A Great Life for the Deceased

Tim Burton’s, The Corpse Bride is a film that examines life in the Land of the Living with those in

the Land of the Dead. This hilarious animated film suggests that the immortal souls from the Land of the

Dead love their exciting life compared to the mortal souls on Earth. The contrasting characteristics of the

two opposing lands are creatively revealed through the appearance of characters, colors, shots, angles,

lighting and unique sense of humor.

While we were viewing the motion picture the most evident difference between the two lands

was the level of enthusiasm and comical aspects the characters portrayed. In the Land of the Living

humor displayed by the characters is limited. There is a hint of comedy when Victor Van Dort is nervous

during his wedding rehearsal; He perceives himself to be a fool in front of the Everglots and Priest. There

is also an attempt to entertaining the audience in the opening scene during the song, “According to

Plan”. Mrs. Van Dort is stuck in the carriage door and continues to blame it on her dress although it is

evident her dress is not causing the problem, but her body shape is rather the cause. The slight humor

shows the dullness of the mortal character personalities and lack of sense of humor. By contrast, the

Land of the Dead is full of exciting characters that have accepted the end of human lives and make their

life after death enjoyable. There are many jokes told by each deceased character. For example, “The

view takes me breathe away, if I had any” quoted from the Corpse Bride. There are many scenes in the

Land of the Dead which display humor. For example, when the Corpse Bride and Victor journey up to the

Land of the Living, Emily, also known as the Corpse Bride, in attempt to be graceful, trips over a root and

loses her leg. The character’s attitudes in both lands are almost pole opposites. The Land of the Dead

enjoys sharing songs in the film to explain how the “immortals” end up deceased.

The use of color is an evident difference between the opposite worlds. In the Land of the Living,

the characters and surroundings are portrayed as boring, gloomy and dull. The tone the director creates

in the Land of the Living appears not quite black and white, but rather grey to show the characters dead,

plain personalities and giving them the characteristics of being depressed. The film portrays the Land of

the Living to be uninteresting to the audience, and makes the Land of the Dead appear exhilarating and

exciting with a splash of bright colors. The purple and green lighting makes the Land of the Dead appear

more inviting and fun. The vibrant color of the characters makes their personalities more youthful and

happy. The people in the Land of the Dead are more dynamic than the people of the Land of the Living.

The dead were free from restrictions and could do what they please because they had no rules and no

one to punish them.

The last difference that became apparent while comparing the two worlds in the film was the

appearance and personalities of the characters. The characters in the Land of the Living are ill-tempered

and greedy. The only thing they truly care about is wealth and to do what is best for them. As well, in

the land of the Living the voices of the characters are less exciting and naturally convince the viewers

that they are miserable when interacting with one another. Most of the characters in the Land of the

Living have jagged faces and strong facial expressions which m