Observation #3

Observation #3
Britni Vrbensky


    For my third observation I chose to do it with a little bit of a different spin on things. I wanted to do it merely based on composition as an art rather than composition in writing. I think that we are able to view all compositions as a whole under a broad umberella. You are able to go in and look closer at certian aspects of it; or different genres of it as a whole, but in the end everything that we are looking at is some form of a composition. With that in mind and my focus being on the artistic aspects of composition my obeservation was based on my viewing of Edward Scissorhands.
    The movie starts out with a small town where every thing is for the most part the same for everyone. The houses are the same, the cars are the same, and with a flat view of the people they at first give us the feeling of being the same. The local Avon lady ends up going up to the one house in all of the town that is not the same at all- the inventors mansion. What she happens upon is a man with scissors for hands; the project of the now dead inventor that died before properly finishing Edward. This seems to be the first representation of composition in the movie and becomes a main focus.
    As Edward moves into the town below he is constantly told by the others that they know a doctor friend that may be able to help him with his condition. At first Edward does not seem to understand this, but as more and more people suggest it he starts to welcome it with the fact that he would like to meet the doctors. But, as the movie continues to unfold we see that Edward ends up embracing his hands not as an obstacle, but as a gift.
    This can be seen as him keeping something that the inventor gave to him. It connects him to his roots and in a way I believe that he enjoys that because it gives him a sense of belonging in a town where he knows that he does not belong at all. Even as some of the neighbors begin to turn against Edward the fact that he does not belong in the town arises more and more, but we see that Edward is still accepted just the way he is by the Boggs and he is still in possession of scissors for hands.
    Many things begin to happen and fewer people are apt to trusting this man that is so different from them all. He is thrown from the lime light and is confronted with horrible glares and frightened glances. What they do not see is that Edward is the one thing that ends up pointing out all of their own flaws. Edward accepts that he is different, but as it is relieved that others are different they shy away from the fact and turn against Edward completely. They do not want to be viewed as crazy or not normal so they attempt to keep their true-selves hidden from the world.
    The second form of composition that I saw in this movie was the fact that Edward is able to use his own "abnormalities" to create something beautiful. He first does this with the shrubs at the Boggs house. As this becomes all of the rage and everyone in town is attempting to get Edward over to do their shrubs as well he ends up cutting one of the neighbors dogs hair and this becomes the new best thing to do. As all of the women in the town are attempting to get their dogs over to Edward and possibly have a go at him one of the more flamboyant neighbors asks Edward if he could cut her hair. The final step in Edward using his hands to create something is the ice sculptures that become more and more important for the entire moive.
    Edward is the cause of the snow falling in the valley at the end of the movie and although he was not accepted into this society because of his differences what he creates is accepted for many years to come. This is one form of composition that I think we can all in some way relate to. We may not all be "normal" or the same and sometimes we allow that to weigh heavily on ourselves and what we are "creating". We let what others think of us determine how we act, what we wear, and even what we say. I think that this movie is an extreme way of showing all of us that we do not need to conform to what others expect out of us, but that we can remain the person that we want to be and that is the core of being truly happy with ourselves and what ever form of composition we end up perusing as a career.