Who the heck is Tim Burton?
TextTim Burton was born Timothy William Burton in Burbank, California on August 25, 1958. Burbank is known for its many movie and television studios. Young Tim Burton grew up in an isolated neighborhood, separated from his few friends. He felt like an outcast. His odd imagination clashed with the surrounding conservative society of the 1950s.
He was an introvert and spent much of his childhood and youth making drawings . The inspiration for his drawings came from reading poems by famous poet, Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was known for writing about the macabre . Burton’s collected art works now consist of hundreds of drawings, paintings and illustrations made over the last forty years. The collection shows Burton’s fascination with the oddities of ordinary people, misunderstood monsters and clowns. It demonstrates that he finds inspiration within popular culture , fairy tales and especially the Gothic tradition. The rest of Burton’s spare time as a child was spent in front of the television watching old monster and horror movies . In particular, the Gothic films of American actor Vincent Price inspired Burton. He could relate to the misunderstood and tormented characters Price portrayed . Later, when Burton made his short film Vincent, he wrote to Vincent Price, who had been such a great inspiration. Price agreed to narrate Vincent. This led to a close friendship between the two. |
Glossary Isolated = isoleret Separated = afskåret fra Outcast = udskud* Odd = sære Conservative society=konservative samfund* Introvert* macabre = makabre* consist of = består af oddities = særheder Gothic tradition = Gotiske traditioner* spare time = fritid Tormented = forpinte Narrate = fortælle/ligge stemme til |
Questions:
1. The text uses words like isolated, seperated, outcast and introvert to describe Tim Burton.
What is the meaning of the words? - How can you describe the meanings of the words? 2. The text uses words like odd, macabre and Gothic traditions to describe the style of Tim Burtons drawings and films. How can you describe the meaning of the word macabre? Give an example of something macabre. Look at the picture of a gothic bass player: Discuss and describe how his look and the colors of the picture makes you fell. Is there something that he reminds you of? |