Week 7

 

The film I chose for this assignment was Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride (2005) movie:

Contrast: One scene depicts a poor fish-market family singling gloriously of their son's wedding to a noble and supposedly wealthy family. The family is happy because they believe they will be introduced into high society. The next scene is of the other family, singing in disgust at the prospect of having to marry their daughter to the poor family's son because they themselves are going bankrupt and are hoping to take all the other family's money. Both parents are singing of the wedding rehearsal, but one describes the day as "beautiful" and the wedding as "glorious", while the other describes the day as "terrible" and the wedding as "ominous".

Symbolism: A butterfly is a known symbol of transformation, ephemeral beauty, and immortality. The film starts off with a single beautiful blue butterfly fluttering around the town, a stark contrast to the gloomy scenery. This is very fitting to ephemeral beauty, as we discover Emily was once a well-known beauty before her murder. At the end of the movie, we also see Emily disintegrate into hundreds of the same blue butterfly, all of which fly into the moonlight. This may symbolize her transformation and her newfound immortality now that Victor had "freed" her and she had returned the favor to him by allowing him to marry Victoria and not be bound by the promise he made to wed her.

Leitmotif: After Victor unknowingly slips the ring onto Emily's finger after practicing his vows, her hand grabs onto his, surprising him and beginning the louder, more dramatic music. When Emily finally emerges from her grave, very dark and dramatic music begins to play, and we get a full body shot of her in her full murdered bride glory. The music dims as Victor finally seems to scape her and is frantically looking around the bridge in fear. The dramatic music again continues when he turns and comes face to face with Emily and does not end until the scene cuts off after their kiss, followed by a dark screen with an ominous skull representing their relocation to the underworld in the next scenes.