Edward Sissorhands, Reception Theory.

Directed by Tim Burton, Edward Sissorhands is a variation of the classic horror theme exemplified by the story of Frankenstein, where a ‘monster’ or ‘outsider’ enters into what appears to be a peaceful community and disrupts the calm.  However Burton manipulates the horror genera and on my occasions inverts the audience’s expectations by presenting a mixture of horror, comedy, romance and fairytale. The choice of teen favourites Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder for lead roles evidently suggest that this is a film aimed at the teenage market, of any gender, who typically enjoy horror, comedy, and romance. In the Income/Status model they would come under class E, The lowest level of income for example, the unemployed and students. The income status model is unreliable. It’s about anti-establishment, which teenagers can identify and latch onto this is why they find it appealing. The lifestyle categories that the film mostly appeals to, if any is rebels because Edward Sissorhands tries to bring his world into everybody else’s and is so different. It is designed to look like a horror film visually but is really a love story of how a monster or outsider brings his world into theirs and becomes an equal, however it can also appeal to groupies. Mainly because it has one of the biggest film stars as the main role therefore they can talk about his character in social situations. The lifestyle categories don’t really apply as it is hard to find one for this film so in that respect they are weak.

 

The preferred reading of the film is that the encoder wants the audience to feel sympathy for Edward throughout the film while also willing him on to fin in, in the society because he is so different. for example the audience appears to have sympathy for Edward when Kim is talking to him about why he robbed the house and he simply replies with ''Because you asked me to''. Evidently we know as a preferred reading Edward is harmless. At the beginning of the film for example, all of the houses are identical therefore showing that Burton is mocking the ‘perfect’ outlook that everyone has in society. He is also highlighting how everyone conforms and this empathises just how different Edward Sissorhands is to everyone else.

 An oppositional reading may be that Burton is wrong to mock society and how he portrays it within the film because in their opinion that’s normality.  They will understand that the film is trying to bring this so called ‘monster’ into a somewhat peaceful environment however they ignore the preferred reading. In the cultural aspect if you grew up with an aggressive personality then they will identify as being symathetic but ultimately reject it. They may think that Edward should be more aggressive. There are also the type of people who understand the message of the film however if they are conformist and think he should just act and dress more normally.  

Someone into the gothic culture may take an oppositional reading because they may see the main message of the film but just think that Burton is stereotyping people a bit much, however isn’t it true how we stereotype people and generally the people who are outsiders fit in less?