The Imaginarium of Mr. Tim Burton

Timothy Walter Burton (born in 1958) or Mr. Tim Burton is an American film director, producer, artist, writer and animator.

He is famous for his dark, gothic, eccentric, quirky, animated musical, biographical, horror fantasy, blockbuster, fantasy drama, Sci-fi and superhero films.

Burton has worked repeatedly with Johnny Depp, with musician Danny Elfman, Actress Helena Bonham Carter in many films.

The title of this article, "The Imaginarium of Mr. Tim Burton" has a unique word.

The word imaginarium refers to a place devoted to the imagination. There are various types of imaginaria, centers largely devoted to stimulating and cultivating the imagination, towards scientific, artistic, commercial, recreational or spiritual ends.

The word was exposed to me from the film maker Mr. Terry Gilliam (born in 1940), American-born british screenwriter, film director, animator, actor, comedian and member of the monty python comedy troupe.

Gilliam has directed 12 feature films.

He directed "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)".

He started his career as an animator and strip cartoonist. He joined Monty Python as the animator of their works, but eventually became a full member and was given acting roles. He became a feature film director in the 1970's. Most of his films explore the theme of imagination and it's importance to life, express his opposition to bureaucracy and authoritarianism, and feature characters facing dark or paranoid situations.

Both filmmakers share unique traits.

The title will reflect on the both director's devotion in embracing imagination and creativity.

But in this article Tim Burton and his film career will be discussed.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) was released as his first feature film. Since that film Mr. Tim Burton maintained his unique artistic approach in conveying imagination based on his tradition. Beetlejuice (1988) also maintained his artistic style and witty humour.

Batman (1989) was his breakthrough superhero adaptation enabling him to penetrate blockbuster films. When the film opened in June 1989, it was backed by the biggest marketing and merchandising campaign in film history at the time, and became one of the biggest box office hits of all time, grossing well over US$ 250 million in the US alone and US$400 million worldwide.

Edward Scissorhands (1990) considered the most renowned and powerful reflections of his filmmaking talent fused with humanity which many critics claim it to be his best film.

Batman Returns (1992) sequel to Batman (1988) was also a financial success and also created a polarized fan base on love / hate movie following for the Tim Burton's 2nd superhero film.

Ed Wood (1994) is one of my personal favourite films as well as his greatest depictions on biographical filmmaking.

Later with his creativity fused in his artistic traits Tim Burton made Mars Attacks!(1996), Sleepy Hollow(1999), Planet of the Apes(2001), Big Fish(2003), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory(2005), Corpse Bride(2005), Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber of the Fleet Street (2007), Alice in Wonderland(2010), Dark Shadows(2012), Frankenweenie (2012), Big eyes(2014) and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) in his three decade long film making career.

Like many of my articles related to film making and film directors, they reflect upon Hollywood filmmakers who did not win academy awards for best director or any other category in there career. But that have not made these filmmakers to change there artistic style of film making.

Mr. Tim Burton is also in the same category.

One of my personal observations as a film fan is, Mr. Tim Burton's reflection of afterlife in his films. Beetlejuice (1988), Sleepy hollow (1999), Big fish(2003), Corpse Bride(2005), Dark Shadows(2012) and Frankenweenie (2012) have reflected afterlife in a very artistic and philosophical manner.

So finally this article is paying my personal tribute as a film fan to a filmmaker in taking the risk of innovation and imagination over the market or the audience's requirement to reflect on cinema and film as a personal statement.





References

Images

· Tim Burton: Big Fish (2003). Format: (Jpg.). Available at : http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000318/mediaviewer/rm190748928 (Accessed date : 9/17/2017)

Websites



· Wikipedia.com, Article title – Imaginarium [Online]. Available at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginarium (Accessed date : 2017/09/17)

· Wikipedia.com, Article title – Tim burton [Online]. Available at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Burton (Accessed date : 2017/09/17)

· BIOGRAPHY.com, Article title – Tim Burton [Online]. Available at : https://www.biography.com/people/tim-burton-9542431 (Accessed date : 2017/09/17)

· Wikipedia.com, Article title – Terry Gilliam [Online]. Available at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gilliam (Accessed date : 2017/09/17)

· IMDB.com, Article title – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) [Online]. Available at : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054606/ (Accessed date : 2017/09/17)