It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World analysis

Analysis of the opening sequence of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"

The sound in this sequence is very jolly and happy, it sounds like a kids cartoon song, or a circus or carnival song. Also, there is the sounds of the things that are happening in the sequence, for example, the fireworks, aeroplane and the chicken. The sequence also ends on a loud and defined note.

The first image we are presented with is a man bringing a world onto the screen. The world obviously relates to the title here. The man appears to be cutting himself out of the world suggesting that he doesn't like it here and no longer wants to be here, he starts off cutting himself out slowly and then speeds up, here suggesting that he wants to get out quick. A hand comes down and hammers him back into the world, this suggests that they do not want him to leave, or he is not allowed to leave. The world explodes into two and there is fireworks that write out the title of the film inbetween. The world then changes shape into an egg, and a chicken comes along and sits on it, as the egg/world begins to hatch, the chicken flies off and a cockeral comes out, flying up after the chicken. All of a sudden the egg closes back together and a hand comes down and cracks the egg, almost as if you do when baking a cake. Earlier i said that the music reminded me of a carnival or a fare, and at the fare, they have those games where you have something under a cup and they move the cups round and you guess which cup it's under, when the world is in half, the hands are down moving the two halves around like they are part of a game. The hands then come down again and choose one of the halves, taking part in the game. The halves are then put back together and a pirate-type hat is put on top, and then eyes appear. The "face" is then scooped away by a walking stick. Again here, with the circus theme, you see the world rolling across the screen with feet walking across it, this is the sort of thing that goes on a circuses. The world then comes back across the screen, this time you can see a different pair of feet, and the world had pedals on it, representing a unicycle. It then pops, you see a hand come down and pump it up a bit more, and then it explodes. The world then eats up a plane, that previously flew over and began to brake down. The world is then wound up like a spinning top, and it spins over the screen. And the sequence goes on for about a minute longer.

Watching the opening titles to this sequence i was given the impression that the film would be about something to do with the circus, and it would be a rather happy film. As the title sequence was a cartoon, i would expect the film to be real life people. I am going to read the plot/storyline of this film, and see if i was right about the theme of the film.