The inspiration for Edward Scissorhands goes back to Tim Burton's childhood in suburban Burbank. When he was growing up he found the tendency for the people around him to live life on the surface unsettling and alienating because everyone was so concerned how things looked on the surface, it was difficult for anyone to be different.
Burton's struggle to deal with this world of conformity was the inspiration for Edward Scissorhands. he says of the character, "the idea actually came from a drawing I did along time ago. It was just an image that I liked. It came subconsciously and was linked to a character who wants to touch but can't, who was both creative and destructive...it was the feeling that your image and how people perceive you are at odds with what is inside you"