The Art of Tim Burton: Exploring Dark Fantasy and Gothic Aesthetics

Characterised by dark, uncanny imagery and an off-beat persona, Tim Burton has cultivated a reputation as an eccentric and irreverent filmmaker. Spanning both live-action and animation, his work applies a macabre twist to everything from superhero and sci-fi films to biographical dramas and musicals. However, it is through stop-motion animation that Burton’s grotesque monsters and misfits truly come to life, allowing him to explore themes of bodily difference, disfigurement, and disassembly.

In this talk, Dr Christopher Holliday, a Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts and Visual Cultures Education at King’s College London, examines how Burton’s fascination with unstable, conflicted bodies is enhanced by stop-motion’s inherent strangeness. We will trace his artistic beginnings at the California Institute of the Arts, his early work at Disney, and his departure to develop a gothic-inspired counter-style. By exploring Corpse Bride (2005) and Frankenweenie (2012), this talk reveals how Burton’s haunting aesthetic has shaped his legacy as a Hollywood outsider. By reflecting on Burton’s contribution to the development of animation as an art form over the last forty years, Dr Chris Holliday reveals how his haunting visual style has come to symbolise the career of a filmmaker whose identity has remained increasingly difficult to place.

Doors open at 7pm, talk starts at 7.30pm - come down early to grab a good seat!

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Dr Christopher Holliday is Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts and Visual Cultures Education at King’s College London. He has published widely on Hollywood cinema and animation history, and is the author of The Computer-Animated Film: Industry, Style and Genre (2018) and co-editor of Fantasy/Animation: Connections Between Media, Mediums and Genres (2018) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: New Perspectives on Production, Reception, Legacy (2021). He has written multiple book chapters and articles on animation and contemporary media culture for academic publications, as well as for Total Film, The Independent, and The Conversation, and spoken on animation around the world, including at the British Film Institute and Cinema Museum in London and recently at the Annecy Film Festival in France. He can also be found as the curator and creator of the website, blog, and podcast Fantasy/Animation.

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