Tim Burton is obviously a libertarian (or possibly an anarchist). You know this because he wears black, has freaky hair, and makes movies about themes of having difficulty with his parents, ie: authority figures. He is clearly in favor of sexual The Freedom. He has inspired literally millions of individualists, by which I mean goths. It is perhaps already clear, but, like guns, fishnets are a big symbol of The Freedom.

So it is not surprising that Burton’s newest movie, Sweeney Todd, a sing-along film about a killer barber in ancient England, is, at its heart, a stirring defense of the ideas of liberty.

Let us look at the facts.

Sweeney Todd, played with soul-mesmerizing uniqueness by Johnny Depp, who you may remember from Pirates of the Caribbean (a movie which hailed the life of pirates for its freedomic spirit), is basically just a businessman. If you watch Larry Kudlow TV, as you probably do, or read bloggings by The Club for Growth – or as we say it, “The Club” – you will know that business is an important part of The Freedom, because it is the part that makes money.

Todd gets screwed over by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, who you can tell is a socialist, because of his Euroish accent), who is essentially a representative of the state, which we, having read David Friedman’s The Machinery of Freedom know that we do not even need at all. (You can tell David is a powerful advocate for The Freedom because it is in his book title, and he compares it to a machine, like the automobile, or the machine gun, which are both also highly related to The Freedom.)

Naturally, Todd seeks revenge on the Judge, which symbolizes lashing out against the oppressive power of the state, as we all do.

During that time, though, he becomes an entrepreneur with the meat pie maker below his shop. They kill homeless people and serve them up in meat pies. Many throats are sliced, which is known as “creative destruction.”

This is a fantastic business opportunity during a time of economic downturn. It shows that if you find a market niche, you can always make more money. As Milton Friedman said, the market will tell us what to do.

The Judge tries to stop him, but in the end, such onerous regulation harms the economy. He kills the Judge. As always, The Freedom prevails.

Everything in this movie is unbelievable genius, which John Locke himself would have recognized and praised as such. It is not perfect though. What should have been added is Todd making it a little more clear that high corporate tax rates and taxes on carried interest were affecting his investment opportunities, perhaps in a long and powerful monologue at the end (or even a PDF emailed to everyone who buys a ticket).

Filed under: Freedom on Film