Our articles about the LA-based pop band “Lights Over Paris” have attracted a lot of attention. Read the articles below to see why.
Le Ballon Rouge, Part Deux
It is such a simple film. The images carry the story, the music enhances the images, and the dialogue is almost non-existent. The Red Balloon shows and does not tell, and because of that the audience is allowed to have their own reactions to it.
It is an historical artifact and a fantasy. As Doc Salvatron pointed out, The Red Balloon showcases a part of Paris that does not exist anymore. But not only that. In its 34 minutes, the film succeeds in portraying the brevity, the fragility, the innocence of childhood. By the end of it, the balloon’s death leaves the boy forever changed, and seemingly stuck on earth — until all the balloons in the whole city gather round him, Up-style, to carry him away from the source of his pain, to places we do not see.
But what does the film mean? Should that question be asked?
Many viewers have already asked it. They cannot help themselves, like the child who asks, “Why is the sky blue?” And since The Red Balloon is an allegory, a cinematic fable, it welcomes those kinds of questions.
The big question I would ask is “Why are those other boys so mean?” One fact is clear after watching the film: not everyone has a balloon. Why is that?
Maybe everyone gets a balloon, but through bad circumstances in life the balloon is lost. So when these kids see another kid with a balloon, it reminds them of the one they once had, and so they react with sadness and anger and jealousy, and try to take that kid down.
Or maybe some people don’t get to have a balloon, or get balloons that aren’t as shiny and happy and healthy as the one the little boy has. Their balloons aren’t as good, and they don’t last. So when they encounter this boy, they see him as being superior to them because his balloon is cooler. They’re threatened by the grace and ease of the boy’s friendship with his balloon and, unable to find that feeling for themselves, they decide to destroy his balloon. Only with that balloon out of the way can they feel better about their misery.
There are many other interpretations. Some have said that The Red Balloon symbolizes Christianity. Some have said it is an argument for socialism. Maybe the red balloon is like healthcare in this country: not everyone has it, but when someone loses it he has to take away from everyone else to pay for it.
The Red Balloon is a film that can be enjoyed without asking these questions. It can transcend meaning because it connects viewers, children and adults alike, with something we all experience: the unfairness of life. All of us identify ourselves with the little boy, and not with the mean adults, or the other mean kids. The film is magical in that way, and at the same time, like a childhood friend, does not ask too much of us in return.
