A Critical Analysis Of Little Shop Of Horrors

This year Waverly High School's Music Program, under the direction of Ms. Wilson, put on an outstanding performance of this year's musical, Little Shop of Horrors.

“Don’t feed the plants” is a common phrase you will hear around Skid Row, as well as on the VCHS drama stage this fall as the Valley Center Drama Department has begun production on “Little Shop of Horrors”. The musical follows geek Seymour as he pursues the love of his life Audrey , while also trying not to be eaten by a killer plant known as “Audrey 2”. Auditions began early september. Students involved in Megan Upton Tyner Advanced Theater Class , or Mike McCormick's Madrigals Choir received an opportunity to prepare a song piece and audition for any role. “We are always impressed with the work and effort that some students put into their audition pieces.” Tyner said. “Most students really stepped up their game and that was exciting to see.” She continued.

Watching frightening films such as “It,” Stephen King’s masterpiece, which is engrossing its monumental audience, is a favorite pastime of many young people. This industry is vast and creates a large amount of wealth for many of the people behind it. However, parents should diligently research these films’ psychological effects on minors before allowing their children to engage in this form of entertainment. After all, “‘Given that very young children may not yet know what types of stimuli frighten them most, nor do they enjoy the power to choose which media the family will view, they are in special need of protection from exposure to such scary stimuli before coping strategies are necessary’” (“Scary”). This shows that parents must carefully consider the content they allow their children to see. People watch horror movies for myriad reasons, as shown in Stephen King’s essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” and watching these films have both positive and negative effects that parents should be aware of, which are displayed in Stephen King’s essay “Why We Crave Horror Movies” and in the USA Today article “Scary Movies and TV Programs Have Long-Lasting Effects.”

Wes Craven’s horror movie “Scream”, inspired the gruesome murder of Gina Castillo. Castillo’s sixteen year old son and his fifteen year old cousin killed Gina Castillo. Why would anyone wish to watch the petrifying film, “Scream”? What would trigger a person to take inspiration from the horror movie, “Scream”. Stephen King describes horror as a piece of the human condition. Author of several horror novels, Stephen King wrote an essay titled “Why We Crave Horror.” In this paper he thoroughly explains why the human species craves horror and how it makes humans feel. In this essay, Stephen King precisely claims that humans desire, horror because horror pushes them to face their fears, renew their feelings of normality, and to expose

If somebody asked me what my favorite type of movie is I would probably say horror. I would say horror because it provides a thrill in me that no other type of movie sparks within me. When reading Stephen King’s article I realized there is more to a horror movie than just thrill, there is anticipation, and even suspense shown. In “Why We Crave Horror Movies”, Stephen King uses a mysterious tone and pathos to successfully persuade his audience of kids and adults into watching mysterious horror movies that will let you re-establish your feelings.

Edward Scissorhands and We Have Always Lived in the Castle are considered to be apart of the Gothic Fiction genre. The Gothic genre is a very modern one. As stated in The British Library on Gothic Motifs, “Gothic novels of the late 18th and 19th centuries…including marginal places, transitional time periods and the use of fear and manipulation.” Gothic literature is a type of literature that combines the supernatural, the absurd, and the grotesque in order to get the point behind the story across to the reader. This type of literature has a certain feel to it that can make a person question the story to where they use the darkness of it to find the meaning behind the story instead of using the light of the story.

Many young adults grow up watching horror movies. Either they are surrounded by friends or family that enjoy the thrill of the subject matter or they find it interesting themselves. According to two authors these movies can have both positive and negative effects on those who frequently enjoy them. According to Stephen King’s essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies” those who seek out scary movies are simply doing so to gain a release from the real world. In opposition, Bernie DeGroat author of the essay “Scary Movies Can Have Lasting Effects on Children and Teens” presents study findings that horror and violent films may be detrimental to the development of a young person. Stephen King’s essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies” provides a more

In my essay I am going to reference two films, Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Vincent (1982), directed by Tim Burton. Edward Scissorhands, is Tim Burton’s take on the Frankenstein story. We can clearly see the influences that have appealed to Tim Burton in the classic Frankenstein (1931) was not the character’s monstrousness appeal but the sense of sad sorrow that audiences sympathized to in Boris Karloff’s performance. Whereas in Tim Burton’s vision, we see a “Special” character as the Frankenstein Monster, in the similar way that we call people with disabilities Special. And then we have Vincent, a short stop-motion animation. The short film itself is an entertaining aspect of a suburban boy named Vincent who recites Edgar Ellen Poe and categorizes with Horror film star, Vincent Price. With similarities to Edward Scissorhands, the main character is a chance for Tim Burton to represent himself on the screen as a tortured boy, outsider and artist. I am going to discuss how cultural and psychological concerns are represented through characterization, art direction, cinematography, and sound. I will support my discussion by analyzing a reflection on both the similarities and differences between the two films, and whether a distinctive “Burton” signature (aesthetics, cultural and psychological concerns) is evident.

The horror genre has held a prominent position in culture for most of history. Beginning in folklore, used as a device to scare children into good behaviors (e.g. The Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tales), horror has integrated its way into the 21st century through film, and in recent years even video games. Yearly, primarily during the fall when the leaves start to brown and the natural eerie sense of fear fills the air around Halloween, the film industry likes to fill in the holes between its major grossing seasons by filling the audience with fear. However, it was Christmas of 1973 that defined the new age of Horror, when William Friedkin released The Exorcist. According to Julia Heimerdinger of Academia’s online journal, Horror, as a whole, can

Tim Burton created Edward Scissor hands out of his own experiences in Collage. It is Modern Fantasy which uses narrative and Film conventions to create the mixture of Horror and Fantasy. Fantasy films have their own charatestics and those are how we can determine what genre the movie belongs to. A fantasy Film will normally be in an enclosed space, the setting oF Edward scisoor hand is way that Tim Burton makes the film aFantesy film. Like most movies there is a clsh between a villan and the main Charater changes during the film aswel. Many other things make a film what it is like the Charaters the plot and even the sound.

Crucial to Little Women and Treasure Island is Amy March’s and Jim Hawkins’ journey abroad which also shows the characters trajectory from innocence to maturity. Certainly, both novels belong to the sub-genre of bildungsroman which is by definition, a story that depicts a journey from childhood to maturity. In spite of their different goals and outcomes, it is possible to trace some sort of parallelism between both journeys as they were indirectly intended to shape their characters in line with the social norms of that time.

The film Edward Scissorhands is a contemporary archetype of the gothic genre exploring themes such as unrequited love, social rejection and human creation as defined by Tim Burton. Feature films explore different ideals that can be categorized into different genres that create expectations among audiences about characters, settings, plots and themes. Edward Scisscorhands directed by Tim Burton in the year 1990 is described as both a dark romantic fantasy and a gothic horror film. The film tells a story about Edward Scissorhands, the creation of an elderly inventor who dies before he can give Edward his normal hands in place of his scissor hands. Edward is taken from the mansion he lives in by a suburban family in an attempt to live a

Featuring a timeless pop/rock score by Alan Menken and book and lyrics by Howard Ashman, this terrifying tale of Seymour Krelborn and his fateful discovery in a floral shop will have you laughing and cringing at the same time. What he once thought was merely a strange and unusual plant becomes a seemingly unstoppable monster with an unyielding thirst for human blood! This classic sci-fi horror musical will be brought to life by the talented performers of Danville’s I Can Do That! Theatre Company.

"The mythic horror movie, like the sick joke, has a dirty job to do. It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us. It is

Often the horror genre acts as what Mark Gatiss (2010) deems a ‘collective dream’ in his miniseries A History of Horror, where socio-cultural anxieties are depicted in the realm of fantasy in which consumers can freely enjoy. As Slavoj Žižek’s commented in is documentary The Perverts Guide to Cinema (2006), "we have a perfect name for fantasy realised. It's called, 'nightmare.'" Research into the genre of horror inevitably uncovers research into Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis. Interpretation of the horror medium is greatly assisted with psychoanalysis, as Freud's theories offer scholars multiple avenues of thought and analysis. This may be from the basis of dream interpretation and the application of such ideology in horror 'fantasy', to