Full moon magic in »Corpse Bride«

Fitting in with today’s full moon and the forthcoming events of Halloween, we dedicate this article to the stop motion movie »Corpse Bride« (2005) by Tim Burton, the master of bizarre and subtle productions. The movie is based on a Russian legend »Corpse Bride« and captures the story of a wedding between two people of varying social backgrounds (Victor & Victoria) or rather differing worlds (Victor & Emily), with the resulting tension.

Victor is a young man, of a family grown rich by fish trade, who is to be married to Victoria, daughter of an aristocratic home (impoverished behind the scenes). At the wedding rehearsal, Victor’s nerves fail however, so much that he is forced to practise his vow. Therefore, at night he walks into the wood and by mistake pledges his promise to a deceased bride named Emily, who takes him along to the afterworld. Victor tries to return to his world to see Victoria, which leads to various problems and confrontations. At the same time, he begins to fall in love with Emily …

There are two full moon scenes in this movie. At first, you see the Moon in its full glory between trees of the wood, when Victor and Emily reach the world of the living with the help of a magic potion. As to that, the following clip:

Furthermore, the full moon creates the image at the end, when Emily relinquishes Victor, not to be in the way of the love between him and Victoria, and thereupon transforms into hundreds of butterflies, rising to the sky in the full moon light.

The movie is justly acclaimed as a milestone in its genre, it is worth seeing and an elaborately staged piece of art. Almost natural that the full moon has to be present …