Not playing by the rules is not easy in Hollywood especially when it is the animation industry. Tim Burton caught the eye of Disney when he was studying animation. But, soon Disney realized he wasn’t cut out for the kind of animation Disney is known for.
Instead of the dreamy, colorful, articulate animation of the Disney style Tim Burton had the flair for gothic and dark themes. It became apparent that he would rather invest in eccentric characters often misunderstood by the populace than play by the usual rules and that was in the 1980’s.
Critics love to pull apart his movies calling his themes inconsistent, confusing and not attractive at all. But, even they have to admit that Tim Burton movies have that dark aura that attracts the audiences to his movies even for a just one time watch.
His movies are spooky, but they make a great design for t-shirts. You will find plenty of them on the internet. Another key factor of Tim Burton movies is the dark humor that is always present but only a true fan of Tim Burton movies can notice.
Let’s visit some of the movies of Tim Burton that have inspired many attractive designs for t-shirts.
Edward Scissorhands
Edward Scissorhands is one of the most popular Tim Burton movies starring Johnny Depp and Wynona Ryder. This was a commercially successful movie as well beside beings hailed by the critics. It is story of an artificial man named Edward created by an eccentric scientist in his spooky mansion where no one goes. He has scissor like hands instead of real hands and the scientist died before he could complete him or give him fingers. After the death of the scientist, Edward is later found by the desperate saleswoman lady Peg (Dianne Wiest) who dares to visit the infamous Mansion. She takes him with her and introduces him to her family. Edward falls in love with Peg’s daughter Kim and their storyline will remind you of the Beauty and the Beast Story.
The neighborhood is excited to know about Edward but soon becomes suspicious thanks to the tricks played by Kim’s boyfriend Jim. The underlying issue here is how anything slightly different is always seen with caution. Edward is harmless but soon his scissiorhands become his enemy. The eccentric appearance of Edward with his high-neck, all black leather assemble, deathly pale skin, sad-almost-dead eyes, and the razor-sharp blades instead of hands make him look like a ghost. The story is oddly humane and the eccentricity and the dark humor bring out the essence of the story famously. The 1960’s setting of the American suburb plays well with the theme as people back then were less likely to accept anything that challenged their conventional thinking and lifestyle.
With Edward Scissorhands Tim Burton again brings out the essence of humanity, love, affection with a touch of gothic, and oddity he is so well known for.
The Nightmare before the Christmas
This is another masterpiece by Tim Burton that has inspired many creative designs for the internet memes and t-shirt designs. Like many other Tim Burton stories The Nightmare before the Christmas is also a movie about a misfit with good intensions. With Tim Burton movies you can only expect to see creativity at its best.
Based in a fictional town of Halloween Town, the story starts with the bony skeleton named Jack Skellington who is the leader announcing that he wants to do something different for Halloween this year. He is quite bored with the repetitive themes and by chance stumbles upon a different entryway and finds himself in the Christmas Town. Fascinated by what he sees there he decides to kidnap the Santa so that he could go around delivering the gifts himself. This soon turns out to be a bad idea as he miserably fails. He realizes his mistakes and makes up with Santa.
Tim Burton love for the misfit is apparent here and he creates a whole new, different kind of world. The movie comes alive with the strange and haunting landscapes thanks to the stop frame animation techniques that were used. The characters simply come alive. Even though dark and eerie, the movie manages to warm up the audiences’ heart with its unique storyline.
Jack Skellington standing on the hill top has inspired many creatively hilarious designs for t-shirts.
Corpse Bride
Corpse Bride is another spectacular stop-animation movie from Tim Burton that brings alive a macabre world. Corpse Bride is not what you expect it to be. With all its haunting setting, the corpse bride and the eerie underworld, it is actually a warm love story set in two different worlds. The movie seamlessly takes you between the land of dead and living. The most noticeable thing is that the world of living is rather dull and mute while the land of dead is colorful and lively.
The story is about Victor Van Dort who is set to marry Victoria Everglot – an arrangement by both of their parents. After initial cautiousness they fall for each other. But the wedding rehearsal goes badly because of Victor. He runs away to the nearest graveyard to practice the ceremony to make everything right. Instead he recites his vows and puts a ring on a twig which turns out to be a finger of the Corpse Emily. Victor finds out that now he is a married man. He almost loses Victoria in the confusion. The adventure that follows is a roller coaster ride and eventually the couple unites and you have your happy ending.
With Corpse Bride, Tim Burton once again displays his genius as a filmmaker. He makes the unusual and slightly eccentric characters more humane and likeable than the so called normal ones. The humor is also visible subtly.
Corpse Bride too has inspired many T-shirt designs and other merchandise.
Tim Burton movies are unusual, gothic, and full of eccentric characters that audiences find so relatable. This is the power Tim Burton holds – creating the new normal with the usual misfits.