Mroski Ed Wood

Ed Wood

Ed Wood pays homage to Edward Wood in a tragically dignified manner.  I loved how the movie itself took place on cheesy looking sets in black and white, just to glorify Ed Wood's "style" of screenwriting.  The movie had a great sense of sketchiness about it; its artistic value is great since it takes so much of Ed's cheap looking style into account.  Also, the book-ending helped set the corny tone that was supposed to be felt in the movie.
Ed Wood was filled with many different shots of the films Edward Wood himself created, replicated very well by the cast of the Burton film.  There were many scenes, from the zombie Vampira scene, to the scene with Bela going on his favorite speech, to the scene in Glenn or Glenda when his wife gives Glenn (or Glenda) the shirt.  All of the these scenes are a great homage to viewers who know his works, as well as a hint that the story is biographical to those who do not know about his movies.  I was shocked at the similarity when I watched the documentary  as well as plan 9, at how similar they were. Those similar little shots drew me in and made me want to actually watch more of his movies to see if I could catch the extra shots that were "stolen" from the movie.
Many of the characters were strikingly similar to the real life people that they represented.  The casting was very well done and in some cases looked frighteningly close to how the real people looked. As with the familiar scenes, the familiar characters draw in non-fans and captivate die hard B movie watchers.
All of these characters were total outsiders.  They were all somehow rejected from the Hollywood world.  This was interesting because Tim Burton tends to also have a little cult of people that feel most accepted with him.  Just as Ed Wood, Tim Burton re-cycles actors and works with the outsider-type people that he feels most comfortable with.  Casting characters who look so similar to their real life counterparts brings Tim Burton's ability to withhold judgement, just like Ed Wood, come to life.