I am researching the role of women in films directed by Tim Burton, if they have changed and if they have why they have.
I chose The Planet Of The Apes (2001) as my main film to research because it was Burton's first big budget sci-fi film and the two lead female characters were so different to eachother, also after using helena bonham carter in this film he then went on to use her in a lot of his other films. This leads to people wondering if it is because they are together or whether he just likes her as an actress as he likes Johnny Depp as an actor.
Although Bonham-Carter Plays an ape there is still a sexual element to her. In the scene where Leo (Mark Wahlberg) is saying goodbye to everyone, there is a high angled shot on Ari to make her look more vunerable to the audience while she is saying that Leo means a lot to her. He then promptly kisses her. Burton had made her a strong character until this point. Estella Warren playing Daena also kisses him, she kisses him after watching him kiss Ari this puts her in a bad light, though not technically as although she is playing a primative human she still has 'access to lipstick, eyeliner pencil and other crucial styling aids'1. This does kill any type of feeling that it doesn't matter if the lead female character is pretty, ugly or an ape to be a love interest.
With an estimated budget of $100000000 it only made just over half of that in the opening weekend in the USA $68532960
1. Sight and Sound 2001 - Andrew O'hehir
No comments:
Post a Comment