrating and provocative look at one of Hollywood’s most influential auteurs.
Daftar Isi
Fishing for the [Mediating] Self: Identity and Storytelling in Big Fish
Catwoman: Constructions of Identity and Power in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns
The Consolations and Dangers of Fantasy: Burton, Poe, and Vincent
Johnny Depp is a Big Baby!: The Philosophical Significance of Tim Burton’s Preoccupation with Childhood Consciousness in Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood
Mars Attacks!: Burton, Tocqueville, and the Self-Organizing Power of the American People
Pinioned by a Chain of Reasoning?: Anti-Intellectualism and Models of Rationality in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow
Culture, Hermeneutics, and the Batman
Burtonology: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Essences, Christmas, & Vincent Price
A Symphony of Horror: the Sublime Synaesthesia of Sweeney Todd
Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and the Fantastic
It’s Uncanny: Death in Tim Burton’s Corpus
Affect without Illusion: The Films of Edward D. Wood, Jr. after Ed Wood
Little Burton Blue: Tim Burton and the Product(ion) of Color in the Fairy Tale Films The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride
Tentang Penulis
Jennifer L. Mc Mahon, associate professor and chair of the English and Languages Department at East Central University, is a contributor to The Philosophy of TV Noir, The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese, and The Simpsons and Philosophy. She lives in Stratford, Oklahoma.