the Corpse Bride

[aeon]

I need to see this movie when it comes out ;D I've been watching trailers and collecting pictures and stuff for weeks haha, it looks amazing.

Only a few more days to wait...

There's some awesome pictures here, if you haven't seen them already;
www.outnow.ch/Media/Img/2005/CorpseBride/

[bigfanofsage]

I am SO there. I love Tim Burton films - they are so weird, in a cool off-beat way.
I did a little research on The Corpse Bride when I found out it was based on a Russian fable. When I say based on... I honestly don't know how close Tim Burton stayed to the source material. For one thing, I don't think the characters are Jewish in the movie....

This is a summary of the actual fable of the corpse bride - (warning -possible movie spoilers, although I don't really know for sure)

Russia, in the 1800s was plagued with rampant, violent anti-Semitism. Murdering bandits would target wedding parties and specifically murder the brides who were then buried in their wedding gowns.

The Story begins here - where two young men are on their way to a neighboring village where one of them is to be married. The young groom being somewhat silly, sees what he thinks is a branch sticking out of the ground. He places his wedding ring upon it (for practice - he tells his friend) says his wedding vows and dances around it three times.

It turns out that the branch was the rotting hand of a murdered bride who becomes animated and demands her rights as his wife. She claims that he went through the full wedding ritual and that they are now legally married.

The guys freak and run to the village where they consult a rabbi. The Rabbi is confounded and calls in more rabbis to figure out if the wedding is in fact legal. As this happens the real bride shows up and finds out what is going on. She is devistated and is trying to salvage the situation when the corpse bride enters demanding her rights as a newly wedded wife.

The rabbis come back and announce that although the marriage is legit, the dead have no claim on the living. At hearing this the corpse bride begins to crumble into despair - she wanted a family and a life... the live fiance jumps in and volunteers that she will live for the two of them, have many children for her and raise them to know her sad story. With that the corpse bride sighs happily and dies again.

The groom and real bride get married and she fullfills her vows to the corpse bride.

All in all a pretty sad and creepy tale.... please pardon my over simplification of it...

I am looking forward to seeing it!

[aeon]

aww, i like that story thanks for posting it.

[bigfanofsage]

You are welcome! I found the original story again.... this is a better retelling than my last post... AGAIN, POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!

The Corpse Bride is a story based on actual events that occurred in 19th century Russia, at a time when anti-semitism was widespread in eastern Europe. Very often bands of anti-Semites would waylay a Jewish wedding party on their way to the wedding. And because the bride would be the one to bear future generations, she would be ripped out of the carriage and murdered.

She would then be buried in her wedding gown.

The following is the actual Russian fable that the film is based on.

The Corpse Bride

Once upon a time there was a young man who lived in a village in Russia. He was to be married and he and his friend prepared to go to the village wherehis bride-to-be lived, two days walk from his own village.

The first night the two friends decided to set up camp by a river. The young man who was going to be married spotted an unusual looking stick in the ground that looked like a bony finger. He and his friend started joking about this bony finger sticking out of the ground and the young man who was going to be married took the golden wedding ring from his pocket and put it on the strange-looking stick. And then he started to do the wedding dance around the stick; he danced around the stick with the golden wedding ring three times and he sang the Jewish wedding song, and recited the entire marriage sacrament as he danced around the stick, he and his friend laughing the whole time.

Their fun stopped suddenly when the earth started rumbling and shaking beneath their feet. The place where the stick had been opened up and a very bedraggled looking corpse emerged, a living corpse, she had been a bride, but now was barely more than a skeleton held together by shreds of skin, still wearing an old torn white silk wedding dress. Worms and spider webs hung on the once-beaded bodice and tattered veil.

The two young men were aghast.

"Ah," she said, "you have done the wedding dance and pronounced the marriage vows and you have put a ring on my finger. Now we are man and wife. I demand my rights as your bride."

Shuddering with terror at the corpse bride's words, the two young men fled to the village where the young bride was waiting to be married. They went straight to the rabbi.

"Rabbi," asked the young man breathlessly, "I have a very important question to ask you. If by some chance you're walking in the woods and you happen to see a stick that looks like a long bony finger coming out of the ground and you happen to put a golden wedding ring on the finger and do the wedding dance and pronounce the wedding vows, is this indeed a real marriage?"

Looking very puzzled, the rabbi asked, "Do you know of such a situation?"

"Oh no, no, of course not, it's just a hypothetical question."

Stroking his long beard thoughtfully, the rabbi said, "let me think about
it."

And just then, a big gust of wind blew the door open, and in walked the
corpse bride. "I lay claim to this man as my husband, for he has placed this wedding ring on my finger and pronounced the solemn marriage vows," she demanded, her bony finger rattling as she shook it at her intended bridegroom.

"This is indeed a very serious matter. I'll have to consult with the other
rabbis," said the rabbi.

Soon all the rabbis from the surrounding villages were gathered together. They went into conference, while the two young men anxiously awaited their decision.

The corpse bride waited on the porch tapping her foot, declaring, "I want to celebrate my wedding night with my husband."

These chilling words made every hair on the young man's body stand on end, though it was a warm summer day.

While the rabbis were conferring, the real human bride arrived and wanted to know what all the fuss was about. When her fiancé explained just what had happened, she started weeping, "Oh, my life is ruined, all my hopes and dreams are shattered; I'll never be married, never have a family."

Just then the rabbis came out and asked: "Did you indeed put a gold ring on the finger, and did you dance around it three times and did you indeed pronounce the wedding vows in their entirety?"

The two young men who by this time were cowering in a far corner nodded their heads.

Looking very serious the rabbis went back to confer again.

And the young bride wept bitter tears, while the corpse bride was by now gloating at the prospect of her long awaited wedding night.

After a short while the rabbis solemnly marched out, took their seats, and announced, "Since you put the wedding ring on the finger of the corpse bride and you danced around it three times reciting the wedding vows, we have determined that this constitutes a proper wedding ceremony. Even so, we have decided that the dead have no claim upon the living."

Sighing and murmuring could be heard from all corners, the young bride was especially relieved.

The corpse bride, however, howled, "Oh, there goes my last chance for a life; I'll never have my dreams fulfilled now, it's forever lost," and she
collapsed on the floor. It was a pathetic sight, a heap of bones in a
tattered wedding gown, lying there, lifeless.

Overcome with compassion for the corpse bride, the young bride knelt down and gathered up that old heap of bones, carefully arranging the shredded silk finery and holding her close, half sang, half murmured, as if cradling a crying infant, "don't worry I'll live your dreams for you, I'll live your hopes for you, I'll have your children for you, I'll have enough children for the two of us and you can rest in peace knowing that our children and our children's children will be well cared for and will not forget us."

Tenderly she closed the eyes of the corpse bride, tenderly she held her in her arms and slowly and with measured steps she marched down to the river with her fragile charge, took her down by the river where she dug a shallow grave for her and laid her in it and crossed the bony arms over the bony chest, the one hand clasping the one with the ring on it, and folded the wedding gown around her.

Then she whispered, "May you rest in peace, I will live your dreams for you, don't worry, we will not forget you."

The corpse bride looked happy and at peace in her new grave, as if she
somehow knew that she would be fulfilled through this young bride And the young bride covered up, slowly, the corpse bride, covered up the tattered wedding gown in the shallow grave, covered it all up with earth, then put wildflowers all over the grave and stones all around it.

Then the young bride went back to her fiancé and they were married in a very solemn wedding ceremony and they lived many happy years together. And all their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren were always told the story of the corpse bride, and so she was not forgotten, nor was the wisdom and compassion she had taught them forgotten either.

[bigfanofsage]

Anyone see The Corpse Bride? I just saw it yesterday.... WOW!!!!!

Cool movie!

It bears very little resemblance to the original fable, but it is still very sweet - and a little sad.

I give it a solid thumbs up.

[aeon]

I haven't seen it yet, because i want to see it in english and they aren't playing it in english anywhere around here right now...

It's kinda sad, i might have to see it in french lol.

[bigfanofsage]

See it in English. You would totally miss the voice talents of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter, Tracy Ullman, Albert Finney, Christopher (Sauroman) Lee, Jane Horrocks and more. I'm sure they found competant voice talent for the french-ified version, but it just isn't the same.

There is a great line from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country... The Klingon Ambassedor says, "You haven't experienced Shakespear until you've heard it in the original Klingon."

You might as well see Corpse Bride in Klingon if you are going to see it in any format other than how G-D intended. LOL

Just come down to the states for a couple of hours. Its a short movie - maybe an hour and fifteen minutes.

I'll get you the popcorn!

[aeon]

aww, thanks for the popcorn lol

[Omnicron]

How about paying for her ticket, you jerk?!

[bigfanofsage]

who has that kind of money?

popcorn i can cover!

[aeon]

haha, that's hilarious.

[queenlillith]

Corpse Bride is awesome! Another wonderful creation from Tim Burton The Great!

[queenlillith]

Christopher Lee...isn't he the evil dentist guy in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? If so, I love his voice and the eerie manner in which he says "caramels". He's in a lot of Tim Burton films..and lovely weird ones. The Last Unicorn for example

[©LIOR]

Corpse bride looks cool. I wanna see it.
By the way, Take The Lead has arrived to Israel. It's started being shown on Thursday.

[Amanda]

Woah, I can't believe I didn't post in this thread! I love Corpse Bride, and I love Tim Burton! Victor looks like a guy I know, he saw the movie with me and my friend.