A Look at (some of) Tim Burton's Best Autistic Characters

Disclaimer: Tim Burton has never publicly addressed being autistic, nor does he argue with it. Clearly, he doesn't care either way and neither should you, friend. Also, spoilers.

Born in 1958, Tim Burton grew up in what he described as a very "textureless" neighborhood in Burbank, California. In the many years before Burton grew into his bigger-than-life-creative-creep reputation, he first started out, like many of us, enamored with monsters. Interested in, and I'm thinking of a specific interview Burton had done during his Sleepy Hollow (1999) press tour where he gushes about Vincent Price for about ten minutes, the way Hollywood depicts a monster; a creature, trying their best to survive in a painfully toxic, pastel-society or a trickster of sorts. A being deeply clever and unseen.

Burton himself has admitted in interviews that he does not "struggle", but rather enjoys showcasing and processing his emotional states through unique and colorful sets and costumes; the trees have a twistable and purplish curve when traveling through a dark and harrowing forest. Gothic stripes on Victorian gowns. Ghoulish stares, starkly painted upon the face of even the quietest of strangers. But why are these details so important? And what do they communicate further past the idea of tone? The foreboding tint, edited onto the screen?

I think two reasons why Burton's aesthetic choices have resonated so much with people is because he sets the mood right away in his creations by:

1. Inviting his audiences with beautifully, eerie visual cues to combine their societal programming, borrowed and forced upon in daily life, with free and impossible imagination, thus, allowing a creative "unblocking" for mundane life (i.e. asking questions like "What if there was a magical witch at the end of your street?" "What would she look like?" "What would she wear?" and leading you, as a child, to romanticize a real, random, and perhaps, solitary person on your block - or at least, that could have just been me. A weird kid, wanting to grow up as both "Alone." and "A witch".)

2. Intentional or not, Burton creates an almost wearable pair of glasses for his audiences. Allowing us to witness the world, lived by Tim, in both wonderful atmospheres (i.e. the hauntingly dark streets of Fleet Street. The whimsical and vibrant greenery in Alice in Wonderland, and so on.) and in horrible prejudice (i.e. Burton's historical insistence on only hiring white actors, his stubbornness to listen to criticism about his racist choices, etc.) all in one over-arching landscape, foundationing the life of Burton's movies, while most of his fans continue to demand that he be more inclusive in future works or alternatively taking the old aesthetic back and expanding it themselves through cosplay, re-animation art, etc.

Truthfully, I think both points I listed above are also notable when examining the autistic metaphors in Burton's work; Burton, his ex-wife, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, and others who've worked closely with Burton, have all claimed that there seems to be some sort of autobiographical moments within some of Burton's projects. Down below I've listed some of my favorite autistic characters, claimed/unclaimed by the community - I don't care if you disagree with these. In fact, I encourage you to think of some on your own and argue with me, just for fun!

1. Edward Scissorhands (1990) Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp)

Truthfully, this movie could be about a ton of identities and it's a shame that Burton was so set on keeping its interpretation into one, strict avenue - Edward Scissorhands is often interpreted as being disabled and growing up/into in an ableist society. The scissors on Edward's hands can be a metaphor both for physical and mental disabilities, but because I'm autistic, I was more sensitive to the striking similarities with how Edward's social experiences matched my own: there are rewards in acting "neurotypical." When Edward first uses his scissors to willingly cut his neighbors' hair, pets, and bushes, posing as a "provider" rather than a threat, he was briefly accepted. But yet, when a misunderstanding arose, and one of the neighbors lied about Edward's actions against her, a mob formed, claiming Edward was violent. In the end, Edward is chased all the way back to his old home by his menacing, ableist neighbors and the rejection is so frightening to Edward that he stays there forever. Only visiting Winona's character via cuttable snow and thus cueing me, sobbing into the night. Reminding me of the times when I too was socially rejected for not being "useful" in a socially capitalistic environment and monsterized (to a lesser degree, due to my other existing privileges.)

2. Beetlejuice (1988) Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder)

The weirdo amongst weirdos; a psychic one too! Did you know that sometimes hyper-vigilance, the intuitive guessing of patterns, and being a person generally sensitive to your surrounding environment's sounds, shapes, and various, spooky-or-non-spooky, chills have an overlapping criterion with being psychically gifted? I didn't! But if you think about it, it kinda makes sense, right? Because truthfully, being expected to anticipate people's feelings sometimes feels like you're conducting a seance. Guess the card behind your back feels eerily familiar to when you're guessing if someone's mad at you or not - something I really admired about Lydia was her quickness toward friends. She didn't spend much time, or any time at all, wondering if ghosts were appropriate friends to have or not; I forget my books can be friends too. That my plants, pets, and objects have obvious life to them. Just as worthy as being perceived as companions, along with all my other familiar friends.

3. Batman Returns (1992) Selina "Catwoman" Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer)

Guys! We are hot! But also I never get tired of screaming into the void that cats and autistic people have a lot more in common than the common man will allow us to know - let us wear leather and claws, all the time! If that's your sensory pleasure, of course, and you love the feeling of tightness surrounding your body, especially after a traumatic experience like Catwoman had, having someone try to unalive her, then go for it, friend. If you don't, there are other costumes in the Batman universe. Typically, I'm more of a Paul Dano, Riddler, type and like to wear a lot of layers. But sometimes, I too, like some gothic stitching, once in a while. And we love a villain being obsessed with the same four jokes, over and over again.