A story about a barber killing people by bringing them in as customers and killing them with his barber knife does not sound like the type of story that would be very cultural or have ethics in it or even have any shred of decency. But, the interesting point is that it is full of visual cues and subliminal messages that awake the brain to the actual scenario that the main character is in. The stories, messages, and visual cues are all brought to life by the main character. In the movie, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sweeny Todd is the main character that is completed created by himself in his own mind. It is not even his real name nor does it represent who he used to be. The story has gone through hundreds of years of retelling and different formats of being told. “The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett is based on the hit Broadway musical” (Burton, 2007).
Surrounding the main character of Sweeny Todd are many interesting characters, plot lines, and environments that he puts himself into and also come to him in certain situations. This research will look at the six perspectives of photography in the film Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The tagline of the film “Never Forget. Never Forgive.” is the universal theme of the film (Burton, 2007). It will examine the personal, historical, technical, ethical, cultural, and the critical perspective, all which can be richly seen in the film. All of these perspectives will be examined and explained how they are affected by the film.
The story of the murderous London barber whose victims are baked into meat pies literally dates back to the turn of the 19th century. The story of Sweeney Todd began appearing in print, most likely in the “penny dreadfuls” of the era and probably as an urban legend. The story took hold in the popular imagination when it was presented in the novel The String of Pearls in 1846, which itself was adapted for the stage as Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street the following year. The play was made into a film in 1936 and despite earning popularity for the film’s star, Tod Slaughter, the story of the demon barber slowly faded in and out of the collective consciousness, popping up here and there until 1973, when the playwright Christopher Bond took the tale and made a few radical changes; It is Bond who invented Benjamin Barker, the barber banished to Australia by a powerful judge who covets his beautiful wife and child. Suddenly, the killer becomes a person with whom we empathize. (Manifesto, 2007)
Personal Perspective
The personal perspective of this film is very powerful. Being falsely convicted of a crime that I did not commit because I was at the wrong time at the wrong place is an immense fear of mine. That is one of the reasons that the film spoke out immediately to me in the beginning. It brought fears to the surface that I never could have imagined would happen in that situation. Although Sweeney Todd eventually ends up being a bad guy, you feel for him because of the situation that he is in. I felt like the character had been through so much in his lifetime that it was no wonder he turned out the way that he did. It was extremely haunting to think about the fact that a person can be falsely convicted for a crime and lose 15 years of their life. That would be such a long time that everything that the person knew about life would be completely different in 15 years. His child was completely grown and a young adult by the time he escaped from prison and he had missed the entire childhood of her growing up.
Historical Perspective
The historical perspective that was used to film this movie was the digital photography. The time period is the 1800s for when the story takes place. There were tons of digital effects used throughout the film to bring forth different messages at different parts of the film. It was extremely interesting to see how the digital effects added drama to the film and brought forth messages that would never have been seen. Without the digital photography perspective, this film would be completely different. The exposure, color balance, cropping and adjustments were all used by Tim Burton, the director, to bring forth the overall dark feeling of the film. “The distinction between the wealthy and lower classes was quite evident in London during the nineteenth century. A small portion of the city was set aside for well-kept residences and shopping areas” (Wheeler, 2006). Tim Burton did an excellent job of portraying this in the film. It was easy to see the difference in the poor and wealthy in the film. The judge’s house was large and white and had a rich and powerful feeling while Sweeney Todd’s room was dark and black representing the poor side of town. The film is based on a real life event and was eventually turned into a story and then finally a musical in the 1970’s before being put to film by Tim Burton.
Technical Perspective
The technical perspectives of Sweeny Todd were probably the most amazing out of the entire film. The camera types were extremely expensive cameras that brought the image in crystal clear. The film was made to appear like it was show using high ISO film rather than low ISO film to provide a grainy feeling even though the picture was perfect. Evoking old Hollywood horror pics, Burton has made something very close to a real black-and-white film, as Ferretti’s sets, the extensive CGI backgrounds, Dariusz Wolski’s lensing, Colleen Atwood’s costumes and the pale makeup are synchronized to permit only traces of bold color — mostly red — to accent a world dominated by shades of gray, blue, white and black” (McCarthy, 2007).
The lighting was the key ingredient in the film. Throughout the entire film, low light was used to bring forward the dark feeling. One scene in the film provides brilliantly bright light and blue skies with picture perfect picture green grass to completely change the mood for that one scene. All of these effects pulled the drama deeper into the film and made it so much more real even though it was just a story. The black and white effect of the film made it look like an old film that was documenting what really happened. The film won an Oscar, thirteen other awards and was nominated for 25 awards (IMDB, 2007). Many of the awards were for the technical aspect including the costumes of the characters. The costumes made it more relevant what type of lifestyle each character lived. “There isn’t a frame of this movie that would be out of place in a Hammer Film, a Poe story or an Edward Gorey book” (Manifesto, 2007).
Ethical Perspective
The ethical perspective of the film is extremely in-depth. For one, the director uses extremely gruesome effects to show how Sweeny Todd murdered his victims. He spared the audience nothing in showing how grotesque the man was. This may not seem like an ethical thing to do as a director for a film that is a musical, but Tim Burton decided to go towards the horror genre rather than the musical genre. The ethics were in the character of Sweeney Todd. His world of ethics had been turned upside down because of his false imprisonment. He no longer followed the traditional ethics of a normal person. The story also describes the ethics that the time period had by sentencing a young boy to hang in one scene. The time period that the film was portraying had many ethical dilemmas and corrupt judges like the one in the film.
Manipulation was used throughout the film to make certain characters appear a certain way. They made the child in the film appear as if he were dirty and mistreated without showing any other aspects of his life. Film can manipulate a character much more immensely than a photograph since the film will only show the parts of the characters life that it wants to, leaving out any good aspects. The ethics of the other characters appeared to be just as bad as Sweeney Todd. The woman used his victims in her food and sold it to the public. She was selling human meat to the general public as food and telling them that it was meat pies. Her ethics were definitely not in the right place as well. Towards the end of the film we see how bad Mrs. Lovett’s ethics are when the truth about her is discovered by Sweeney Todd.
Cultural Perspective
The cultural perspective of the film can be described as a photographer as a social documentarian. Tim Burton uses the film that was based in the 1800’s to still convey messages of cultural problems that exist still in today’s world. This film can also be looked at as a photographer as a portraitist. Even though Tim Burton was not focusing on one subject and rather a film, he was still portraying a true story on one man and what he did. This may be the modern way of a portraitist.
Sweeny Todd educates people about a man and the crimes that he committed because of the crimes he didn’t do. It shows what emotional and psychological disorders can occur when unjust in the judicial system occurs. “Returning to London after serving 15 years for a crime he did not commit, Todd is filled with the need for revenge. He meets the middle-aged widow Mrs. Lovett (Carter) who, with little convincing, makes a pact with Todd to do the crooked Judge in” (Delia, 2007). The film portrays problems such as corrupt judges and love stories that exist throughout today’s world. Tim Burton did an excellent job of showing how similar the culture of the 1800’s and today is. The overall ethics and morals have improved greatly since that time, but very few films look at the gruesome side of the historical London lifestyle. It is just assumed that it was a darker time and there are rarely stories such as this one that pinpoints the exact problems that were actually occurring in this time period.
Critical Perspective
Although the story is based in the 1800’s, a viewer can piece together what can happen in today’s world. The film was also created to entertain, just as the original musical written was created to entertain. The original book created in the 1800’s was created to send the story across the landscape for people to read.
All six perspectives bring a much clearer light and understanding to why Sweeny Todd was created the way it was and why it has such an impact on viewers. It brings forth all six aspects into one film and creates a powerful message that can easily be taken away from it. These perspectives bring out the detailed aspects of the film that show why it was created in the manner that it was and why it has won so many awards because of it. In examining the six perspectives of the film, much more about it can be understood. On the first viewing there are many smaller details that are overlooked. As with any musicals, it is always beneficial to watch or listen to them a couple of times to ensure that all the details are seen or picked up. When listening to a musical on a CD before the show, some of the minor details can be missed until the actual show is seen and it is the same concept with watching the musical.
References
Burton, Tim(Director). (2007, December 21). Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [Film series episode]. (Burton, 2007)
Delia , John (2007 December 20). Aced Magazine. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from Sweeney Todd: Deliciously Malicious Web site: http://acedmagazine.com/content/view/816/44/ (Delia, 2007)
IMDB, (2007). Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street . Retrieved June 1, 2008, from IMDB Web site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408236/ – (IMDB, 2007)
Manifesto, The Back Row (2007 December 21). The Back Row Manifesto. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd Web site: http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/015620.html (Manifesto, 2007)
McCarthy, Todd (2007, December 3). Variety. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Web site: http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117935560.html?categoryid=31&cs;=1 (McCarthy, 2007)
Wheeler, Hugh (2006). Bookrags. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Study Guide Web site: http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide sween/hist.html (Wheeler, 2006)
