The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and Edward Scissorhands (1990) are two different but similar movies in their own regards. One of the major things that will be discussed is the attitudes between both characters (Cesarek and Edward). Another one of the major things that will be risen up in this blog is the setting of both of the films. The finally thing that will be discussed is what both films say about the society and it's acceptance on "different" people.
        Both films open up as seemingly odd and somewhat creepy. However, in  The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari the environment throughout the entire film seems quite more odd than in Edward Scissorhand. 

Notice in this picture above how the environment is quite unrealistic to objects we see today. The vines are curvy and thinner than what they are modeled after. Everything in the background is just very curvy and bizarre. In a way, everything is sorta dream like. Everything else in the film is basically the same way the abstract design elements and how everything seems to look like it was made out of cardboard.It's kind of an unfair comparison since one movie is in black and white. However, just by looking at the shades of the different textures and environment factors show that if this movie was in color, it would have way more color variety than Edward Scissorhands.

Compare this to  The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as the environment and setting of Edward Scissorhands. The first thing anyone can notice is the fact that the entire movie itself has color compared to the previous film. However, all this was is just tinting not actual color as we see in movies today. Another difference is that the environment looks way more realistic than the previous film does However, the houses in this photo and pretty much everything else in the movie are bland. Everything is a solid bright color with no difference whatsoever. It's not just the houses, even the cars are bland and even match the house they come from. One thing to note is that the men in the film are on a fixed schedule that they go by every day. The women of the movie seem to be just gossipy housewives that know everyone in the neighborhood. 

Another comparison that needs to be made is the main protagonist themselves.

To start off, Cesare seems to be more accepted for more of who he is. The objective of Cesare is similar to Edward's as to hook up with a girl that he likes. However, Cesare makes it more clear what he wants as Edward gives glances with the girl he wants. There were people that didn't acceot him because of his orgins and by how scary he looked. However, he was not offended by it mostly because he relied on the scientist that created him. Secondly looking at the designing of Cesare. One may notice that they really focused on the makeup on both characters. Cesare seems to have makeup focused primarily around his eyes and above. Edward seems to have moderate makeup all over the place around his face. However, both seem to have that wild monster-like hair style where its all over the place.  


Edward's story is a bit more upsetting than Cesare's. In the movie he is up in the most different object in the movie which is the chasel on the hill. There are many different forms of symbolism just by the place he lives in. The place is dark and creepy which at first glance at him, many thought he was a monster just by his appearance. All he wanted was for people to accept who he is, similar to Cesare. There were the handful of people that actually did accept him. However, at the climax of the film, most of the suburban neighborhood hated him. The only part where people sorta adored him is when they noticed how good he was at cutting bushes and hair. However, these are only things that made him feel as if he was being used but didn't show it that much. All this says about the society is that most people do not accept different but there are that few that do.