Ana Saavedra

Professor Suzanne Leonard

English-221
23 March 2016
Tim Burton - Auteur Theory
Tim Burton is known for many for his eccentric characters, the juxtaposition between his
dark and colorful fantastical settings, and plots that follow a misunderstood character that, in
most cases, is an outsider. Burton is also known for working repeatedly with certain people and
frequently casting the same actors. By closely examining three stop-motion animated films,
Frankenweenie (2012), Corpse Bride (2005), and The Nightmare Before Christmas (TNBC)
(1993), the first two directed by Burton and the latter directed by Henry Selick but produced and
based on a story by Burton, I will defend Burtons role as an auteur.
Burton grew up in Burbank, California, where we spent his childhood and formative
years as an outsider: drawing, painting, watching horror films, and making amateur stop-motion
films. His experiences had a great impact on his films, which tend to revolve around a
misunderstood male. Frankenweenie, an animated remake of his 1984 short film of the same
name, follows Victor Frankenstein, a young boy who doesnt have friends other than his dog
Sparky and makes amateur stop-motion films in his backyard. Corpse Bride focuses on Victor
Van Dort, a shy and anxious young man who is being forced into an arranged marriage for his
nouveau riche family to gain social status. Both Victors are outsiders, with Frankenstein not
fitting in with his classmates, and Van Dort being a new member of the bourgeois. Both are also
misunderstood by their respective parents, with the Frankensteins forcing their child to fit in by
joining the baseball team, and with the Van Dorts not understanding Victors fear of marriage.
Meanwhile, TNBC introduces the audience to Jack Skellington, a skeleton and the Pumpkin

King of Halloween Town. Jack is not an outsider but is misunderstood by the inhabitants of the
town since he is bored of doing the same routine for Halloween every year and desires much
more, leading him to highjack Christmas.
Burtons animated characters are easily identifiable by their looks. His main characters
tend to be thin and tall males with large eyes, a look both Victors and Jack posses. Important
secondary characters tend be female companions with long necks, large eyes, and small mouths
and noses. Elsa Van Helsing, Victor Frankensteins neighbor, Victoria Everglot, Victor Van
Dorts fianc, and Sally, Jacks love interest, all share these characteristics. Emily, the corpse
bride that Van Dort accidentally marries, possesses the first two characteristics, but her lips are
noticeably larger than those of the other female characters. The rest of the characters also have
very exaggerated features, such as their chins, noses, humps, shoulders, breasts, hips, and hair. In
Frankenweenie, Victors classmate Nassor has very wide shoulders, a small lower body, and
long, thin extremities. In Corpse Bride, Victorias mother has a protruding chin, large breasts, a
small waist, and possesses an incredibly tall hairstyle.
In many films, Burton also incorporates monsters that serve as antagonists. Even when
the monsters are not the main antagonists, they may threaten the main characters or set
boundaries in their way. In Frankenweenie, Frankenstein brings Sparky back to life after the dog
gets hit by a car. His classmates then replicate the experiment on their own deceased pets in
order to beat him in the school science fair. Although his classmates can be seen as the main
antagonists of the film, the monsters that evolve from his classmates experiments cause havoc in
their suburban town, with one of them putting Elsa, Elsas dog, and a resurrected Sparky in
incredible danger. Although many characters in TNBC can be considered monsters, such as the
residents that inhabit Halloween Town, Oogie Boogie, a big walking bag of bugs, serves as the

main antagonist, torturing and holding Santa Claus and Sally hostage. In Corpse Bride, although
they are not the antagonists in any way, Emily and the rest of those in the Land of the Dead are
zombies once they come up to the Land of the Living, causing temporary panic until heartfelt
reunions begin to happen between the living and their deceased relatives and spouses. Still,
Emily serves as an obstacle between Van Dort and Victorias marriage for most of the film.
Burton also presents dogs, dead or alive, as important characters and representations of
friendship in these three films. In Corpse Bride, Emily gives Van Dort a wedding gift, which
turns out to be the skeletal remains of his childhood pet, Scraps, who still acts like a living dog.
In TNBC, Jacks pet dog, Zero, is a ghost and accompanies him while the rest of Halloween
Town have a hard time understanding his lack of Halloween spirit and admiration towards
Christmas. Zero also leads Jacks sleigh like Rudolph, staying his companion to the very end.
Frankenweenie, on the other hand, places the dog, Sparky, as one of the central characters of the
film with Frankenstein trying, and succeeding, to bring his best friend back to life. In an article
from 2012 by the Belfast Telegraph, Burton is quoted saying that Sparky was based on his own
childhood dog, Peppi. If I could have brought him back to life, I would [have]. I did it in film
instead, he stated. Though these three dogs dont carry the plots of their respective films, they
provide friendship and participate in pivotal parts of the films. The phrase a dog is a mans best
friend is certainly reaffirmed and supported by the relationship these dogs have with their
owners, even in the afterlife.
Death is a theme touched by many of Burtons films too. All three dogs represent an
aspect of death in their respective films. Scraps and Zero both died at some point in the fabula
that is not present in the narrative, while Sparky dies during the film. Sparkys death serves as a
pivotal moment in the film, as young Victor deals with accepting it. At the end of the film, a

resurrected Sparky dies once again while saving Victor, Elsa, and Elsas pup from one of their
classmates monstrous experiments. Victor accepts Sparkys death when he thinks the repetition
of the experiment did not work. Still the experiment is a success and he is reunited once again
with his best friend. Unlike the previous two dogs, Scraps is not the only representation of death
in his respective film. Corpse Bride as a whole touches on the theme of death by setting a large
portion of the film in the Land of the Dead.
Another common theme present in Burtons films is the idea of being caught between
two completely separate worlds. TNBC does this with Jack, in charge of Halloween, as he tries to
take over Christmas. Frankenweenie and Corpse Bride both involve trying to reconcile the world
of the living with the world of the dead. Although Frankenstein succeeds in bring his dog back to
life, Corpse Bride ends with the message that people should accept their position and stay where
they belong, either the Land of the Living or the Land of the Dead.
Burtons style is well known for its color palettes. Although the Land of the Dead in
Corpse Bride is dark, fun and bright colors are used to contrast it to the Land of the Living,
which is made up of hues of blues and greys, symbolizing its bleakness. TNBCs Halloween
Town presents a gloomy color pallet made up of mostly purple, orange, blue, white, and black.
Meanwhile, Christmas Towns pallet includes red, green, and white with blue undertones that
maintain Burtons style. Unlike these films, Frankenweenie is in black-and-white, a decision
made by Burton in order to pay homage to old monster movies according to the LA Times.
When examining these films closely, Burtons cinematographic style is distinct from
Henry Selick, who directed TNBC. Selick shot the film in deep and shallow focus, while
Frankenweenie and Corpse Bride are both shot by Burton only in shallow focus. Their transition
from one scene to the next is also different. Burton tends to do fade-outs and fade-ins, while

Selick cuts from one scene to the next or fades into black. Although both directors use tracking
shots to follow their characters, Selick creates more elaborate ones. For example, the camera
circles Jack as he realizes he should not have taken over Christmas. Both directors do use canted
shots to show tension. TNBC shows Sally in a canted angle as she escapes her home to deliver
Jack a gift basket, Corpse Bride includes it when Victor is trying to reconcile with Emily after
having lied to her, and Frankenweenie presents it when Nassor is bringing his pet back to life.
Music is another way Burtons iconic dark quirky films are brought to life. Danny
Elfman scored these three films. He has scored most of Burtons films. In an interview with
David Breskin published in the Kristian Fragas 2005 book Tim Burton: Interviews, Burton
said of working with Elfman: [We] don't even have to talk about the music. We don't even have
to intellectualize. Elfman successfully emulates the mood of each scene, and provides an
otherworldly feel to it, which can be felt in Corpse Bride when Emily dances through the forest
after arriving on the Land of the Living and seeing the moonlight after a long time in the dark.
Although Burton did not direct TNBC, his large involvement in it and the commonalities
and repetition found in all three animated films show that Burtons style is unique and
identifiable. His out of proportion characters, misunderstood male figures, themes on death, life,
and friendship, gloomy and colorful pallets, and the recurrence of Danny Elfmans music in the
films, animated or not, come together so viewers can experience the fantastical world inside of
Burtons head.