The short opens by imitating a standard trailer-that is to say a happy-go-lucky universe of both anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic concession snacks (popcorn, hot dogs, hamburgers, candy, ice cream, etc.) and their human customers singing, dancing and generally having a gay old time, accompanied by a countdown reel and theater announcer reminding us how much time remains until the start of the next movie. All goes exceedingly swimmingly-until the fateful moment when an unlucky bag of popcorn accidentally steps on the gumdrop in front of him, killing him almost instantly. This unfortunate act is noticed by the demonic snow cones who watch over the land from above, who decide that the popcorn bag's trauma-induced coma (and likely death) is insufficient penance and proceed to unleash a pool of blood that infects and corrupts the formerly carefree and jovial sun into casting an apocalyptic heatwave upon the entire world. From there, the once-innocent and idyllic universe quickly devolves into an unimaginable display of anarchy, death, torture, and general desperation from which there is seemingly no possible end or rescue. By the time our trusty countdown reel finally declares the start of the next movie, the damage has already been done......
For those who dare witness the unspeakable horrors which await our favorite movie treats, the official link can be found here
. For those still brave enough to wonder how and why such a subversive dystopian nightmare could be conceived by human hands, that information is here.
Follow the Sun contains examples of:
- Angst Coma: The initial bag of popcorn falls into one after killing the gumdrop. It's very unlikely, but not impossible, that he survives both it and the resulting apocalypse.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: While several bags of popcorn mindlessly praise the heatwave and their impending death, one sees the writing on the wall and repeatedly stabs themselves in the eye. It doesn't help.
- The Determinator: The announcer is unquestionably this, trying his damnedest to retain any sense of the jovial mood in which we started while continuing to countdown until showtime despite the rapidly deteriorating circumstances. Granted, he mistakenly announces "40 seconds to showtime" while the caption which accompanies him clearly reading "30 seconds to showtime" but given the situation (notably, several of the moviegoers within the lobby carousel have already died of dehydration, with only two left alive and the snack bar engulfed in fire by the time the feature begins) any such slip-up is beyond excusable, just that fact that he's still there displays a devotion to duty that would make any five-star general jealous.
- Didn't Think This Through: The snow cones were apparently so obsessed with exacting their vengeance that they forgot that, well, they're snow cones and snow cones melt in extreme heat. It doesn't long for their faces to fade from their paper-wrapped bodies, and if that's not enough the lake of blood they unleashed quickly grows beyond their control and they ultimately drown in it.
- Disguised Horror Story: The short starts off jolly and whimsical, until the gumdrop gets trampled. Things go to hell pretty quickly afterwards.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The snow cones believe that an appropriate punishment for disrupting the intermission processions (and that is almost certainly what they care about, anyone who believes for even a second that this was ever about avenging the gumdrop is even more insane than they are) is to corrupt the sun via demonic blood, and unleash an extreme heatwave that ultimately kills millions upon millions of innocent people and snack foods, up to and including themselves, and transforms a once carefree world into a dystopian nightmare for those few who manage to survive.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The sausage being coerced to dip himself into mayonnaise and going into the bun, complete with the mayo splattering.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted with prejudice. The sausage being coerced into sex (depicted as being forced to jump into a hot dog bun) is portrayed just as horrifically as all of the other calamities.
- Downer Ending: Nearly every customer and food item is dead or dying by time the intermission has ended.
- Driven to Suicide: Happens twice: The first time is an ice-cream dancer hanging herself, and the second is a bag of popcorn attempting this by cutting into its left eyeball with a potato chip, each cut removing another kernel under the presumption that emptying out all the popcorn will put the bag out of its misery.
- The Cameo: The Spotted Elephant from the 1964 Rankin/Bass Christmas Special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer makes a brief appearance as the short quickly enters darker territory.
- The Face of the Sun: The titular sun. It starts happy-go-lucky, then after being corrupted, it takes on a pained expression as if it is aware of what it is about to do, then it becomes terrifyingly enraged as its beams become more and more intense. By the end of the short the sun’s face is gone and it is now a realistic sun shooting out solar flares.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The snow cones eventually drown in the same lake of blood they unleashed.
- Mood Whiplash: Oh dear God, is there ever mood whiplash!
- Musical Spoiler: Combined with Oh, Crap! and Five-Second Foreshadowing when the green gumdrop drummer faces the demonic snow cones eye to eye. No sooner does he see them and receives their message of "EAT!" then his pupils disappear from his eyes and he resumes playing his drum-one beat at a time and in a much darker and more somber tone. The implication is obvious: the gumdrop drummer has just realized before anyone else that something unspeakably horrific is about to erupt, but keeps quiet for fear of being personally targeted for additional punishment.
- Police Brutality: A hamburger police officer is seen forcibly dousing the hot dog sausage in ketchup and mayonnaise.
- The Scapegoat: The hot dog sausage is apparently blamed for the heatwave by the hot dog bun. This results in him being subjected to Cold-Blooded Torture, and eventually being raped.
- Sole Survivor: The pickle plate receives nothing more than having their film slide briefly flipped upside down and the addition of a caption reading "SEXATIONAL". And no, this was not because the snow cones understood that the pickles were non-sentient and therefore inherently innocent of any "wrongdoing"; an equally non-sentient hamburger was spoiled to the point of having mushroom fungus begin growing out of it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Attempted by a lone potato chip who notices the extreme heat approaching and detaches itself from its companions. Sadly, the now-demonized sun notices the chip trying to scurry off-screen and starts following it. The heat inevitably catches up with the rogue chip and he alone ends up burning. Later, the other chips, realizing that the sun has made an example of them, briefly call out for help before having their message forcibly changed to read "FLESH".
