Rewatching films like 1951 Alice, that uses color as a primary storytelling language, you realize how much we’ve lost to the 'gritty, desaturated' trend.
Modern films seem allergic to colors & treat them as something that needs to be 'corrected' or subdued to achieve 'realism.'
Every night human beings go to sleep, lose all sense of their known reality, plunge into an abstract hyper-dimensional realm of infinite experience where time collapses, all moments instantly manifest, and then they wake up and just go about their day.
My first thought every time i watch the "Pink Elephants on Parade" scene is that it’s such a masterclass in visual storytelling and the ultimate "animation isn't just for kids" moment.
By ditching the circus tents for that pitch-black void, the artists force you into this raw, psychological headspace that feels way too real for a 1940s Disney flick.
The art here is lightyears ahead of its time. Watching the elephants reassemble into these weird geometric shapes is abstract expressionism on acid. It’s more than just "trippy" the way everything morphs and flows feels like a literal representation of someone losing their grip on reality.
Instead of a typical sad scene, Disney gave us a neon fever dream. It’s the perfect pivot, Dumbo’s old, broken self has to dissolve in all that avant-garde chaos so he can finally learn to fly. It’s basically a high-art horror short hidden in a family movie, and I’m still obsessed with it.
The Walrus and baby Oysters sequence is a masterclass in tonal dissonance. It successfully conveys how unsettling ideas portrayed through playful and inviting tone can be even more hard-hitting.
And the brilliance of Carroll’s poem (and the Disney adaptation) lies in how it mimics the mechanics of a real-world predator.
The Walrus doesn't snatch the oysters, he invites them. Betrayal is soft, almost cheerful. The "performative grief" of the Walrus is perhaps the darkest part. There’s no dramatic warning or moral framing in the moment, just a gradual realization of what’s happening. No one steps in to save the oysters, and the story ends with empty shells and a "pleasant" walk home.
That contrast between tone and outcome leaves you with that “dark” aftertaste.