KEY SCENES
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Opening Scene – breaking eggs
The Chase
Swimming – yellow speedoes
Poo smearing
The supermarket tantrum
The waterhole and the storm
Thomas’s birthday dinner/ the dinner aftermath
The concert
Contrasting Scenes
1. Maggie bathing Charlie/ Charlie and Thomas in the bath together
2. Various swimming scenes
Opening Scene
1. What connotations are associated with the title ‘The Black Balloon’?
2. Complete a mise’ en scene analysis for the opening. Refer to the following
elements – balloons, tapping sound, box ‘Thomas’ stuff’, neighbours wheeling
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out bins; sound of repetitive voice; ‘Why is your brother a spastic?’ ‘No, he is
autistic’ ‘Why does he make that f..king noise?’; close up on locks; labels on
objects e.g. door, car, sky; teddy bear.
3. What is the effect of the eggs breaking scene?
4. How does the director establish in the focus in the opening on the relationship
between the brothers?
The Chase
1. This scene commences with Simon and Thomas taking on Maggie’s chores
( vacuuming, administering medication). What insights does this give into
Thomas’ life?
2. Panning between Thomas and Charlie’s running feet, passing various groups
such as the soldiers, light-hearted music as non-diegetic sound, Charlie nearly
runs into a car; Charlie holds himself and runs into Jackie’s house to use the
toilet while Jackie is in the shower singing; panning of the interior of the
house. What is the purpose of this scene?
Swimming and the ‘yellow speedoes’
1. How is Thomas visually made to be a pariah ‘outsider’? (e.g. contrast between
red board shorts and blue speedoes)
2. When Thomas changes into his yellow speedoes the camera demonstrates his
discomfort? How is this achieved?
Poo Smearing
1. How does Thomas attempt to ‘remove’ Charlie?
2. What does Thomas’s conversation with Jackie suggest about Jackie?
‘Something weird happened to me this morning. Two boys in their undies
broke in and used my toilet. They left monkey ears there. I’m just going to
have to get to the bottom of this. I can see through shampoo.’
3. What issues are raised in the film about the continued care of Charlie? Reflect
on the following dialogue:
Maggie: I wish you would grow up a bit. You will be 16 soon.. Don’t be
selfish.
Thomas: He’s not my responsibility.
Maggie: He’s your brother.
Thomas: He is a freak… I don’t want anything to do with him.
Maggie: Your brother will never be able to do the things you can, Thomas.
He’ll never get a job or have a family. He’ll never ne able to look after
himself. He will live with us for the rest of his life. So if there’s anything that
your father and I can do to make his life a bit happier….
Also consider the way the scene concludes with a close up of the scrubbing of
the carpet while Charlie lies under the bed almost catatonic.
The Supermarket Tantrum
1. What is the stimulus that seems to cause Charlie’s meltdown? How do Simon
and Thomas react?
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2. How do other customers react? How are film techniques employed to show
this?
3. What is the function of this scene? Comment on the following dialogue:
Thomas: Dad, do you ever wish that Charlie was normal?
Simon: Yeah, at the start. I don’t think about it much any more. Charlie is
Charlie.
Thomas: Yeah, don’t you think that it’s kinda unfair?
Simon: You mum reckons we got Charlie because we’re capable, we’re strong
enough to deal with him.
Thomas: Do you believe that?
Simon: I don’t know. Your mum is, that’s for sure. All I know is that he’s my own,
and you’re weak as piss you don’t look after your own.
4. The ramifications of this incident is shown when a star is removed from the
star chart and Charlie goes ballistic breaking a window. The film then cross
cuts to Maggie peacefully sewing in hospital. ‘What happened to his foot?’ ‘he
just walked through glass.’ Consider what we are learning about relationships
within the family?
The Water-hole and the Storm
1. What is the effect of the signage ‘NO TRESPASSING’ and ‘RESTRICTED
AREA’?
2. Explain how atmosphere is created in this scene. (rope courses, non-diegetic
music, floating in water, Charlie in tyre; storm and damage caused by the
storm, gift of bullet in casing on leather strap) Refer to film techniques.
3. Eye closing exercise – ‘What can you see?’ ‘I can see these little specks of
light – blue and red floating around’ ‘It’s going. It’s gone. It’s black. No, it’s
mainly black, fuzzy like normal TV’ ‘I reckon if it went away, I would be able
to see my mum.’ ‘It’s what it’s like for my brother. It’s what he hears and
thinks. Everything. I think it’s fuzzy.’ Comment on this conversation. Why is
it a key point in the film?
Thomas’ Birthday/the Dinner Aftermath
1. The birthday party raises a number of key issues for the Mollison family.
What are these? (signing, breastfeeding at table, Charlie exposes himself, ‘I
hate him, I hate him’; fight etc)
2. Why are the L plates so significant?
3. How does the focus remain on Thomas?
4. Why do you think this scene concludes with the coloured balloons motif?
The Concert
1. The ‘monkey ears’ are a symbol in the film. Explain how this scene shows a
form of reconciliation between the two brothers. Comment on the significance
of the lyrics. ‘ the greatest double act in the history of the world… infectious
disunity’ etc.
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Contrasting Bath Scenes
1. Early in the film, we see Maggie washing Charlie’s hair. Apparently, much of
this scene was done in an impromptu way. What insights do we gain from this
scene?
2. Towards the end of the film, another bath scene shows Thomas and Charlie in
the bath together. Explain the significance of this scene. How does it connect
to the earlier bath scene? (Do you remember when we were little and we had
baths with Dad?... I hated being your brother. Every time when I closed my
eyes I wished I wake up and you would be normal. But you weren’t…. You
just pissed on my leg.
Swimming Pool Scenes
1. The director, Elissa Down, decided to use the various swimming pool scenes
rather than a classroom context. Consider the effect of this choice of setting.
2. Explain how these scenes provide a way of charting the relationship between
Thomas and Jackie.
3. How is humour used? How is peer pressure depicted? What does this scene
say about the body? What stereotypes are exploited? How do we know
Thomas is an outsider?
4. How are they juxtaposed with the water hole?
Key Themes
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growing up
first love
identity
family
difference
fear and embarrament
courage and strength
Acceptance and forgiveness
Characterisation
Thomas
 How does Thomas develop through the film? What changes him and how does
he change? What realisations does he make about himself, his relationships
and his position in the family?
Jackie
 What makes Jackie different from the other students at Thomas’ new school?
What do we learn about her from the various scenes with the monkey ears? In
what ways is she naïve? How does her character develop? In what ways does
she help Thomas come to accept Charlie?
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Genre
Elissa Down describes The Black Balloon as a ‘dramedy’, a drama-comedy. It could
also be categorized as a melodrama, as it contains many of the genre’s classic features
within a familiar domestic setting.
Melodrama comes from the Greek word melos which means music, capturing the
emotional rise and fall, the register of human experience. In general terms, other
features of melodrama are:
 household location
 heightened ‘problems’ such as sexual dysfunction, marital breakdown and
alcoholism
 twists and turns of fate, suspense, disaster and tragedy, last-minute rescues and
happy endings
 search for the ideal and self-knowledge
 the process of redemption
 the dichotomy of desire versus repression
 the ambiguous function of marriage and family as either liberating or
repressive.
Create a timeline showing how they are portrayed and how they develop in the film.
Examples or still images could be used as illustration.
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