I see it a lot in movies, and I was wondering, what is its meaning? Does the meaning lie in the content of the cartoos or in the person who watches them? This question has been bugging for a few years now.
Ballast rating: 4/5
First, look at the cartoon. Then the story it is placed in. Here, it was a rather disturbing use of one, and ruined the film for me.
shareWhy did the cartoons in this movie ruin it for you?
Revolutionary Road rating: 4/5
The cartoon is titled, "The Big Bad Wolf," by Castle films (You can find it on the web -- I found it here: http://www.archive.org/details/the_big_bad_wolf ). The scene shown (I believe it's the only music in the movie, btw) in the movie is Little Bo Beep introducing her sheep, then her one and only black sheep starts dancing. The story of Little Bo Beep has some meaning here, but the cartoon has a borderline hateful view of the black sheep. Our character in the movie laughs at the little black sheep. I don't think the signals are mixed here, and I found the reference to the child as the black sheep a bit hateful.
shareok, i couldn't see the cartoon well on my TV but if it was as you describe i don't think it's a reference to james as a black sheep. it's more like these are the (hateful) images a black child grows up seeing at all kinds of times -- like just randomly surfing TV. as if there weren't already enough things against him turning out ok.
shareTake the story of Little Bo Beep and the story in this movie? Do you see any similarities? People resist allegories, but the allegory is the essence of writing and telling stories.
shareI just think the significance of having cartoons in movies is just a way of showing how people just pass the time of day doing nothing. Also I think they use old cartoons because they are in the public domain and that was a old cartoon. I always notice it is old tv shows or cartoons because of that. I was wondering what station was he watching because I never see old cartoons on tv anymore. Not even Bugs Bunny.
shareSetting aside the economics of using public domain, the cartoons are another reflection of the boy's bleak world. Old, slightly racist cartoons that offer no emotional intelligence beyond their creators' unfortunate prejudice.
shareAs Freud said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar".
I'm a professional photographer with a growing reputation. My pictures appear in books, magazines and galleries all around the world. People are constantly going to my website, or when they know who I am coming up to me, to explain what my pictures are all about. It causes endless amusement for my friends and I and still nobody (including me) has a clue what my pictures are about.
The whole point of a piece of art is that everyone is free to interpret it as he or she wishes. Whether it's a song, a sculpture, a poem, a picture - it is perfectly possible to draw one's own conclusions and interpretations from that piece of art. Our interpretation may be a million miles away from what the artist intended or thought about but that doesn't matter one bit.
The fact that you have a growing reputation is probably due to this very fact, i.e. that people get inspired by your photographs and can draw meaning from them.
I agree to an extent with "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar". Sometimes people overanalyse things that are, by and large, simply not there. But the vast majority of filmmakers would regard what is shown on TV in a film as extremly important. Sometimes it's an allegory; sometimes it's a precursor for what is going to happen; sometimes it's a social commentary in the context of the film (see Haneke's use of violent images in news reporting and the protagonists' indifference to it in "Benny's Video" for example).
I am not familiar with the black sheep story shown in "Ballast" but I would suggest the director has chosen this clip for a reason.