Juxtaposing Gothic mansions against the pastel-hued houses of suburbia, Tim Burton’s films depict the polarized extremes of society. Existing within this surreal, heightened reality, Burton’s central characters are the elements of subversion that infiltrate a stiflingly conservative world. Although not always explicitly set within the 1950s, several of Burton’s films are suggestive of this era, and, by placing such characters within this setting, Burton re-creates 1950s America as an insular era in which disquieting undercurrents of change were beginning to emerge.
The opening sequence of Burton’s 1990 film Edward Scissorhands is strongly reminiscent of this period. Surveying the unsuccessful rounds of local Avon lady Peg Boggs, the viewer is introduced to a suburbia which is outwardly subservient but internally rife with immorality. Raised in Burbank, California, in the late 1950s, this environment must hold certain similarities to that of Burton’s childhood. When commenting on the unseen, darker aspects of his childhood community, the director also remarked that:
‘…Growing up in suburbia was like growing up in a place where there’s no sense of history, no sense of culture, no sense of passion for anything…’[1]
This feeling is referenced visually through the oddly bleached house colours in Edward Scissorhands, which portray a bland, cohesive community. However, although the streets are immaculate and the lawns neatly trimmed, indoors, Peg’s ‘…lonely…’[2] housewife neighbour Joyce attempts to seduce a repairman.
A still from Edward Scissorhands showing Burton’s vision of suburbia
Acknowledging such contradictions within his films, Burton offers an accurate depiction of 1950s America; traditionalist yet destabilized by unacknowledged undercurrents of change and fear. Burton focuses upon the predominately white American middle-class in many of his works; raised in this environment, he has an innate comprehension of it. This segment of society underwent dramatic alterations during the turbulent 1950s, the effects of which Burton presents in his films. In the immediate post-war years, America’s middle-class increased dramatically, both in number and in affluence. The G.I Bill, or Returned Serviceman’s Act, of 1944 endowed all returning servicemen with the opportunity to pursue college or vocational training, as well as loans to purchase homes and businesses. Urban environments expanded rapidly as the G.I.’s settled into steady white-collar careers and began to raise families, in achievement of the Great American Dream. In accord with the new prosperity of the middle-classes, a consumer culture also emerged. Goods such as the television and the car became status symbols as each family strove to ‘keep up with the Jonses’. The suburban family was idealized through television programs such as The Donna Reed Show, Leave it to Beaver, and Father Knows Best, in which wholesome nuclear families, presided over by a firm yet jocular paternal figure, were shown in various domestic-centred narratives.
However, during the 1950s, the fundamental familial relationships portrayed in such television shows began to alter dramatically, revealing an underside of discontent within American culture. The term ‘teenager’ entered popular consciousness, as did associated concerns including juvenile delinquency.[3] Unwilling to accept the predictable lifestyle of their parents – a home, family and steady job – America’s youth rebelled, embracing the risqué music of Elvis Presley and the films of James Dean. Personified in Dean was the restless Rebel without a Cause; this film portrays a 1950s adolescent’s inexplicable, desperate need to escape from a traditionalist society, and his idealistic valuing of ‘…honour…’[4] above the cowardly caution of his parent’s generation. A rift was growing between two age groups, the younger enchanted with rock and roll and the wanderings of the Beat poets, while the older demanded conformity and rigid obedience to authority. This disparity would become ever more evident in the following decades, as multiple social movements found voice. The feminist, anti-segregation and anti-war causes may be seen as having their genesis in the 1950s, a decade in which young Americans were dissatisfied, bringing their nation to the cusp of social revolution.
A photograph of Elvis Presley, and two stills from Rebel…
A further underside to this model of suburban perfection is apparent in the culture of fear inherent in society during the mid-twentieth century. This is typified in attitudes towards communism during the late 1940s to late 1950s – the period known as the Second Red Scare. An intense suspicion of the communist philosophy, largely propagated by Senator Joseph McCarty, and the possibility of its infiltration into government prompted the investigation of countless individuals. Many subsequently fled the United States to escape continued, and often unfounded, persecution. Academics, intellectuals, writers and those involved in the film industry were frequently targeted, seen in lists of names such as the Red Channels Tract and the Hollywood Blacklist. Individuals appearing on these lists were prohibited from working within the entertainment industry, causing damage not only to their reputations, but to free speech within American society. Named in the Red Channels Tract, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible, analogized between the ignorant harassment of ‘witches’, and the treatment of suspected communists during this period. Similarly, Tim Burton has directed several films which address this theme – the individual beset by the mob – in reference to a conformist society’s torment of those who are different. The earliest of these was Frankenweenie, a short film which received a limited release in 1984.
Frankenweenie narrates the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young boy whose dog Sparky is hit by a car. Shot in black and white, the film opens with a stereotypical scene from 1950s suburbia; the family are gathered around their television, enjoying chocolate cookies, before heading outdoors to play ‘fetch’ with Sparky. However, although it draws upon the wholesome aspects of the America of Burton’s childhood, Frankenweenie also bares similarities to the James Whale films Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), which Burton cites as influential upon his imagination as a child, and in his subsequent conception of Frankenweenie:
‘…growing up in suburbia, there were these miniature golf courses with windmills which were just like the ones in Frankenstein…There were poodles that always reminded you of the Bride of Frankenstein with the big hair…That’s why it felt so right or easy for me to do – those images were already there in Burbank…’[5]
Movie posters for Frankenstein and Bride of…
While Frankenweenie is suggestive of darker undertones beneath the outwardly wholesome appearance of suburbia, Burton also casts this setting within a comic perspective. His connection to both the time period and the suburban location causes him to present its flaws with affection, offering a gentle parody of both Whale’s films and the suburbia of his youth. Humorously macabre, Victor employs a toaster, and various other household appliances, to resurrect his dog. Sparky, now with a bolt through his neck in homage to the original Frankenstein’s monster, subsequently raises terror amongst the neighbours – ‘…”It was six foot tall like a wolf! It tried to eat my Raymond!”…’[6] – who respond as a violent mob. However, Burton depicts the neighbours as reacting with highly stylized hysteria as opposed to considered malice. Through this, he provides an amusing yet darkly ironic view of 1950s suburbia, as friendly neighbours mutate into the pursuers of a boy and his dog, representing society’s ostracizing of those who do not conform.
Burton’s personal connection to 1950s America also permeates his 1994 comedic biopic Ed Wood. This film follows Edward D. Wood Jr., often identified as ‘The Worst Director of all Time’ as he produces his most well-known films Glen or Glenda (1953), Bride of the Monster (1955) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). Summarized in the film’s tagline – Movies were his passion. Women were his inspiration. Angora sweaters were his weakness – Wood, a transvestite with a penchant for angora, is the antitheses of the typical 1950s male, and was ostracized by many of his contemporaries. Burton, however, presents Wood as an eccentric, steadfastly optimistic and endearingly naïve, with an unshakable belief in the quality of his films. A self-confessed admirer of Wood and his approach to cinema[10], Burton’s fond portrayal of Wood is coloured by his personal connection with the director and the era in which he worked. Seeing parallels between himself and Wood, Burton romanticizes Wood’s relationship with the ailing ‘…star…’[11] Bela Lugosi, which he compares to his own partnership with 1950s icon Vincent Price.[12]The polar response of 1950s America to Wood is apparent in the actions of his girlfriend, Dolores Fuller, who embodies many characteristics of an ideal woman of the era. Attractive and well-dressed, with a keen sense of propriety, Dolores is unable to accept Ed’s unashamed cross-dressing, ultimately denouncing his films as ‘…”terrible”…’[9]
Burton’s later works, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), elaborate on this subject of the social outsider. Although the film is set in Britain as opposed to America, it occupies the same era, with similar social concerns. An unconventional yet engagingly quirky character, Burton’s Willy Wonka is isolated from wider society due to these very traits, criticized and treated with scorn by the children who win his coveted Golden Tickets.
Parallel threads of individuality amid a repressively conservative society, and the reaction of such a society to the perceived ‘outsider’ run through many of Tim Burton’s films. Seen in his earlier works such as Frankenweenie, these concerns are further explored in Burton’s later productions, particularly Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Drawing inspiration from both the films of his childhood – including James Whale’s Frankenstein series – and from the wider environment of 1950s America in which he was raised, Burton recreates his films in a similar setting. While delighting in depicting its harmless and comic facets, Burton also introduces subversive elements into his vision of suburbia. These are personified in characters such as the transvestite Ed Wood and the black-clad Edward Scissorhands, individuals who threaten an otherwise cohesive culture. Through this, Burton addresses the changing nature of America during the mid-twentieth century; a nation caught between contradictions, struggling to define a new collective identity amid the post-war confusion.
[1] Burton, 2006, p. 90. In this remark, Burton also refers to the unseen ‘…kinkiness…’ of suburbia
[2] Burton, Edward Scissorhands, 1990. Speaking to the repairman, Joyce remarks that she feels alone.
[3] Bailey, 1990, pp. 25-32.
[4] Ray, Rebel without a Cause, 1955. Here, Jim (James Dean) discusses a ‘…matter of honour…’ with his father, asking for advice about participating in the car race.
[5] Burton, 2006, p. 36.
[6] Burton, Frankenweenie, 1984. Rose, a neighbour, claims that she saw this monstrous animal attempting to eat her dog Raymond.
[7] Burton, 2006, p. 87. Throughout this book, Burton makes multiple references to society’s tendency to reject those who are different, and to categorize people based on a superficial impression of their character. These concerns can be seen in many of his films, which explore the outsider’s interaction with mainstream society.
[9] Burton, 1994, Ed Wood. In this scene, Wood’s girlfriend Dolores (Sarah Jessica Parker) delivers a hurtful attack on Wood and his films following his performance in drag at a party. Later in the scene, she leaves him.
[10] Burton, 2006, p. 49.
[11] Burton, 1994, Ed Wood.
[12] In 1982, Burton produced a short stop-motion animation film titled Vincent. This was narrated by Vincent Price, and tells the story of a young boy (who bares a strong resemblance to Burton) who wishes to become Vincent Price. Additionally, Price was cast as the Inventor in Burton’s 1990 film Edward Scissorhands.
Bibliography:
1. Bailey, 1990: Beth Bailey, ‘Rebels Without a Cause’, History Today, 40, no. 2, February 1990, pp. 25-32.
2. Burton, 2006: Tim Burton, Burton on Burton, revised ed., England: Mackays of Chatham, plc, 2006.
3. Film Index International: The Film Index International is an online database of films and those involved with the film industry. URL: http://fii.chadwyck.co.uk.ezproxy.lib.unimelb.edu.au/home
4. Hanke, 1992: Ken Hanke, ‘Tim Burton’, Films in Review, 43, no. 11/12, November/December 1992, pp. 374-382/40-49.
5. Hultkrans, 1994: Andrew Hultkrans, ‘Look Back in Angora’, Artforum International, 33, no. 4, December 1994, pp. 11-13.
6. Leibman, 1995: Nina C. Leibman, Living Room Lectures: The Fifties Family in Film and Television, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995.
7. Long, Nadelhaft, 1997: Kristi S. Long and Matthew Nadelhaft, America Under Construction: Boundaries and Identities in Popular Culture, New York and London: Garland Publishing Inc., 1997.
8. McCullaugh, 1992: Jim McCullaugh, ‘Disney Bringing Tim Burton’s First Film to Life Via Direct-To-Vid Launch’, Billboard, 104, no. 5, February 1, 1992, p. 9.
9. Miles, 1998: Barry Miles, King of the Beats: Jack Kerouc, Great Britain: Mackays of Chatham, 1998
10. Smith, 1994: Gavin Smith, ‘Punching Holes in Reality: Tim Burton Interviewed by Gavin Smith’, Film Comment, 30, no. 6, pp. 52-63 (This interview also appears in Burton on Burton (2006). The book rather than the article is cited as the source for several quotations and facts, although both the book and article contain the same information).
11. Walley, 1998: David Walley, Teenage Nervous Breakdown: Music and Politics in the Post-Elvis Age, New York and London: Plenum Press, 1998.
Filmography:
1. Burton, 2005: Tim Burton, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005
2. Buton, 1990: Tim Burton, Edward Scissorhands, 1990
3. Burton, 1994: Tim Burton, Ed Wood, 1994
4. Burton, 1984: Tim Burton, Frankenweenie, 1984
5. Burton, 1982: Tim Burton, Vincent, 1982
6. Ray, 1955: Nicolas Ray, Rebel without a Cause, 1955
Tim Burton and 1950s America 
