As a longtime fan of the macabre and the unconventional, I must say that the Beetlejuice movies have always been a delightful exploration of the darker side of human nature – particularly when it comes to the institution of marriage. Having gone through a few marriages myself (all ending in various forms of disaster), I find a strange sense of solidarity with these characters who are all too familiar with the horrors that this supposedly sacred bond can bring.
If marriage is a hellish experience, then Tim Burton has an unusual way of portraying it in the beloved Beetlejuice movies. The recent success of Beetlejuice: Beetlejuice has seen both old and new fans react positively to this quirky horror-comedy sequel, thirty-six years after the original Beetlejuice movie made the idea of marriage a legitimate source of nightmares. Interestingly, the upcoming 2024 sequel also centers around an extravagant wedding ceremony with an impressive musical number, tying both films together through Lydia (Winona Ryder) and Beetlejuice’s (Michael Keaton) twisted nuptials.
As a movie enthusiast, I can’t help but notice the underlying message in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice films: they seem to portray marriage as a chilling, deathly experience reminiscent of purgatory. However, this critique is done subtly and with a touch of whimsy that somehow manages to keep it tender and even romantic. In essence, Burton uses Beetlejuice as a canvas to expose the horrors of marriage when it’s reduced to a business contract, stripping it of its true, loving essence.
Beetlejuice Lays the Groundwork
In Tim Burton’s initial film “Beetlejuice”, the blissful union of Adam (played by Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (portrayed by Geena Davis) is introduced in the peaceful town of Winter River. While crossing a bridge, their car veers off to avoid hitting a small dog, plunging into the river below. Upon returning home, they gradually come to terms with their demise, discover a mysterious guidebook titled “Handbook for the Recently Deceased”, and subsequently journey through an unusual realm of existence that lies between the living and the dead.
Upon the arrival of the Deetz family in Maitland from New York to purchase their house, Adam and Barbara notice their gothic daughter, Lydia Deetz, can observe them. Initially disliking her stepmother Delia, Lydia grows fond of Adam and Barbara, expressing a desire to be as lifeless as they are. Meanwhile, the supernatural character Beetlejuice, who dwells within a town model constructed by Adam and hidden in the Maitland attic, is summoned by Adam and Barbara into reality. Beetlejuice promises the couple that he can frighten the Deetz family away, preventing them from desecrating their home and turning it into a commercialized haunted house attraction.
Following their torment of the Deetz family, Adam and Barbara strive to banish the mischievous spirit. A seance is performed in an attempt to resurrect Beetlejuice, using Adam and Barbara’s wedding attire to conjure them back from the dead. Unfortunately, as soon as Adam and Barbara reappear, they rapidly deteriorate, with their bodies aging severely and limbs falling off. This gruesome spectacle of purgatorial torment leaves Lydia with no choice but to act swiftly to save her spectral companions. To accomplish this, Lydia is forced into a hasty wedding with Beetlejuice under the watchful eye of an ominous minister, reinforcing Burton’s theme about the harsh realities of matrimony.
The idea of marrying Beetlejuice leads to disastrous results, as he runs amok in the human world with unrestrained pranks. Thankfully, Lydia is rescued just in the nick of time by the Maitlands following their regeneration, and Barbara confronts Beetlejuice using a Sandworm in the beloved horror-comedy. Not only is the thought of marriage terrifying, but during the ceremony, Lydia loses her ability to speak whenever she attempts to voice her opposition to the union as Beetlejuice silences her.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Amps Up the Anti-Marriage Themes
In the movie “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the idea that marriage is a form of torment is a recurring theme. The embodiment of evil is most evident when Beetlejuice’s ex-wife Delores (played by Monica Bellucci) appears. She is depicted as a sinister succubus, thirsting for revenge against her former husband. Each time Delores appears on screen, she drains the vitality from her victims, leaving their bodies as limp and lifeless rubber dolls. Every mention or thought of Delores causes Beetlejuice to express feelings of distress and despair, suggesting that he views marriage as synonymous with death and destruction. Despite this, as Delores chases him, all Beetlejuice longs for is to be reunited with Lydia, the one who slipped away 36 years ago.
In Lydia’s life, the concept of marriage is tainted by a past filled with grief and loss. Her husband Richard perished in an accident in the Amazon. When her producer boyfriend Rory made his unsuitable proposal at Charles’ funeral, Lydia found herself with another opportunity for matrimony. However, she hesitated to marry Rory due to her lack of genuine affection towards him and because Delia and Astrid, her daughter, strongly disapproved. Yet, two days later on Halloween, despite knowing it was the wrong choice, Lydia consented to marry Rory.
At the spooky Halloween wedding, tensions over marriage hit an all-time high. Under the influence of a truth serum, Rory confesses his true feelings for Lydia: he doesn’t love her and doesn’t want to marry her sincerely. Instead, Rory aims to marry Lydia to gain control over her “Ghost House” TV show and exploit her financially. As Lydia discovers Rory’s deceit, Beetlejuice mysteriously appears in wedding attire, preparing to marry Lydia.
Instead of finding blissful joy in marrying Lydia, Beetlejuice finds himself plunged into a nightmare when Delores unexpectedly shows up at the church to wreak vengeance. With Delores as the malevolent ex, Rory the deceitful traitor, Lydia’s previous union tainted by death, and Beetlejuice striving for redemption, the film repeatedly emphasizes the terrors that marriage can bring.
Marriage as a Hellish Metaphor in the Beetlejuice Movies
In the movie “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Charles Deetz’s untimely death serves as a grim reminder of the film’s theme of a troubled marriage. Delia explains that Charles perished in a fateful plane crash, leaving only his headless body behind in the entertaining horror-comedy. Traversing the Netherworld with a gruesome spinal cord, Charles seeks to reconnect with his family. After being mortally bitten by venomous twin snakes, Delia is reunited with Charles in the Netherworld, and they both hop onto the Soul Train destined for The Great Beyond. While it’s heartwarming that they found each other, their reunion required a gruesome beheading and a senseless snake bite to occur.
In the chilling finale of Beetlejuice, Adam and Barbara’s grim demise serves as a reminder that the perils of matrimony surpass merely being wedded to Beetlejuice himself. Marrying Beetlejuice is an ominous predicament for Lydia, much like Delores’ union with him was a living nightmare. However, the afterlife doesn’t grant them a blissful marital resolution; instead, it seals the doom of long-wedded human pairs Adam and Barbara, as well as Charles and Delia, who were tainted by Beetlejuice for eternity. The twist is that Beetlejuice perceives marriage as a path to redemption, when in truth, it frequently leads not to heaven, but to an awkward afterlife.
Beetlejuice is available to stream on AppleTV+ and Max.
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2024-09-18 05:31