Synopses & Reviews
Tim Burton has had a massive impact on twentieth and twenty-first century culture through his films, art, and writings. The contributors to this volume examine how his aesthetics, influences, and themes reflect the shifting cinematic practices and social expectations in Hollywood and American culture by tracing Burton's move from a peripheral figure in the 1980s to the center of Hollywood filmmaking. Attentive not only to Burton's films but to his art and poetry, this collection explores Burton's popularity and cultural significance as both a nonconformist and a mainstream auteur.
Review
To come.
Review
'Weinstock, who knows his unconventional filmmakers well, provides a carefully modulated trove of essays that effectively cover the Burton oeuvre, even as they demonstrate the perhaps surprising variety of his work. Each essay is a gem, with the whole adding up to a serious, provocative exploration of the films.' - R. Barton Palmer, Director of Film Studies, Clemson University, USA, and author of
Joel and Ethan Coen and
Shot on Location: The Postwar American Realist Film"Tim Burton is a phenomenon of modern film, blending the humorous, the horrific, the macabre, and the magical with extraordinary skill. Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock's wide-ranging collection delves into Burton's career from Frankenweenie (1984) to Frankenweenie (2012), exploring the richness of his themes, the complexity of his allusions, and the nonstop inventiveness of his visual style. A treat for Burton's countless admirers, a welcoming introduction for newcomers." - David Sterritt, Professor of Film, Columbia University, USA, Chair, National Society of Film Critics
Synopsis
Tim Burton has had a massive impact on twentieth and twenty-first century culture through his films, art, and writings. This book examines how his aesthetics, influences, and themes reflect the shifting social expectations in American culture by tracing his Burton's move from a peripheral figure in the 1980s to the center of Hollywood filmmaking.
About the Author
Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock is Professor of English at Central Michigan University, USA. He is the author or editor of sixteen books including The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters (2013), The Vampire Film: Undead Cinema (2012), Charles Brockden Brown (2011), Scare Tactics: Supernatural Fiction by American Women (2008), and Reading Rocky Horror (2008).
Table of Contents
Introduction: Mainstream Outsider: Burton Adapts Burton; Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock
PART I: AESTHETICS
1. Burton Black; Murray Pomerance
2. Costuming the Outsider in Tim Burton's Cinema, or, Why a Corset is like a Codfish; Catherine Spooner
3. Danny Elfman's Musical Fantasyland, Or Listening to a Snow Globe; Isabella van Elferen
4. Tim Burton's "Filled" Spaces: Alice in Wonderland; J. P. Telotte
PART II: INFLUENCES AND CONTEXTS
5. How to See Things Differently: Tim Burton's Reimaginings; Aaron Taylor
6. "He wants to be just like Vincent Price": Influence and Intertext in the Gothic Films of Tim Burton; Stephen Carver
7. Tim Burton's Trash Cinema Roots: Ed Wood and Mars Attacks!; Rob Latham
8. A Monstrous Childhood: Edward Gorey's Influence on Tim Burton's The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy; Eden Lee Lackner
9. It Came From Burbank: Exhibiting the Art of Tim Burton; Cheryl Hicks
10. "Tim is Very Personal": Sketching a Portrait of Tim Burton's Auteurist Fandom and its Origins; Matt Hills
PART III: THEMATICS
11. Tim Burton's Popularization of Perversity: Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Sleepy Hollow, and Corpse Bride; Carol Siegel
12. "This is my art, and it is dangerous!": Tim Burton's Artist-Heroes; Dominic Lennard
13. Tim Burton and the Creative Trickster: A Case Study of Three Films; Katherine A. Fowkes