The Black Balloon contains examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: Simon calls Maggie "Magpie."
- Appeal to Obscurity: On an invasive weed Jackie likes:Thomas: They strangle all the native plants and probably poison all the native animals.
Jackie: What native animals?
Thomas: Exactly. - Banana Peel: Charlie and his friend Russell appear in a School Play about Noah's Ark as two monkeys. Their dance involves one of them dropping a banana peel and the other pretending to slip.
- Bathtub Bonding: One scene has the brothers in the tub together, with Thomas reminiscing about their childhood while Charlie pats soap onto their faces.
- Big Guy Rodeo: Charlie takes a tampon from Jackie's backpack and runs away with it in his mouth. Thomas chases after him and jumps on his back in an attempt to grab the tampon, but Charlie easily pushes him off.
- Bitch Slap: Maggie slaps Thomas for calling Charlie a freak.
- Big "NO!": Charlie groans, "Nooo! Noooooooooo!" while he has a meltdown in the grocery store.
- Cry into Chest: Thomas cries into Maggie's chest after he and Charlie have a particularly nasty fight in front of Jackie.
- Male Gaze: When Thomas and his classmates check out girls at the pool, the camera pans up their bodies.
- Missing Mom: Implied. Jackie thinks that if she could get the visual snow when she closes her eyes to go away, she'd be able to see her mom.
- Really Moves Around: Thanks to being a Military Brat, Thomas went to three primary schools and is on his second high school.
- Papa Wolf: After being visited by Youth and Community services for complaints about Charlie's behaviour, he angrily tells off his ableist neighbour for calling them.
- Potty Emergency: When Charlie has to pee, he enters a stranger's unlocked house, while Thomas tries to stop him. This leads to a Meet Cute with Jackie, who is taking a shower in the same bathroom Charlie uses.
- Security Blanket: Simon's teddy bear Rex. Simon has "conversations" with him and even takes him to the hospital to visit Maggie.
- School Play: At the end of the film, the family (including Jackie) watches Charlie perform with Russell in a school play based on Noah's Ark, down in their local special school, where they portray two monkeys. However, Russell has a meltdown whilst performing, and after a disagreement between the two backstage, Russell pulls out and Thomas volunteers to take over the role for Charlie's sake. Together, he and Charlie perform an outstanding act.
- The Speechless: Charlie was verbal as a small child, but now he can only make approximations of some words, like "kuh"note and "no." He communicates mostly through sign language.
- Tantrum Throwing:
- In one scene, Charlie throws a tantrum in the supermarket checkout after his dad is forced to put a few bits of shopping back due to not having enough money. After his dad drags him out in frustration, Thomas gets really embarrassed at this display.
- Later, after the meltdown, when Thomas angrily threatens him with no stars, he gets so upset that he throws a stool through the window.
