M(1931)

I think the scene in M with the children singing is an interesting one because this is a trope that is common in setting a tone of underlining creepiness that involves on having children present or singing in some fashion. A good example and one the most famous examples is in Kubrick's The Shining with the twin girls. Children and an outside setting is often used to invoke a feeling of underling horror. I'd really like to know the physiological reasoning behind that.

As I said previously I do find it interesting that the other criminals are hunting for the murder it could be framed as an anti-heroes and people you want to root for. I find it interesting that in the world of criminals if there is or isn't is another matter. But, the fact remains that we like to believe that in this lawless world there are “rules” or most of these criminals though they could murder a human in cold blood draw a line and haven't lost all their humanity. This too is a common trope and saying about those who harm children or women don't do well in prison. Maybe it has to do with defending those that can't defend themselves or a base psychological thing I don't know.

Another element in the whole things that piqued my interest is the Kangaroo Court by Criminals this too is a popular thing we've seen in a variety of things one that sticks out is in Batman when the criminals take over and put people on trial. Mostly businessmen panting parallels to recent events.

So What does M tells us about Mob Justice? Is it in support of it or not? At the end the criminals and the murder all get arrested so one can probably say no. Or is the fact that sometimes there are things so rotten even the “lowest” in society set to put things right and that there are things that are base instincts just can't let slide.

99 Red Ballons

Well...Not really when thinking of the film and its title it's the first thing that pops into my mind. Though the film "The Red Balloon" and this song are unrelated or are they.  Looking at the songs lyrics it's about 99 Balloons that  are mistaken for UFO's and then shot down by pilots. This show of force then  proves a war that last 99 years.

The songs upbeat mood would suggest a more happy experience if one doesn't look at the lyrics. When one thinks of balloons you get joyful images usually of childhood, but not always. In the film the balloon is childhood personified it's whimsical and playful.  In the song it is the same,but it takes a dark turn and at first they start of as an unknown entity.

Both the song and the film use a fairly mundane object to tell a compelling and interesting story. In the film the balloon  is mostly whimsical and playful presenting childhood. Though the symbol of the balloon could also be taken as sad in that the child is alone and just plays by himself with his balloon. The other sad thing is that the other children take  his fun away and instead of being gentle with the balloon try their best to pop it missing the beauty of it.  In the song the pilots want to shoot down the balloons to put on an entertaining show. This backfires on them and starts a war.

To move away from this song the film "The Red Balloon" also reminds me of the shorts "The Blue Umbrella" and  "PaperMan"

"The Blue Umbrella" is a story of the titular blue umbrella and a red umbrella which are seemingly magical and fall in love while the human characters are blissfully unaware of the magic in the mundane.

 

Adam WarRock-PaperMan

 "Paperman" is another case of mundane objects coming alive in magical wonder. In this case it is paper air planes coming alive and leading two people that meet each other earlier in the day back together. What all of these things share in common is an enchaining and coming alive of the everyday. I think the message of these all is that there is lots of wonder in our everyday even if we don't think about it.  It may not be as wonderfully magic as these films,but it's out there or it might be that's up to you to decided

"The Red Balloon" is an innocence in childhood and about our amazement in that time. It shows though the adversity face then and now all that can be overcome. The time the boy in the film is most happy is when he's interacting with his balloon and just being a child. He;s naturally curious and wandering the streets,eating sweets embracing childhood plus most importantly his life. I noticed in the film there is kind of an "old yeller moment" where the boy stomps on the balloon letting go of it when he notices that it's in poor condition.  It's a lesson in hard choices and learning to let go and how that can often lead to a reward. Though it's all out of a genuine care and not a cynical one.

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