The snow globe seems to have a lot of mystery attached to it – that this familiar trinket in the life of pop culture is a bit of a contradiction when it comes to depicting or creating something of winter joy. It’s not an American invention, but it still has so many American connections that people forget it’s not a domestic product. And perhaps it’s one of the most fascinating desk objects that doesn’t do much other than help keep your papers from being blown away by the wind (close that window now if it’s winter!) or somehow hypnotizing you with a picture of a blizzard enveloping your house or a wintery outdoors. I remember having a snow globe hard enough where it makes a long enough difference to sit for five minutes and watch how long it was before “snow” settle inside the water ball. Then you have others who are known to be horrified to be anywhere near a snowball. The psychological reasoning behind it is certainly worth exploring. In fact, any small object in pop culture that has the polar opposites of joy and horror reflected in it should be explored. May we not experience those who are afraid only to fear that the snow inside the globe is something like asbestos. (It’s not easy to rest…it really is).
I guess we can thank Orson Welles (or maybe Hermann Mankiewicz’s creation) for bringing the snowball into pop culture in “Citizen Kane ” Painting a snow globe was the first of nostalgia – or of something lost in your childhood that you couldn’t recover. In the case of Charles Foster Kane, he created the snowy scene in the snow globe as a Pavlovian response based on his beloved Rosebud, used by him in those snowy pasts before he was taken away from his poor family. That theme in the movies over the decades seemed to evolve into a special fantasy character acting, wanting to actually live on the stage depicted. We now have a new ABC Family TV-movie for the holidays this year called “Snowglobe” and marketed to Tweens. This provides evidence that snowballs have a hypnotic quality for those who may be able to trace European descent back into their ancestral DNA.
Well, I can’t believe that Britain found a globe as much as you think it could have originated there. Most of the articles I write, I can give them credit for starting almost everything – at least in the entertainment world. For, the snow globe has its origin in France according to public records. That a few more inventions (or variation in paperweight) shows France as probably they do not hesitate to celebrate above. UK however, we can make sure that the majority of snowballs Victorian-homes”>victorian-homes”>victorian-homes would do 1800’s and early 1900’s. This snowball allowed the tank to jump into America around this same time and became a common sight on any Victorian designer’s desk. It seems likely that the French were inventive enough to think of filling a small glass ball with water and adding materials that would make snow in the woods or around the tiny house. “Citizen Kane” later took on a complex (or perhaps very European) vision of a snow globe being dropped and smashed on the floor…creating a haunting vision that could resonate for many decades.
This is what snowballs are made of…
I suspect that those who fear psychological snowballs (and yes, there are some) are not really afraid of the material inside the ball, which gives the illusion of a snow blizzard. In the past, snow globes were made from materials that could not be considered very globe-friendly. In the Victorian-era snowballs were usually chips or pieces of marble used to imitate snow. After all, there were particles of gold plate and even meat scum that could possibly harm someone’s health if ingested by a ball-banging person in an accident. Today, it’s the only white plastic that can’t be friendlier to the environment and someone’s lungs. But group collisions are probably less frequent now as a result of companies starting to make thicker and stronger glass. Which means that a potential Charles Foster Kane would probably not have a vision of Rosebud lying on the floor of his bedroom and soaking in a puddle of water today.
Speaking of water – the moisture inside the globe is roughly equivalent to what is in the airair Conditioner. That’s right, water antifreeze is used in today’s snow globes. From all the types of ball hitting in “Citizen Kane” – it appeared that light oil was the most commonly used in snowballs in the first half of the 20thth century. And I experienced the phenomenon of being hypnotized by a blizzard of snow for at least ten minutes compounded in antifreeze (glycerin and glycol) making the long-lasting illusion of falling stones. I also think of having snow globes in the trunk of your car ready to pop in the summer in case your air conditioner goes out and you can’t to get to the gas station at any time quickly.
The setting within the ballroom is designed from the expected Christmas themes to just about any other setting imaginable. It is worth noting that when France celebrated the centenary of its revolution in 1889, some of the first snow globes produced used only the smallest brand Eiffel tower. While it is very popular today – the idea of painting snow around the Eiffel tower is not usually a typical scene that you think of in winter. But the painting of the natural environment was enhanced by the British later and it is where all our movements behind the true essence of the snowglobe explained
Shocked and shaken snowball…
I’ve never known what the exact name of a phobia is for people who don’t like snow globes, it might even exist because it’s rare. However, some people don’t want to be in the same room with them – and it all comes down to how Snowball has been depicted in pop culture more recently. One of the most telling examples was a widely quoted line from the ever ABC TV series “Lost” and a line from Desmond’s character where he did as if metaphorically to the island, because he cannot escape what seemed to be immersed in a group. Of course we all want angry letter writing if the “lost” complex ever runs with a small kid and ends up sitting on a snowglobe in a box that contains a small island inside a globe. The old 80’s TV series “St. Elsewhere” barely managed to get away with this topic, when it ended its series with the suggestion that imagination in children (in this case, an autistic child) is more complex than we think. when they looked at the snowglobe for them. If a kid can come up with an entire TV series using that method, the networks know where to turn for good writers.
A general feeling of claustrophobia within any scene (winter or not) could also trigger an uncomfortable reaction of some kind. And, as I said before, the thought of one of the balls falling on the floor again can be a frequent fear. Although they used to shake much more violently if they fell off the leaded ledge because of the leaded glass, with the stronger glass used now, it was unlikely to break them and scatter the white plastic pieces all over the place. However, if it is used as a deadly weapon as Richard Gere did in the movie “Infidel” – it is not surprising that the snowball is stigmatized it was given to a certain sensitive group of people.
I have a trunk, however, that more snowballs find positive attributes than they fear. Maybe that ABC’s Family Movie Channel called “Snowglobe” (starring Christina Milian and Lorraine Bracco) helps to help the younger generation. hence the right foot around the snowballs and how they can be the starting ground for imagining a romantic fantasy. In the context of this TV movie, it’s almost a nostalgic (or should I say quixotic) dream world – mainly because the snowglobe belongs to the main character of the grandmother. The Christmas-themed fantasy world definitely fits the elements of nostalgia, although it’s also a classic teen romantic fairy tale. As a non-pre-screening guess, the ending will likely make viewers wonder if the Christmas world in the snowglobe was real or just pure imagination.
Also, let’s not forget how the snowball males look here. Just imitating the feeling of a huge snow in a winter scene (or perhaps a Disney or other pop culture figure, as an example of various snowglobe themes) is enough to inspire a feeling of well-being. I have never failed to see one of my noble relatives fail to notice the snow in a friend’s room without reading, shaking it violently, and then watching a blizzard develop. Children need snow … and now it needs to be said! A simple psychological response like this – it provides a quick fix to one of the best winter dreams for both boys and girls falling through a heatwave late at night while they are doing homework in their room.
All these positive angles may prove more that the snow globe may have hope, however, as generally the stuff that dreams are made of rather than a particular Maltese Falcon. Although I’m sure you could also find the Maltese Falcon snowglobe theme somewhere.
