Our existence holds the distinction of circumstances as we journey through life. We are made for each other thus our hands fill gaps of another hand. We propel the images of a man as human and not simply of having a mouth to feed so as we never get hungry and a house to shelter our selves so as we have a place to sleep. We co-exist to fulfill another life and set the course of each other’s place in this universe. In Tim Burton’s 1990 film Edward Scissorhands, a manifestation of subsistence embark on a laden without emotional, social and physical process which endow with an overview of loneliness.
A clamor for love giving the long standing perception as it harnesses the key to reform us to have a feel of accountability and responsibility for each other may some be different in any way. Our parents brought us into the world like Edward Scissorhands, who was literally made by his “father”, the inventor. Unfortunately, 100,000 babies are born each year with preventable physical defects (Canadian International Development Agency), this in some way or another relates to Edward, that when his creator died before finishing his hands was left with metal scissors that led him to stay in isolation in the mansion overlooking the suburban.
The Union of the Physically Impaired against Segregation aims: “To have all segregated facilities for physically impaired people replaced by arrangements for us to participate fully in society. These arrangements must include the necessary financial, medical, technical, educational and other help required from the State to enable us to gain the maximum possible independence in daily living activities, to achieve mobility, to undertake productive work, and to live where and how we choose with full control over our lives. ”
Peg Boggs, the Avon Lady who kind-heartedly discovered Edward and brought him home in a way initially signifies a mentor for Edward. People with disability or in other way physically challenge needs someone to guide them, as normal people are taught how to feed themselves. Mentors provide them bearing, practical knowledge, and unconditional love to help them gain the understanding and dexterity needed to course their given path and unlock their true potential. Burton tries to imply that people may be physically different but once their talents are uncovered it will bring out skills and boost their confidence.
This was evident when people at first admired Edward’s talent as a gardener and a hairdresser effortlessly. The government has exerted effort to give equal rights to the impaired or physically challenge individuals. The Americans with Disabilities Act Title I Employment states: Title I requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide qualified individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from the full range of employment- related opportunities available to others.
For example, it prohibits discrimination in recruitment, hiring, promotions, training, pay, social activities, and other privileges of employment. It restricts questions that can be asked about an applicant’s disability before a job offer is made, and it requires that employers make reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities, unless it results in undue hardship. Religious entities with 15 or more employees are covered under title I. Like any normal people, physically challenge individuals need communication and love.
At times their impairment hinders them to do so. This is relative in Edward’s case as his scissors dynamically prejudice him to be romantically involved. This was apparent when Kim Boggs told him to hold her to which he responded “I Can’t”. Though, Edward was different, he also desires to love and be loved but the norm of the society prevents him to do so because of how he looks and how he operates. In the film when Edward made an ice sculpture of Kim as an angel significantly conveys his effort to show affection in unusual way.
“Disability has deprived man of an essential part of their humanness: their identities as sexual beings. More than one male character with a disability refers to himself as “only half a man”. (Why I Burned My Book and Other Essays on Disability, Paul K. Longmore, Chapter 7, Pg. 142) The simplicity and complexity of the interaction process among people assumes and communes what is very evident in our society, misinterpreting the impaired acts and sometimes even push them to the extremity of just quitting life because of non support, being unloved and non-acceptance from the society.
As the film progresses, the issue of difference among each individual scars the relationship. Edward’s scissors when at first fancied and admired by people becomes a tool to hinder his social capabilities. He accidentally hurts himself and other people too. True to the point, as what others may perceive people who are physically impaired have reasonably low social faculties. At times they are left by their families in health care institutions to be taken care of.
“People with impaired mobility, the blind, who have speech difficulties, or who find difficulty in hearing, can become isolated because obtaining information for them from surroundings sometimes is narrow or impossible. ” (Developing of Predictive Communication System for the Physically Disabled People) Due to their less emotional and social contacts, once they got somehow distinguished their recognition of social and emotional boundaries are not fully clear, this was palpable when Edward broke into the house, under the suggestion of Kim Boggs.
Due to this, he was arrested by the authorities. At the end of the film, the community turns against Edward which directed him to head back home in isolation at the mansion. “The cruelty, petty humiliation, and physical and mental deprivation suffered in residential institutions, where isolation and segregation have been carried to extremes, lays bare the essentially oppressive relations of this society with its physically impaired members. As in most similar places, such as special schools, there are some staff and volunteers doing their best to help the residents.
But their efforts are systematically overwhelmed by the basic function of segregated institutions, which is to look after batches of disabled people – and in the process convince them that they cannot realistically expect to participate fully in society and earn a good living. (The Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation, Policy Statement #7) This was supported when Peg said to Edward at the closing stages of the story that she didn’t considered things through when she brought Edward into their locality and it will be preeminent to all concerned if would go and find his way back to the mansion.
For the most part, the above only illustrates some kind of bigotry that a person with disability cannot function well in the society and must be secluded for their own good and for others as well. The repercussion noteworthy in a disability is that it can be capable of grounds leading to relentless emotional problem to those who are emotionally attached to the disabled and that with isolation of the disabled considerably add to the gloomy and depressing solution to the problem. Tim Burton in this scenario inhibits that people may resort to discrimination due to improper understanding of Edward’s situation.
Akin to what other differently able individuals who experience inequity may it be verbal or non verbal. For an ordinary person who is unfamiliar with involvement with physically different person, observation leads to dismissal of having a lot more than what the eyes see. But this was exactly the point of Tim Burton, to stage a film that simultaneously invites the audience to experience the dilemma of the main character. His film explores concepts of rational and absurd human relationships in a way that challenges and disrupts the collective human conciliation and anticipation.
Tim Burton deems it important for audience to appreciate differently able individuals. He in Edward Scissorhands film elaborates how a creation can be good or bad to other people’s perception may it be intellectually, physically, socially and emotionally and how can a course of action of a special individual be universally accepted and appreciated. The film also diversely tackles the need for impaired people to deal with adversity, have an opportunity to live a life, learn from mistakes, and better understand their strengths and weaknesses as human beings.
In a real sense, the film makes us realize that life has a different take for different people. And we as blessed individuals have a profound impact on them for them to cope with the rigors and the high standards we set in our lives, a venue for differently able individuals to have a more meaningful life. References A Guide to Disability Rights Law. http://www. ada. gov/cguide. htm Avoiding Discrimination. http://www. bmj. com/cgi/content/full/313/7069/1346 Canadian Internation Development Agency. http://www.
acdi- cida. gc. ca/CIDAWEB/acdicida. nsf/En/FRA-4422402-563 Developing of Predictive Communication System for the Physically Disabled People. http://www. springerlink. com/content/wf41nu6rfvy066dn/ Disability World. Issue No. 2 http://www. disabilityworld. org/April- May2000/Governance/StateDept. htm. April-May 2000. Disability Studies. http://www. leeds. ac. uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/UPIAS/UPIAS. pdf Paul K. Longmore. Why I Burned My Book and Other Essays on Disabilility. Chapter 7, p. 142.