A long time ago, there lived an inventor in the castle. He made all kinds of things, and finally he made a robot and named him Edward. The inventor poured his heart and soul into the work, even teaching Edward human etiquette and poetry, telling him when to smile and when to be silent. On Edward's birthday, the inventor gave him a pair of human hands. However, before he could equip his children with these hands, the inventor died of a sudden illness, leaving behind a pair of scissors that already had a human mind. Edward, who wants to love but cannot touch human beings, lives alone in the castle.
I don’t know how many years have passed, but the eerie black and white castle from a distance has always made the residents of the town feel uneasy. A middle-aged woman, Peg, boldly walked in to sell cosmetics, only to find that there was another world inside the lush green space. In contrast, there are residential villas in the town where Pei Ge lives that look like crayon drawings. The childlike gardening in the castle creates a world of Oz far away from the hustle and bustle.
What makes Tim Burton's films unique is that his films always have clean images and bright colors, as clear as the four seasons, but full of a dreamy atmosphere. The abstract background of the story, the seemingly unrealistic subject matter, is like a fable, from which everyone can read different meanings. In the movie "Edward Scissorhands", there are two settings that cannot be ignored. First, it is the castle where Edward and the inventor live. On the one hand, the mystery of the castle itself adds to the fantasy color of the story, making the impossible possible. On the other hand, the castle maintains a close relationship with our reinforced concrete world. The distance is suddenly far and suddenly close. It is this paradise that is not polluted by the world that can give Edward a pure and innocent heart. The incompatibility between the castle and human society hints at the final outcome of the fairy tale.
In this world, Peg discovered the eccentric Edward. The kind-hearted Peg was not intimidated by Edward's pale complexion and claws and claws, but took pity on his loneliness and took him back to his home. This leads to the second setting that must be mentioned, which is Edward's scissor hands. Its mechanical nature gives Edward a dual nature. On the one hand, he is excluded from the necessary physical communication in human society because he will hurt anything he touches, and his strange scissor hands make him appear reserved and embarrassed when facing the complex life of human beings; on the other hand, These hands also give him ways and skills to approach things that ordinary people don't have, such as pruning plants, haircuts, ice sculptures, chopping vegetables, and picking locks. Edward is originally a robot who lives in peace with the world, but he uses scissor hands to create creations to prove the value of his existence and win the love of humans.
When Peg took Edward home, she did not think carefully about her behavior. She just wanted to give Edward a home. But Peg's female neighbors, those who like to flirt, spy, and gossip, don't think so. Edward's appearance added fresh excitement to their boring lives, so everyone showed great friendliness and even intimacy to him. When he showed off his talent for pruning plants and styling hair with scissor hands, the whole town almost went crazy for him and treated him like a star.
However, this kind of Edward also has his own pain. He fell in love with Peg's daughter, the beautiful and exquisite Kim. Kim already has a boyfriend, Jim, and has always been resistant to this new member of the family.
For a request from Jim, Edward bravely sneaks into Jim's father's mansion.
Seeing the danger, Jim and his friends fled in a hurry. Edward, who touched the authorities, was arrested by the police but did not reveal the truth. Although he was soon released because he had "no ability to judge right from wrong," people around him regarded him as a dangerous person who deliberately robbed property, and stayed away from him and Pegg's family. In the process, Jin gradually saw Jim's ugly face clearly and developed a good impression of Edward.
On Christmas that year, the first white snow began to fall in the small town. Edward stood on a high shelf in the courtyard and made an angel-like ice sculpture for Jin. Ice shards were flying in the air. It turned into snow, and gold danced in the snowflakes. Unable to hug his lover with scissor hands, Edward had to use his own creation to express his love to her. But at this moment, the conflict reached its climax.
Because he accidentally scratched Jin's hand, Edward was driven away by Jim, who originally hated him. Then, he saved Jin's brother Kevin, but was regarded as the culprit by everyone. Edward is a child who does not understand worldly rules, is full of fantasy, and has not grown up. His innocence is as white as ice and snow. Because of ignorance, there is no desire, because of loneliness, there is sadness. Although he wears black clothes, has messy hair, and has scratches on his pale face, he is just a pure and lonely child. Like a child, he will be frightened by strangers, attached to charity, and angry at deception. He will take revenge like a child.
The residents of the town have a deeper and deeper misunderstanding of Edward. They all demand that Edward be expelled. This place is no longer Edward's paradise. The isolated Edward can only escape back to the castle.
Although Kim accepted Edward's unrequited love, some fairy tales will have a sad ending from the beginning, no matter how light, fancy, and hilarious it appears on the surface. Because the protagonists in the story are people who do not belong to this world, they are essentially incompatible with the real world, and ultimately cannot be accepted by the world. Compared with Edward's purity, people in the real world appear extremely inhuman. They are vain, vicious, selfish, and complicated. They often even sacrifice the lives of others easily for their own selfishness. Jim is a prime example.
"Edward Scissorhands" truly established Tim Burton's personal film style, with a sad ending like Andersen's, and the reason for this ending is the conflict between dreams and reality. Like the little prince from another planet who finally fell silently; like the happy prince who was thrown into the furnace of the foundry and incinerated; like the daughter of the sea who turned into foam on the water and lost her lover forever. And Edward, a robot, a robot with a pair of scissor hands, who can't even hug his lover, can only hide in an unknown corner forever, where he prunes his plants, ice and snow, and love.