Close Reading: Reasons For Selection

• Briefly describe the scene.
• How does it fit into the film as a whole?
• Why did it appeal to you?

I have decided to study the opening sequence of "Edward Scissorhands". The initial opening scene, where Kim is tucking her granddaughter in, introduces a main character, albeit much older than she is in the rest of the film. Her granddaughter asks her "where does snow come from?", and Kim replies by beginning her story about Edward. The camera moves out the window and toward the house up on the hill where Edward lived, and the opening titles begin. The main feature of these titles is different, distinct images, generally in a blue light, against a black background. These include cookies, which is an allusion to the cookie making device that the inventor is using when he is hit with the idea for Edward, and snow, referring to the ice sculptures that Edward makes, which are used later in the film to represent his innocence and isolation. Hands are another image used, which is a clear reference to Edward and the fact that he never received his hands. The images used introduce some central ideas to the movie.

It fits into the film as a whole because, by beginning many years after the film takes place, it sets up the narrative of the story and hooks the viewer in, making them want to find out what the story is that Kim is about to tell her granddaughter, that story being the main body of the film.

This appealed to me because it is a simplistic way to introduce the film's genre, general tone and main characters. It also introduces one of the film's main settings, the inventor's house.