The Calendar section of the LA Times has a nice bio of Tim Burton and his return to Los Angeles for the 3-D opening of his classic Halloween musical The Nightmare Before Christmas. The bio is filled with some interesting Angelino nostalgia points that are useful to LA Implants like me, for example the location of a historic restaurant in Burbank or discussions of how Hollywood's facelift might affect an aging goth.
The article is quite good, but the intro paragraphs focus on Tim Burton's "dark side" and how it is evident in films like Edward Scissorhands or The Corpse Bride, but what isn't mentioned is how Burton's dark side is only dark in appearance. His films are about outsiders, who often misunderstand normal society, whose attempts at kindness often appear frightening to those around them. His films are a wonderful expression of the desire of a person to love and be loved, but who doesn't understand or value "normal" society.
Besides, the article didn't mention my favorite Tim Burton film Frankenweenie. How can you say that someone has a frightening dark side when he makes a film that is a tale of wish fulfilment for any child (or adult) who has ever had a dog die. His combination of the Frankenstein story with the "terrors" of suburbia is genius. Go watch it on your The Nightmare Before Christmas DVD and you can see what I am talking about.
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