Ed Wood: A Celebration Of Outcasts & Oddballs

It’s understandable why filmmaker Ed Wood is largely forgotten about these days. His films were box office poison and he obviously lacked talent to produce a motion picture. What keeps Wood from delving further into obscurity is the Tim Burton film Ed Wood. Through the eyes of Burton, a creator of misfits, it’s easy to see why he chose to make a film on Wood.

The motion picture Ed Wood shows a man in love with movies, a worshiper of Orson Welles and Bela Lugosi, but who clearly is devoid of any skill to make a movie. He doesn’t know how to direct actors, he doesn’t understand lighting, the importance of doing takes and even basic continuity. Why should we care about this guy? For one, he’s one of the earliest examples of “so bad, it’s good” trash cinema and he is, despite talent, an inspiration to anyone who wants to make a movie.

For Wood, he used the medium to tell the kind of stories he wanted to tell. Too weird for 1950’s conservative Hollywood, he made the kind of movies that would be enjoyed by people like him, an outsider.

Identity

One of Wood’s earliest directorial efforts is Glen or Glenda, a dual narrative about a cross dresser and a trans woman. The original concept of this movie aimed to be an exploitation film inspired by the sex-reassignment surgery of Christine Jorgensen. The kind of movie intended as a drive-in feature, but Wood had other ideas.

A cross dresser himself, Wood would often wear pink angora wool and women’s underwear. Instead of making an exploitation film, he made Glen or Glenda (originally titled I Changed my Sex) into a personal story and one for people like him who lacked a voice in movies.

Though the story is incomprehensible, the acting stilted and laughable errors throughout, he got to make the movie he envisioned. Well, in his mind, the actual quality can be argued. The point is, his intention is there to give outsiders like himself a story to enjoy. After Glen or Glenda, his focus shifted to his other love, monsters.

Sympathetic Monsters

Wood’s two other well-known films are Bride of the Monster and Plan 9 from Outer Space. One concerns a scientist determined to make atomic supermen and the latter is about aliens that want to resurrect the dead. The movies show Wood’s love of monsters and sympathy toward them, in the form of Bela Lugosi’s performances.

In the first film, Lugosi gives a speech to the audience. Though what he is saying makes little sense, the emotion Lugosi puts into it displays both Wood’s respect for Lugosi’s legacy and sympathy for his character. Wood might be saying that Lugosi makes these Frankenstein-like creations because he is lonely, but one can only guess because he does not seem to understand how dialogue works.

Lugosi died during the making of Plan 9 from Outer Space, but they continued filming with a VERY OBVIOUS replacement actor filling in for Lugosi. Though his star is absent, Wood channels his feelings toward the aliens, again with uncertain dialogue, trying to make the creatures sympathetic. Monsters, in Wood’s view, were outcasts just like him.

The New Ed Woods

Wood had been dubbed as the creator of the worst movies ever made, but I disagree. If anything, he is the founding father of misfits who want to follow their dreams of movie-making. Though long dead and his final years plagued by alcoholism and directing soft core porn, his legacy lives on. Ed Wood’s drive to make the movies he wants despite what people told him led to the emergence of both Tommy Wiseau and Neil Breen. Both have different approaches, but both owe a debt of gratitude to Wood.

Wiseau, a fan of Tennessee Williams and James Dean, made The Room out of admiration for those two figures. Unfortunately, like Wood, Wiseau lacks an ear for dialogue and how humans interact creating a “so bad, it’s good” masterpiece. On another note, The Room has become the Rocky Horror Picture Show of the 21st century in terms of audience participation.

Breen, who Mark from the Fanboy Flicks YouTube channel once dubbed “the David Lynch of bad movies” is just that. Breen sees himself as an art house director, but does not seem to understand basic film language. Guns are obviously fake, modern cars appear in flashbacks, weird tonal shifts and too many other errors to list, but to give the guy his credit, he makes the movies he wants.

Final Thoughts

Though not appreciated in his time, Wood would have thrived in our post-Mystery Science Theater 3000 world. Fans would lovingly support him online and may even enjoy revivals at midnight movie houses. Wiseau and Breen raised their own funds like Wood did, but that now can easily be achieved by crowdfunding and not by getting your whole cast and crew baptized by a Baptist church for funds (seriously, look it up).

Let us take a moment to thank the king and founder of trash cinema. He didn’t see it then, but he started a movement. One that provided a positive message of no matter who you are, you too can make a movie.

Are you a fan of trash cinema? What are some of your favorites? Share them in the comments below.