The Egg Ascending
<TW: death>
“I’m so sorry Tallulah.” Chayanne signs to his sister as red trickles around his body on the cold floor of the maze. He turns his head towards her, mustering the strength to lift a single hand to finger spell. “I failed you.”
Tallulah clasps that hand desperately, gripping it tightly to her chest. “Never,” The word wrenches out of her reverently as she shakes her head. She signs the rest, “You protected us from them. You saved me, Chayanne, when-" Her hands shake. "I fell behind.
Chayanne gives her a toothy grin of reassurance. “You and me always, right?”
Her eyes fill with tears, no longer unable to sign as she begins to sob in earnest.
At the sight of her crumpled face, Chayanne reaches out towards her with the rest of the strength he had left. He always hated it when the most important person in his world cried, no matter what.
Tallulah collapses into the offered hug around his weakening form, taking him in while she still could. She curls around him protectively, tail wrapping around their prone forms in an attempt to nestle them away from the underground chill.
"You are amazing, Chayanne." A comforting purple sign is placed gently front of his face. "The best friend and brother I could ever ask for and more."
Chayanne smiles and chuffs, feeling more than loved as he closes his eyes.
He sees himself flying. Of ascending above it all with newly hatched wings alongside his brothers and sisters, towards the bright future their parents had wanted for them so fervently to have.
The bravest egg on the island dreams of flying with Philza and Missa, his parents on either side of him as they quipped back and forth without a care in the world, safe and sound.
"You did so well," Lady Death wraps him in her arms as his soul soars, kissing him on the forehead. "Rest now, my brave warrior."
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Pinky and The Brain: reboot intro analysis
I really love the reboot intro for the Pinky and The Brain's segments! You are about to read an analysis of some symbols and a bit of the cinematographic language.
Doing this was fun and quite inspiring, I hope you feel the same while reading.
Let's begin 🐁
First, we see lightnings and hear thunders, since the light and sound strike at the same time, we can tell the thunderstorm unfurls very close by. Lightning is a symbol of illumination and destruction.
The next screenshot reminds me of The Tower, a tarot card with lightning as one of the main symbols, which reveals a great abrupt change (for the better or the worst) by striking down something structured, maybe a way of thinking.
When we see Acme Labs, even if it has a sign not to enter, there is an opening that frames an inviting path. The moon takes importance with a great visual weight because of the way it is placed in the composition and how it contrasts.
The symbol of the moon is all about emotion, intuition, the yin and sometimes craziness; Pinky embodies that characteristics. In 1995's spinoff, we sneak a peek of Brain's mind and see Pinky as the Cheshire cat, then he becomes the moon which orbits him (from Brainwashed: Part 1 - Brain, Brain, Go Away).
After that, we have Pinky running in the wheel, it seems that he is running towards Brain; the action goes from right to left, indicating an extra level of difficulty as it goes against the occidental reading direction. The subtle camera movement included makes it look like Pinky is getting closer, even if he is not.
Brain is facing the other way, we don't get to see what he is looking at or his face expression, as if his intentions and emotions are hidden. Brain is placed between the moon and Pinky, trapped in the cage. His shadow is bigger than himself.
About the shapes, The Brain is surrounded by the cage, squares, while Pinky is framed inside a circle. Those two shapes can be associated to their personalities; the square is strong, reliable and linked to the material world, the circle flows, is infinite and linked to the spiritual world.
Next you have a screenshot of the Pinky and The Brain's intro from 1995 because this part is very similar, so you can see how the composition changes, mostly the direction of movement, the sensation of depth and so of distance.
As The Brain reveals himself, the moon is clouded by the thunderstorm, just as Pinky is overpowered by Brain's desire to take over the world.
Then this pattern appears, it kinda looks like the shapes of the cage and the window.
The colors change, we go from cold to warm. Here the palette includes purple, a color I associate to Brain, and goes to almost yellow, a color I link to Pinky.
Purple and yellow is a complementary color combination, these are on the opposite side of the color wheel. Complementary and opposite, just like this comedy duo!
Pinky follows The Brain, this time even if they go from right to left, which implies difficulty, they also walk down, which makes it easier. This abstraction of their character design is a good way to appreciate the difference between them.
A little detail I like is how Pinky has no neck, his head is kinda floating.
Then the straight lines curve and Pinky and The Brain fall apart...
But soon they bounce and stand again.
In a quick seamless transition, the path they were just following turns into their names, a really neat and balanced tittle with a grade between purple and magenta; it also has a bit of red, purple and yellow peeking by the sides, maybe that colors speak about what is inside or behind.
Here the mice look different, like little plastic figures in a war board game. Brain is almost in the center of the composition, but Pinky is situated in a way your eyes go to him by the rule of thirds.
Then The Brain emerges and takes these two figures in his hands, he and Pinky are both like playthings that Brain (or maybe his shadow, the representation of his dark side) takes control of.
Not only this shadow Brain overpowers Pinky and himself, but also transforms them at will in something he can use. Look how happy he is in this brief moment of control.
Because of the atoms's chemical composition, they seem to attract each other and bond. Their cores, which were their noses, collide, drawing a tick red line that kinda makes shadow Brain look like an angry clown for a split second.
Pinky emerges and goes his own way. The jump he makes reminds me again of the tarot card The tower I was talking about in the beginning, which also symbolizes what eludes control.
Brain has been going to the left all the way, and now Pinky goes to the right. He passes between flasks, some of them weird looking. We mostly see his snout and a detail that only can be seen through the glass: his eyes.
Glass is made with the 4 elements and can represent balance between them, it also can symbolize fragility, rebirth, dreams.
Where has Brain been? Did he go the opposite way, or was he following Pinky? Either way, they end up in parallel paths that look like their process of thinking, and so Brain's is practical, almost a straight line, while Pinky's seems like a dance with all those unnecessary turns.
Pinky's way also has a bit of blue, the one of his own eyes, a color related with freedom, loyalty, and perhaps his unique way of seeing things.
They get to what seems the center of a maze.
Even if they walk opposite ways, it looks like their heads turn to the center, so maybe they are looking at each other or at their shared tail, which sorta reminds me of the red thread of fate, in this case magenta, a color which expresses intensity, volatile feeling, but also intuition, friendship, or romance. Mice use the tail for balance.
As they walk opposite ways, the tail does not break, both fall apart before it does.
This seems to give things a new direction, which Pinky's nose follows. The smell is the sense linked to memory, and I think it also has a connection to the intuition.
Red is another symbol that has importance, a color that's all about passionate feelings, positive and negative ones.
Here the maze looks more like a spiral.
Then Pinky falls throughout this spiral of DNA. Even if he is falling, it also looks like he is going to the center of it, which is a symbol of going to the intuitive nature.
The DNA morphs into a golden stripe in which Pinky slides down. If you pause it just in the right time, you can notice the other side of this stripe is purple.
Golden means success, good luck but also egoism. Purple, the color that I link to The Brain symbolizes mystery, royalty, and wisdom, but also deceit.
When this stripe of color is looked through the magnifying glass, it looses its abstract form, becoming a yellow ruler with purple marks. I link yellow to Pinky, it is his favorite color (at least it was in the 1995 spinoff series) and expresses positivity, happiness, but also anxiety and craziness.
Purple and yellow have a shared meaning: in the positive side, creativity; in the negative side, arrogance.
The mice pop up side by side.
Brain's posture here is very different from the powerful one he had before, and we no longer see him in a low angle shot, it is actually a slightly high angle shot. He is slouching, looking kinda defeated, probably by another failed scheme.
By the look he gives Pinky here, he seems sorta dumbfounded by his partner in crime.
Pinky is completely immerse in measuring himself, lifting the ruler as to say he sees himself a bit bigger than he actually is. Brain is still looking at him, now more annoyed than confused.
Since Pinky is having fun, he doesn't realize how Brain kinda gives up on whatever he is pondering with his trademark eye roll and a pouty mouth.
If it is like in the 1993 Animaniacs segments, the one holding the magnifying glass is Yakko, who shares Pinky's voice actor Rob Paulsen.
Then we quickly pull back, remembering how dinky they are. There's a pencil there, which makes them look tiny but also could be a reminder of their shared quality, creativity.
We go in reverse and there's a significant surprise, the cage is nowhere to be seen, just a huge space and them getting lost in it. The colors had gone almost completely cold, with only a bit of desaturated red and a very eye-catching yellow lamp right above them.
It pans out taking us out of Acme Labs, the thunderstorm has passed, and the moon is no longer there, only some clouds and a few stars. A whole cycle had been completed, ending almost where it began.
Some final thoughts about it all 🌎
As I see it, the intro has the same structure as the mice misadventures. When I was watching the reboot segments I first thought it had a circular type of storytelling, ending just as it started, but now I think that it actually has a spiral structure.
In the intro, it all starts with the chaos of the storm and ends with calmness, it stars with distance between Pinky and The Brain but ends with them standing together; it is also the path the show seems to follow with the storylines.
Special thanks to the person who pointed out how this comedy duo falls apart when they separate, I lost the post, but I know I saw it somewhere on Tumblr, if you have that info, please tell me and I'll update the post to give proper credit.
〰 Poity
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