Intermediate
Reading comprehension
Tim Burton
Burton was born in 1958 in the city of Burbank, California. He studied at Burbank High
School but was not a very good student. He was a very introspective person his hobbies
included painting, drawing and watching films. Burton made a film when he was thirteen
years old named The Island of Doctor Agor. His work has been heavily influenced by his
childhood heroes Dr.Seuss and Roald Dahl. After High School Burton attended the
California Institute of Arts to study character animation. He is now a film director, producer,
writer, artist and animator.
Burton is known for his dark gothic style, he likes to work with the same actors in many of his
films such as Helena Bonham Cater, Jhonny Depp and Christopher Lee, who all appeared
in at least six of his films. Some of his movies include The Nightmare Before Christmas,
Beetlejuice, Batman, Sleepy Hollow and Edward Scissorhands, but the list goes on. He also
wrote and illustrated a poetry book in 1997 and put together a compilation of his artwork
titled The Art of Tim Burton published in 2009. Tim Burton is considered one of the best
American artists of his time by many.
Vocabulary
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Introspective person
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Gothic style
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Heavily influenced
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Goes on
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Childhood
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Compilation
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Character animation
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Considered
Questions
How old is Mr. Burton?
What did he study in College?
Have you ever seen any of the movies
mentioned in the article? Which ones?
Critical Thinking
Who are your childhood heroes? How have
they influenced you?
Do you know any other artists who could be
described as having a “gothic style”?
What’s your opinion about this style?
What is Tim Burton’s nationality?
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