Every single song in 35MM: A Musical Exhibition invites this. Because each song is its own isolated story with no further context except the photos (some of which are more abstract), it's up to the audience to fill in the gaps. Plus, most of the songs are narrated by a character in the song, meaning it's unlikely that they're not at least a little biased.
NO SPOILERS WILL BE MARKED.
Crazytown
- What's happening to the protagonist? Is it a Dying Dream, has he really gone to a twisted wonderland? Is it a metaphor for growing up? Is he stuck to relive the events of the song forever?
The Party Goes With You
- Is the relationship between the narrator and her husband actually abusive or merely unhappy?
- Some fans have speculated that the narrator's husband is actually dead, and the song is about her being unable to move past her grief. What their marriage was like before that is still murky.
- Some believe that the narrator is actually a lesbian singing to a woman that she can't have and that "gayest" could be a double meaning of sorts.
Make Me Happy
- The song is sung by two self-admittedly difficult people who have found love together. Are they simply abrasive by nature, and self-aware enough to know they're not easy to live with and are thus sincerely grateful for their partner accepting them as they are? Or were they not always like this, one or both of them growing more prickly and cynical as a reaction to previous bad relationships? The things they both say they like about each other (he likes that she gives him his alone time when he needs it, she likes that he lets her vent and make her concerns heard) implies they weren't getting them from ex-partners. If he's used to having his privacy and personal time invaded, and/or she's used to partners not listening to her feelings, it makes sense both that they'd become more outwardly difficult as a defense mechanism, and that they'd be particularly pleased to find someone who respects their needs.
Leave, Luanne
- Why doesn't Luanne kill her husband when she gets ahold of the knife while he's asleep? Is she simply being pragmatic, realizing suspicion would fall to her and there'd always be the possibility of his body being discovered? Does she worry he'd wake up before she could finish the job and overpower her? Has she decided killing him isn't worth the trouble and she'd rather just escape and start a new life elsewhere rather than try to stay in a place that ignored or failed to notice his abuse? Or is she just too nice to kill someone, even though the bastard absolutely deserves it? If the latter is true, she certainly gets over it in the end.
- Some animatics interpret the "grating, growling" line as not referring to Luanne's husband, but instead the dog trying to protect her from him.
- While the story definitely ends with Luanne returning after death to drag her husband down to Hell, the lines "the bastards will never sleep again" and "a caution to the cruelest of men" has led some to speculate that Luanne isn't just an angry ghost, but an avenging angel who now protects victimized women everywhere, giving their abusers the same treatment she gave her own. If true, this adds a new level of karmic justice to the ending and makes Luanne's ultimate victory even better.
- Did Luanne drown herself so she wouldn't be forced to go back to her abusive home, or she figured he'd kill her anyway? Or did the bastard outright murder her, and claim it was suicide to cover his tracks?
Twisted Teeth
- Are the couple actually in genuine love with one another, or do they just work together because it's more effective for them to hunt as a pair? The female singer even notes that while her being turned by the male vampire "was right as rape," she also goes on to happily sing that she'd die for him regardless. Is she really in love, or has she simply convinced herself she is to try and make the best of her situation, since there's no viable escape?
- One other possibility is that the female singer was enthralled by the male vampire after being turned, and her brief moments of melancholy are in fact brief moments of lucidity where she recognizes the horror of what she's done before subsuming back into her blissful bloodthirstiness.
- Did the Mister intend only to use the Night Walker as food, only to accidentally turn her into a vampire and take her into his coven and fall for her in the process? Did he callously make her a vampire on purpose so he'd have a partner (both for hunting and general companionship), her feelings on the matter be damned? Or is he a Jerkass Woobie, being a desperately lonely individual unable to form normal connections due to his monstrous nature, and eventually giving into temptation and turning the first person to show him kindness so they could be together? It doesn't excuse his turning her into a bloodsucking creature of the night without her consent, but it could be at least a little understandable.
- Is the Mister as attached to the Night Walker as she is to him, or is he merely using her, leading to a Mad Love / Love Martyr scenario?
The Ballad of Sara Berry
- The actions of Sara's ex-boyfriend. Did he take Julie Jenkins to the prom just to spite his ex, because he wanted to latch on to whoever was the most popular at the time, or because he — like the rest of the school — saw her as an In-Universe Wheelchair Woobie and decided to take her out of pity? Hell, did he actually take Julie to the prom, or was it a last ditch effort to bring Sara back to reality? One animatic
has him and Julie bonding while Sara was busy with her Prom Queen plans, suggesting they had gradually grown to like one another. - Julie Jenkins is usually portrayed as an Wheelchair Woobie in animatics, but a couple portray her as more villainous, milking her amputated leg for sympathy. Of course, it could all be in Sara's mind. Some have her smirking at Sara's arrest, implying she always hated her and relished her downfall, while others have her sobbing in horror, heartbroken at what has transpired, some even showing her genuinely pitying Sara by the end.
- Many have speculated the narrator is Julie after the fact.
- Is Sara's father really saying her self-worth is related to her being Prom Queen, or does Sara simply think that her father thinks that way? For one, despite the presence of backup singers, the lead singer narrates her father's words.
- In the same song, many of wondered what role Sara's mother plays in all this. While her father is certainly emotionally abusive (at the very least), her mother is only mentioned in a line by him: "I know you won't disappoint me and Mom." Is Mom a participant in the abuse? A Useless Bystander Parent? A victim of Dad's abuse herself? Some have theorized she actually died some time ago, and Sara's father is twisting the knife by invoking the name of her dead mother to further manipulate her.
- This animatic suggests that Sara's mother also went insane, to the point where Sara now occupies her mother's old padded cell.
- This animatic
- Why didn't Sara kill Julie at prom? Did Julie simply manage to hide, causing Sara to move on to her other targets? Was Sara planning to save her for last? An animatic actually shows Sara imagining Julie cheering for her during her imaginary coronation. Did she plan to spare Julie? She never actually expresses hatred for Julie throughout the song, Sara could have genuinely pitied and liked her while blaming her classmates for choosing her.
- Who were the girls that Sara killed? Her former friends that distanced themselves from her when she started acting crazy? The other girls nominated for Prom Queen? Friends of Julie's, and/or the students pushing hardest for her to be Queen?
- Julie lost her leg in a car crash, but the aftermath of such an amputation can mean a couple things. Most artists portray her as using a wheelchair, but others have her use crutches instead. A few have also shown Julie as having gotten a prosthetic leg instead.
- Exactly how bad Sara was before she went crazy is up for debate. She was definitely an Alpha Bitch, but different animatics show her at varying levels of cruelty, most often illustrated through her reaction to Julie losing her leg. Some have her being completely nonchalant at the news, while others show her as being at least decent enough to feel sympathetic towards Julie's ordeal, at least until she gets in her way.
- Was Julie actively campaigning to win prom queen, or was her run being almost entirely pushed along by other students? If the former, was Julie milking her injury for sympathy points? If the latter, is the campaign being pushed solely by students who pity Julie, perhaps to the point of Condescending Compassion, just wanting to feel good about themselves for helping the poor one-legged girl? Or was it run by Julie's friends, genuinely wanting to do something nice for her to give her a happy ending to what would've been a traumatic year? The chorus declares the campaign a "pity vote," but it's possible this is just what Sara thinks, either due to being rather cynical to start with, or being unable to comprehend that people might like Julie better than her (since they comment that she is a bitch for calling the police while Sara was on her murder spree).
- Did Sara's friends leave her because they had No Sympathy for her driving herself crazy trying to win Prom Queen, or did they feel she was going too far by trying to take the spotlight away from Julie, a girl who had already suffered a painful tragedy?
- Does Sara's insanity make her an Unreliable Narrator, and if so, is she exaggerating in her own mind things like her dad pressuring her to become Prom Queen and her friends declaring her "socially dead"? Maybe one of her friends said something Innocently Insensitive and Sara, not being mentally stable, took it really hard.
- Sara's father saying "There's just no future for a princess at prom" is popularly interpreted as him saying that he will cut her off financially or disown her if she fails to win prom queen, adding an extra layer to her increasing desperation when it looks like she is losing. Interestingly, Sara's name means "princess" in Hebrew.
- Speaking of said father, what happens to him in the end? Does he realized what his abuse did to his daughter? Will his reputation tank? Did Sara kill him before she went on her murder spree at the prom?
- What was Sara and Julie's relationship before Julie lost her leg? While most portray them as strangers or classmates who barely knew each other, some show them as best friends or friends that had some sort of falling out before the car wreck.
- How exactly did Sara promote herself to becoming Prom Queen? Did she do so the honest way? Did she try to cheat or blackmail others?
Cut You a Piece
- Who is the narrator? A child of Jules and Jessie? An old friend? Acquaintance?
- Some have speculated that they were in love with either Jules or Jessie and have interpreted the line "so of course they fell in love" as almost angry that Jules would change for Jessie, but not for them.
- Who are the voices at the end of the song? They could be Jules and Jessie, OR they could be the person that the narrator was singing to.
