Loneliness and Isolation in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Some people may seem lonely and isolated but their minds are full of creativity and imagination. Tim Burton, a film director, used his imagination and dark mind into making his dark, gothic horror films. Burton loved to take his audience into the worlds of fantasy and the supernatural, while teaching them lessons and morals. He was clearly influenced by fairy tales and children’s stories. His inspirations helped him to bring his own ideas into theatres, which reflected his childish mind and personality. In Beetlejuice, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Frankenweenie, Burton created characters that were lonely and isolated, which resembled himself as a person. Burton used close-up shots, long shots, and high angles in these three films to create a sympathetic mood for the isolated characters.
Beetlejuice, a 1998 horror film directed by Tim Burton, told the fantastical story of a deceased couple, Adam and Barbara Maitland, who come to find themselves as ghosts haunting their former home as newcomers arrived. The obnoxious newcomers, the Deetz, are not favored by the couple but they later on meet Lydia, the Deetz’ daughter, whom they found innocent and vulnerable. After finding out about Beetlejuice, a rambunctious spirit, they attempted to keep the dangerous ghost from the innocent Lydia and her family. At the beginning of the film when the Deetz were having dinner, the audience could see Lydia as she wore a black, lacy veil as her parents talked to one another. Tim Burton used a close-up shot on Lydia to show that the veil, symbolically, seemed to isolate her from her parents and the outside world as well. It made the audience feel sympathetic for her as she seemed to have a dark personality. In the scene where Lydia sat on her chair writing a suicidal note, Burton used a long shot, showing the audience Lydia’s room and Lydia sitting while writing a note. The audience was able to see the vulnerability of the character through her room where it was painted dark, comparing it to her dark personality. After Lydia confronted Barbera and Adam about wanting to commit suicide so she could be with them, Barbera adviced her not to and assured her that she and Adam agreed to live with the family peacefully. In that scene, it seemed like Lydia wanted to get out of her isolated world and join a better one. Burton used a high angle shot on Lydia to show the audience that she was just a child who was in desperation of a caring mother like Barbera.
The 2007 thriller film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, was about a barber, Sweeney Todd, who was back in London for revenge on Judge Turpin, a man who kidnapped his wife and daughter. When Todd returned to his previous business, Ms. Lovett, the tenant below, implied that his wife had died due to poison. Todd became devastated by what he heard, considering he was to come for a family when instead he came back for no one. The depression turned into anger which led him into becoming a barber serial killer, slitting his customer’s throats and shuffling them down in Mrs. Lovett’s basement. No matter how many lives he took, he was not to be satisfied until Turpin sat on the barber chair for him to exact his revenge. At the beginning of the film, Sweeney Todd found out that his wife had died due to poison. In that scene, Tim Burton used a close-up shot to show the depressed expression on Todd’s face. It was at that moment that his hopes and dreams of returning to a family had been crushed, where he felt more isolated than ever. Later on in the film, Burton introduced a young man, Anthony, who was walking around in the streets of London. Burton used a long shot to portray the young man who was lonely and lost, searching, in hope of finding something as he toured the city for the first time. In that scene, something caught Anthony’s lost eyes. He spotted a blonde, beautiful Johanna looking out the window as she looked depressed and hopeless. Burton used a high angle shot on Johanna, showing innocence upon a young teenage girl who was trapped and isolated from the outside world and more.
The 2012 animated film directed by Burton, Frankenweenie, showed the strong relationship between a boy, Vincent Frankenstein, and his dog best friend, Sparky. Vincent had always been a little inventor with the help of his sidekick dog. His parents were worried about him not being social with other people so they gave him the advice to go out and play like the other children. In an attempt to fit in and play baseball like the boys in his class, Vincent hit the ball into the street, which led Sparky to chase the baseball and eventually get hit by a car. It was a tragedy for Vincent after his dog’s death and later on, he decided to experiment to bring Sparky back to life. Eventually, it worked. In the scene where Vincent finished performing his experiment, Vincent hugged Sparky knowing that he was forever gone. In that scene, Burton used a close-up shot on Vincent’s face as tears began to fall, where he realized nothing could bring him back. This shot was used to show the character’s sorrow as he lost his one and only friend. He knew that he would end up alone if Sparky was going to be gone for good. Towards the ending of the film, Vincent was standing along with his mother hugging her for closure after losing his dog for the second time. As Vincent was standing with his family, Burton used a long shot to show the character’s sorrow and vulnerability but also the weakness in his body as he hugged his mother. He saw Sparky as his best friend, unlike the other children at his school. The scene continued on as Vincent stepped closer to Sparky, where it was shot at a high angle. In that scene, the high angle was used to show the weakness of Sparky as it seemed so that he was dead. It led the audience to feel sympathy for Vincent as he looked down at his best friend and it also made the audience believe that Sparky might have been gone for good.
Tim Burton’s films, Beetlejuice, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Frankenweenie, all captured the theme of isolation, where being different from others can make people outcasts from their surroundings. Isolation could end up with several endings; some could lead to more tragedies and some could make it to a happy one. Through Burton’s cinematic style, he created a sympathetic mood for the isolated characters in these films. In Beetlejuice, he introduced the character, Lydia Deetz, who was a depressed teenager that almost attempted to commit suicide so that she could be with a better family. Although, the ending turned out to be lively, where Lydia was given the right environment for a young teenager; a caring and loving family. In Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd was told by Ms. Lovett that his wife had died, when in fact, he came to find out that his wife was alive after he murdered her. It was through this tragedy where the audience felt sympathetic for Todd; knowing that he was tricked into taking revenge upon innocent people. In Frankenweenie, Vincent Frankenstein lost his dog, Sparky, due to a car accident and experimented on him to try bringing him back to life. He eventually did but towards the end of the film, Sparky died again in an attempt to save Vincent’s life. This tragedy made the audience even more sympathetic for Vincent and determined that Sparky will not come back to life again. However, Burton twisted the ending and revived Sparky again, exploiting both the character’s and the audience’s expectations. Tim Burton was just as isolated as these characters. He expressed how isolation can distance people from the real world and take them into a new one.
