Religion and spirituality in Beetlejuice and Sleepy Hollow

Religion and spirituality in Beetlejuice and Sleepy Hollow

Burton's work often depicts what is considered in society as 'the other' and normalises them. Through this he has developed a large cult following (especially with people who connect with 'the other'). They wear products with his characters on it and black and white stripes (a Burton trademark). Yet because his films have normalised 'the other', his characters and fans are accepted in community. He has changed the habitual behaviour of society in the same way vampires have become normalised since Buffy and Twilight. Beetlejuice (1988) and Sleepy Hollow (1999) are both films by Tim Burton that depict an afterlife, one using religious concepts and one that evades them completely. Yet the films rely on an audience's knowledge of religious belief's to understand the ideas presented by Burton and certainly asks the audience to think about faith and the soul.

As Harry Potter and so many other fantasy tales begin, Beetlejuice starts with the main characters (the Maitlands) in the everyday society that the audience is used to. However it is presented to appear boring to the audience; the couple stays home to decorate instead of going on vacation. The fun begins when the Maitlands die and leave everyday society, becoming 'the other' as Harry Potter did when he discovered the world of magic. The concept of the film, that ghosts hire a 'boi-exorcist' to remove humans from their house, is the opposite of the plots audiences are used to; horror films where humans hire an exorcist to expel ghosts from their house. The film is aimed at a counter-culture audience, yet it requires that the audience be familiar with the cultural hegemony to understand when the film contradicts it.

Much of the comedy of Beetlejuice is in presenting an afterlife that differs so greatly from the cultural hegemony that society agrees upon. The audience is used to hearing tales of the afterlife from religions, many of which have been depicted on screen. The fluffy white clouds of heaven and the fire and brimstone of hell are usual however other, less religious ideas such as ghosts and tooth fairies are also acknowledged. Beetlejuice sees the couple stuck inside their house as ghosts with a manual and a case worker to help them through the afterlife. They wait for an appointment with their case worker in a place more like an IRS waiting room than heaven. Beetlejuice creates a ridiculous alternative to every religious concept to what happens after death. Why would the audience think it is ridiculous and laugh at it? Because religion has always guided them on what will happen. Beetlejuice makes the audience see how ridiculous any other ideas would be, similar to how The Simpsons use’s comedy to “fulfil the important function of the sacred clowns-- sustaining what is important by poking fun at religious conventions” (Dalton 245). The character Otho comments upon seeing the drab study “deliver me from L. L.Bean” an alternative on a line from the well known prayer 'deliver me from evil.' Otho is a ridiculous character that considers bad taste (such as L. L. Bean) an evil. Indeed when Beetlejuice tortures Otho, he merely gives him a drab outfit. Comedy is used to make the audience think about their priorities. 

The afterlife can also be seen in Sleepy Hollow as it depicts the Christian belief of hell. While Burton avoided accepted cultural beliefs of heaven and hell in Beetlejuice, the wicked in Sleepy Hollow are sent to a traditional hell of fire and brimstone. The murderous horseman comes from hell and the characters struggle to send him back. The hegemony of society is that the binary opposition to hell is heaven. Instances of this can be seen in the narrative as the horseman cannot cross church ground because it is sacred and he is evil. However the characters do not speak of the goodness of church in opposition to the horseman's evil. Religion has a presence in the characters lives as it would have to a Christian town in the 1800's yet it is not a focus point of the film. Instead of depicting the message of a particular religion, the film has a message of spirituality. The character Ichabod is a man of science who must come to terms with the existence of a dead horseman and instances of witchcraft. His scepticism of the supernatural is broken down by his experiences in Sleepy Hollow and he comes to have faith and believe. Thus it is similar to other supernatural films in that it promotes religion “but not any religion, of course, just the casually orientated kind; the one ridden of rituals and whose followers believe in the absent God, the Deus Otious. A true God of Western modernity (Wiktorin 14).

Spiritual characters such as Katrina are good, yet Ichabod's father was a priest who believed his mother a witch and killed her to save her soul, making an interesting comment on religion. The church is not constantly depicted as bad, indeed it becomes a place of refuge during the horseman's attack, yet it is the actions of one man who took his faith to extremes by punishing another faith. No one's beliefs are condemned in the film, but belligerency between the two clearly is.

Ideas of the soul and the afterlife are key to religion. Burton has changed culture through his films that express these ideas. They explore a vague idea of faith and spirituality to represent the importance of any religion and use comedy to make the audience think about religious ideas of the afterlife. What is more likely to be true, an IRS waiting room style afterlife or heaven or hell or reincarnation?