Ben Folds sang "Rockin the Suburbs" as follows.
Let me y'all what it's like
Being male, middle class and white
It's a bitch, if you don't believe
Listen up to my new cd
Sham on
I got shit running through my brain
So intense that I can't explain
All alone in my white boy pain
Shake your booty while the band complains
I completely understand what Ben Folds wanted to convey with his song. I'm not "white" but I'm "male and middle class", and I've been feeling that "it's a bitch," too.
I was born in a middle class family in Tokyo, and went to a "good" elementary school, a "good" high school, and a "good" university. And then I've got a "good saralyman's" job, and I'm now in the mainstream in Japanese society. Nothing special ever happened in my life. Now I'm really happy, but at the same time I feel that my life is really "a bitch." I'm quite uncomfortable with Japanese society despite being successful here.
In "Edward Scissorhands" Tim Burton described the exclusiveness, which was hidden behind ordinary suburban towns in the U.S. In a similar way Victor in "Frankenweenie" is living in an insensitive suburban town, New Holland, which is clean and neat. Victor's mother wants to be a "good mother," but in fact she isn't really interested in her son and she doesn't find what he really does. People in New Holland are so exclusive that they fire the teacher who Victor respects, but they even can't imagine that they, themselves, are exclusive.
I'm writing in English on the Internet, partly because I want to be just a member of a minority group in the world, Japanese. As I wrote, I am uncomfortable with Japanese society as a member of the mainstream in Japan, but I became comfotable as a member of a minority group in the world. Maybe in Japan I'm uncomfortable, because I suppress someone unintentionally, but in the world I don't have to suppress anyone.
Tim Burton's films are popular all over the world. I hope that this fact means that the fans of Tim Burton's films also feel what I feel.
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