Saturday, October 24, 2015
Jacques Coulardeau at Academia.edu (42)
TIM BURTON – SEVENTEEN FILMS A VOYAGE TO EREWHYNA INSTEAD OF EREWHON
https://www.academia.edu/17238393/TIM_BURTON_SEVENTEEN_FILMS_A_VOYAGE_TO_EREWHYNA_INSTEAD_OF_EREWHON
Dr Jacques Coulardeau
Abstract:
The only question we may ask when watching so many
films by one film maker covering a thirty year period is about the existential
meaning of the whole set.
First let me tell you I do not give a damn about the film maker’s personality or personal data. That he had a bad or good youth with a father who was loving or terrifying;, and a mother who was evanescent or over powering is of no concern to me though we could say hat the virtual “author” of these films obviously has an existential problematic relation with life and death.
He will, I guess, excuse his morbidity, his cultish liking of death, his depressive black humor by saying he is a Halloween author. That would be short indeed. That would neglect the audience. The public, and mostly children when the films are not restricted or are Walt Disney films, are bombarded with gruesome juicy corpses in any state of decay, with frightening scaring traumatizing supernatural beings from the other side of life: vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches and so many other curse-throwers and curse-catchers as if cursing your neighbors was nothing but a game of baseball.
But in the end does Tim Burton have a vision of society that could be explained to anyone? I am afraid not. In the name of extreme black somber humor he criticizes, vandalizes and victimizes anything and anyone supposedly sacred in this society, except mind you anything really religious. In other words these horror or suspense stories are the stories of a very faithful choirboy, or choirgirl if they could have girls in that function, who has never been able to take his robes down, probably because that is his only vestment, clothing and he is nude and prudish underneath. In other words these stories, be they morbid, humorous or simply gruesome, are nothing but the expression of his total nudity under his superficial existential circumstantial diapers. He hides behind such ugly stories and tries – at times fails – to make people laugh at his funeral corpselike mind. [...]
First let me tell you I do not give a damn about the film maker’s personality or personal data. That he had a bad or good youth with a father who was loving or terrifying;, and a mother who was evanescent or over powering is of no concern to me though we could say hat the virtual “author” of these films obviously has an existential problematic relation with life and death.
He will, I guess, excuse his morbidity, his cultish liking of death, his depressive black humor by saying he is a Halloween author. That would be short indeed. That would neglect the audience. The public, and mostly children when the films are not restricted or are Walt Disney films, are bombarded with gruesome juicy corpses in any state of decay, with frightening scaring traumatizing supernatural beings from the other side of life: vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches and so many other curse-throwers and curse-catchers as if cursing your neighbors was nothing but a game of baseball.
But in the end does Tim Burton have a vision of society that could be explained to anyone? I am afraid not. In the name of extreme black somber humor he criticizes, vandalizes and victimizes anything and anyone supposedly sacred in this society, except mind you anything really religious. In other words these horror or suspense stories are the stories of a very faithful choirboy, or choirgirl if they could have girls in that function, who has never been able to take his robes down, probably because that is his only vestment, clothing and he is nude and prudish underneath. In other words these stories, be they morbid, humorous or simply gruesome, are nothing but the expression of his total nudity under his superficial existential circumstantial diapers. He hides behind such ugly stories and tries – at times fails – to make people laugh at his funeral corpselike mind. [...]
Research Interests:
Terrorism, Horror Film, Horror Cinema, Frankenstein, Werewolves - Trials and Theoretical Demonology, The Fantastic, Clown, Funny Games,Fantastic Literature, Clowning, Funny People, Dracula, The Thriller Genre, Funny, Thrillers, Debunking History, Farces,
and Pastiche Villain
Discussion
# posted by Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU @ 2:12 AM 
