The Corpse Bride, a film by Tim Burton, is loosely based on the Jewish folktale “The Finger,” which tells the story of a man accidentally marrying the undead ghost of a murdered bride. The film is inspired by anti-Semitic Russian folktales, such as the Shivhei ha-Ari collection of stories. The original story revolves around a young man who accidentally becomes married to a living corpse and how he escapes his ghoulish fate.
The film’s plot is based on a 19th-century Russian folktale given to Burton 10 years ago by close friend and Pixar story guru Joe Ranft, who tragically died in a car accident on August 16. The Corpse Bride is a sweet and touching tale that pits the living against the dead, with the dead coming across as more colorful and mysterious.
The film’s characters include Johnny Depp as Victor, Helena Bonham Carter as the Corpse Bride, and Emily Watson as Victoria. Depp worked simultaneously on “Corpse Bride” and Burton’s hit film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The Corpse Bride’s veil was particularly hard to animate, making it difficult to create a realistic portrayal of the character.
The Corpse Bride is a haunting and heartfelt film that explores themes of love, betrayal, and the longing for connection. The film features an incredible cast of actors, including Johnny Depp as Victor, Helena Bonham Carter as the Corpse Bride, and Emily Watson as Victoria. The film also acknowledges the antisemitic pogroms that occurred during the 1880s-1900s, and the story’s origins can be traced back to a 17th-century text documenting the exploits of a legendary rabbi, Issac Luria of Safed.
📹 The VERY Messed Up Origins™ of Corpse Bride | Folklore Explained
▽ Timestamps ▽ » 0:00 – Intro » 2:08 – Sponsor » 3:39 – The Finger » 10:21 – The Demon in the Tree » 15:03 – What does it mean …
What is the message behind Corpse Bride?
Death. What a scary word. Death is scary. It’s scary because it’s unknown. Tim Burton shows in Corpse Bride that death doesn’t have to be scary. He makes life in his films seem sad and peaceful, and the afterlife seems calm. Tim Burton makes the Corpse Bride less scary for kids by using color, songs, and funny dialogue. A YouTuber named KungFuKuya says Tim Burton’s worlds are set in Victorian and gothic England. They’re like nightmares, but also romantic. They’re like dreams where you can escape reality. Sometimes we all wish we could escape reality and just daydream. Tim Burton’s movies make us laugh and think about the afterlife in new ways. A post on Artifice.com explains the dark themes of the movies well. It says that when the audience sees the contrast between the living and the dead, it makes them think that death can be better than life on earth. This life has many good things, even though it’s not easy. Some people have more than others. At first, it seems that Burton doesn’t like what many people consider a gift. He says life is worth living at the end of the movie, when Emily says, “I’ve spent so long in the dark, I almost forgot how beautiful the moonlight is.” Emily is surrounded by blue butterflies, which represent her life being complete and her fear of death being gone. Before this, Emily had just confronted her murderer and released Victor from his marriage to her so he could marry Victoria, his former fiancée. Emily shows how death can be peaceful and that she is mature. We learn maturity as we grow older. Some grow up faster than others, but we all have to grow up and make grown-up decisions. It can be scary and frustrating because we have to ignore our wants and make the right choice. Emily shows maturity and sacrifice when she lets Victor marry Victoria, even though she loves him. She says, “I was a bride.” My dreams were taken away. But now I’ve taken them from someone else. “I love you, Victor, but you’re not mine” (Bride). It takes courage to say that and ignore your feelings. Not just feelings, but what’s best for you. A writer from JohnAugust.com describes Emilys situation well: “Corpse Bride wants to be married, but she needs to free herself from her curse” (August). Victor was mature and made a sacrifice when he agreed to marry and die for Emily to stay in the Land of the Dead, even though he loved Victoria. This movie shows maturity and inspires people to make good choices. I think this movie is fantastic for another reason. True love never dies. Helen Keller said, “What we love deeply becomes a part of us.”When we let love and life happen, we can know immense joy. When we let love and life happen, even if it means sacrificing, we can know immense joy. Love never dies. The Corpse Bride is a must-see because it shows that true passion never fails. William Shakespeare said, “True love never is easy” (Shakespeare). Victor and Victoria finally married after many struggles. This shows that love conquers all. In The Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom tries to make Christine love him. When he learns that Christine is willing to sacrifice her own desires for Raul, the man she loves, the Phantom realizes how selfish he has been and lets Christine go. He still loves her. E. M. Forster said, “You can’t love and leave.” You’ll wish it was. You can’t control love. The poets are right: love is eternal (Forster). Even though Victor liked Emily, his heart belonged to Victoria. Emily knew this and let Victor go. They found peace and happiness.
Is there a Corpse Bride 2?
Corpse Bride 2 is coming out in 2023.
What Russian folktale is Corpse Bride based on?
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride has a sad real-life inspiration. The Corpse Bride story was inspired by a Jewish folktale called The Finger. It’s about a man who accidentally marries a ghost bride.
Who was Corpse Bride dedicated to?
Corpse Bride is based on a Jewish folktale. Joe Ranft introduced it to Burton while they were finishing The Nightmare Before Christmas. Filming started in November 2003, while Burton was making Big Fish. He also made Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the same time. The stop-motion animation was made at 3 Mills Studios in London. It was shot with digital cameras, not film cameras. Burton brought Depp and Elfman on board. The film was dedicated to Joe Ranft, who died during production. Corpse Bride premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 7, 2005, and was released in the US on September 23, 2005, and in the UK on October 13, 2005. It was praised for its animation, characters, songs, and humor. The film won the National Board of Review for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for the 78th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. The film won the Annie Award for Technical Achievement in 2006 and was nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Character Design, and Best Direction.
Plotted. In an unnamed Victorian town, Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot prepare for their arranged marriage. It will raise the social class of the Van Dort family and restore the wealth of the Everglot family. The two are nervous but fall in love when they meet. But Victor, nervous about the wedding, messes up the rehearsal. He forgets his vows, drops the ring, and accidentally sets Lady Everglot’s dress on fire. He runs to a nearby forest and rehearses his vows with a tree, putting his wedding ring on an upturned root. However, the root is revealed to be the finger of a dead girl named Emily in a wedding dress. She rises from the grave, says she is Victor’s new wife, and takes him to the Land of the Dead. While with Emily, Victor learns she was murdered by her fiancé, who stole her jewels and gold (Remains of the Day). Emily brings Victor’s dog, Scraps, back to life. They bond. However, Victor tricks Emily into returning to the living by saying he wants her to meet his parents. Emily takes Victor to see Elder Gutknecht, the ruler of the underworld, who lets them pass through. Victor and Victoria reunite and Victor asks her to marry him. Before they can kiss, Emily finds them and is hurt. She takes Victor back to the Land of the Dead. Emily says Victoria is the other woman, but Victor says she is the other woman and he didn’t want to marry her. Victoria tries to tell her parents about Victor, but they don’t believe her. They think he’s left her and she’s going crazy. Against her will, Victoria’s parents marry her to Lord Barkis Bittern, a wealthy stranger who showed up at the wedding rehearsal.
What ethnicity is Emily from Corpse Bride?
Emily met Lord Barkis Bittern, a poor man she fell in love with. Her parents didn’t approve because he was poor. Barkis convinced her to elope with him using his charm when her parents rejected him. They met at 3 a.m. under an oak tree in the woods. On that foggy night, Emily left wearing her mother’s wedding dress and carrying a small fortune (a gold bag with the family jewels) with her, the last at Lord Barkis’ request. The young lady didn’t know her groom-to-be only wanted her family’s fortune. After waiting in the dark forest, Emily was robbed and murdered by Barkis. We don’t know how she died. Barkis is a skilled swordsman, and Emily said he left her for dead. It’s likely he stabbed her and left her in the woods to die. Before she died, she promised to stay under the tree until her true love asked her to marry him. Emily comes out of the ground to accept Victor’s marriage proposal.
Where does the Corpse Bride story come from?
Corpse Bride is based on the Jewish folk tale The Finger. The film changes the story but keeps the main idea. A man accidentally marries a corpse who tries to hold him to his vows. The dead cannot be bound to the living, so the corpse leaves. This framework creates two different stories. The Finger is about keeping promises, while Corpse Bride is about love and letting go. In the Jewish folktale The Finger, a young man is out in the woods celebrating his upcoming marriage when he and his friends find a corpse. The young man takes out his wedding ring and puts it on the corpse’s finger as a joke. He recites his wedding vows and the corpse rises, claiming him as her husband. The young man and his friends run away. The corpse chases them through the woods, but they escape. In Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Victor Van Dort (Depp) is a nervous young man. He is in the woods alone after a bad wedding rehearsal. He’s practicing his vows and puts the ring on a finger he thinks is a twig, but it’s actually a finger of a dead person. The corpse also claims him as her husband. The change is subtle but important. Victor is more sympathetic to the audience if he just practices his vows instead of making a joke.
Is there a book of Corpse Bride?
The book is divided into three parts: the land of the living, the land of the dead, and going upstairs. It’s similar to the movie. Parts one and two are about how the story and movie were made. I didn’t know Corpse Bride was stop-motion. It was made well. I learned a lot more about stop-motion while reading this book. You wouldn’t think of these things while watching the movie. Animated movies take years to make, but stop-motion adds even more time because each shot takes patience and retakes. It’s fascinating. Part three is about the story. It briefly tells the story and adds songs with lyrics. I enjoyed reading this, but I can’t rate it properly because of my rating system. It’s a 4.
Who is the Maggot from Corpse Bride based on?
Reitels plays Maggot like Austrian-born actor Peter Lorre. Maggot is a maggot and lives in the Land of the Dead. He’s one of Emily’s closest friends.
Appearance. Maggot is lime-green with big pink lips. Big, sexy, boy whistle. Personality: Maggot often gives Emily advice, though she doesn’t always like it. He’s also very morbid and likes gore. He also protects Emily and threatens Victor and Lord Barkis if he thinks they’re a threat.
Is Corpse Bride based off a book?
Corpse Bride is based on a Jewish folktale. Joe Ranft introduced it to Burton while they were finishing The Nightmare Before Christmas. Filming started in November 2003, while Burton was making Big Fish. He also made Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the same time. The stop-motion animation was made at 3 Mills Studios in London. It was shot with digital cameras, not film cameras. Burton brought Depp and Elfman on board. The film was dedicated to Joe Ranft, who died during production. Corpse Bride premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 7, 2005, and was released in the US on September 23, 2005, and in the UK on October 13, 2005. It was praised for its animation, characters, songs, and humor. The film won the National Board of Review for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for the 78th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. The film won the Annie Award for Technical Achievement in 2006 and was nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Character Design, and Best Direction.
Plotted. In an unnamed Victorian town, Victor Van Dort and Victoria Everglot prepare for their arranged marriage. It will raise the social class of the Van Dort family and restore the wealth of the Everglot family. The two are nervous but fall in love when they meet. But Victor, nervous about the wedding, messes up the rehearsal. He forgets his vows, drops the ring, and accidentally sets Lady Everglot’s dress on fire. He runs to a nearby forest and rehearses his vows with a tree, putting his wedding ring on an upturned root. However, the root is revealed to be the finger of a dead girl named Emily in a wedding dress. She rises from the grave, proclaims herself Victor’s new wife, and takes him away to the Land of the Dead.
Did Victor ever love Emily?
After thinking Victoria gave him a rebound since he’s married, why not get married too? Heartbroken, Victor decided to devote himself to Emily. He even agreed to give up his life for her. But Victor didn’t love Emily. He might have only agreed to marry Emily out of sympathy. He tried to apologize to Emily for being different. Despite his nervousness, Victor is brave in urgent situations. He fought Lord Barkis with a fork thrown to him by Mrs. Plum during his and Emily’s wedding ceremony. Lord Barkis was armed with a sword.
Plot. Victor’s family are fish merchants who recently became rich by inventing canned fish. Victor was unsure of marrying someone he didn’t know until he met Victoria, the daughter of Finis and Maudeline. They fell in love and before they could have a romantic moment, they were called for the wedding rehearsal.
What is the finger folktale about?
The second story in Schwartz’s collection is called “The Demon in the Tree.” This version starts with a rabbi’s son in Worms. One day, the son sees a finger emerge from a tree and puts a ring on it. The finger belongs to one of Lilith’s daughters, who says the boy is her husband. The boy and his friend run away from the demon. Years later, the boy is married to a young girl. The demon in the tree kills the bride on their wedding night. This happens again, and the man thinks he’s cursed. The third bride avoids being killed and makes a deal with the demon to “share” her husband. This story is about a love triangle between the man, woman, and a supernatural creature. In the first story, the bride was mostly on the side. Here, she calms the restless spirit. The film shows how Victoria deals with Victor being trapped in the Underworld with Emily. The demon lets the man out of his marriage, too. This is like the end of the film.
📹 Corpse Bride’s Disturbing Origins
Corpse Bride is based on an old story that is much much darker than the Tim Burton movie makes it out to be. As I go over this old …
Corps bride is amazing. It acutally helps me not be scared of Death, as it’s a huge fear of mine for absalutly no reason. The song “Day’s of the dead” is a great way to help not only understand the brides tragic end, but to also view as death to being so bad since we all end up dead at some point, and it makes it so much more calmer to think about.
Fellow Jew here. And fyi: In the Demon in the Tree, the demon almost certainly didn’t release the man from his promise out of the kindness of her heart. As you stated, the couple entered a Contract with the demon. Contracts are hugely important, serious matters in Jewish culture and religion. From the sounds of it, that contract essentially made the man an indentured servant to the demon (in actuality, a dead Jewish woman). And in Jewish law, indentured servants and slaves alike are required to be offered freedom after 6 years of servitude, i.e. in the 7th year (Shemos 21:2, Parshas Mishpatim; Devarim 15:12, Parshas Re’eh). So yeah, she was following required law, not being kindhearted.
I definitely agree with the origin/moral theory for The Finger but… I am wondering if the roots of The Demon in the Tree might be somewhere in the long history of captivity for the Hebrew people. Essentially, that the story was told as a way to remind that their captivity was a consequence for disrespecting the Law but also to warn that fighting back (burning the tree) isn’t the wisest approach but rather learning to live in peace with their oppressors may allow them freedom in the long run? Either way, I think looking for origins in the culture rather specific historical periods or events is spot on. Nice work!
It makes me think of the tale of “La Dame Blanche”. I guess you can translate it to “The White Lady”. It’s about à bride too, if i remember correctly, La Dame Blanche is a bride that have been killed or burried alive or something like that, i don’t really remember the story sadly. There is a witness that wait until the killer goes away to try and save the poor woman, but it’s already too late.. Since i don’t remember much i can’t say more, but you should check it out, it’ very similar and makes me think about it alot!
I think part of it too is that no matter who the bride is, you need to follow through with your promise. Marriage uses to be much more important, especially to women, and there are alot of stories about girls being scorned after giving up their reputation or best years only for their lover to go elsewhere. I even remember in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes that Lorelei Lee copied a letter from her fiancé asking her to marry him. She planned to scare him off then sue him for “breach of promise”, which you could do apparently.
…”corpse bride” was common magic ritual in some “black” witchcraft cases, in baltic states history. As i remember from childhood stories( when my ancestors guarded dead family member until funreal, and protected from witches🤷), if witch puts copper ring on just dead opposite sex finger, and herself too, and kisses 3x times corpse, then that persons soul are slave to witch until his/hers death. Ghost can do tasks and be used for lot of things. Witch can do that tipe of “wedding ritual” for others too. I don’ t know who else have that “ritual” in folklore, baltic states was called ” werewulf land” like, for looooong time. Corpse bride curse i heard from russians too…
A very well-told story. Our modern idea of Deamon is not the same as Deamon’s a few centuries ago. Daemons were not 100% evil, like the Greek Gods, they could be very difficult on mortal humans but also could be helpful if treated correctly,. My Angel could be a Daemon for you, and vice versa. Just a thought.
When I heard finger I thought of the story were a priest was staying in a haunted house and found the goast haunting it,learned that she was murdered by her husband so gave him her finger and told him it would help him find her killer He placed the finger in the church and let people touch it,when her killer touched it,it latched on to his hand,I d9nt remember if he was arrested or not but that was basically the story
he could’ve done it to increase mexican audiences but I seem to recall an interview Tim Burton did when promoting the movie in mexico that he took great inspiration on “dia de muertos” when designing the land of the death, said that the idea for it came from a time he went on vacation to mexico around the time of the celebration and the way we mexicans view death left a strong impact on him, and to be honest the way the land of the dead is portray is in fact the way we imagine the after life, everyone happy partying all day and you know, being skeletons, the scene where all the dead people go to the surface and interact with their family and love ones in particular is essentially “dia de muertos”.