BABE (1995; d. Chris Noonan, w. CN+ George Miller)

Credits-sequence animated pigtures 2(+3)-dimensional world/concepts coming to life in unconscious gallery in story of characters realizing hidden potential (Mad Max producer – co-scrw GM – redefining self out of action genre), film proper beginning w/ img of sleeping title porker (nascent innocence) awakening in industrial hog-farm (Miller’s revelation of own destiny in Hollywood if not careful).

Segue to carnival (dream, where unconscious comes out to frolic, squealing slaughterhouse-bound pigs cutting to thrill-ride teens all species’ doomed futures) where farmer Arthur (as in "Art") "Hog"gett (conscious/human Babe-double, btwn first-name divine + last-name earthly) wanders out-of-place (searching, rather'n aimlessly cavorting) + gets roped into contest where Babe prize (serene reward at center of chaos); while piecing together doll house (artist/unconsc constructing miniature world-w/i [filmmakers doing same] + superego modeling future), gets call (unseen speaker the messenger-w/i) announcing win, blasé reaction vaguely dissatisfied mind surprised by intuition of change.

Pig welcomed by most of farm ("animal" instincts embracing curious addition to corporate ego) but for sheepdog Rex (governing ego-nature, in charge of maintaining status quo by keeping wandering thots in line), adopted by surrogate (not-the-)mother (personality in need of re-birth) Rex-mate Fly (ascendant future for previously grounded earth-laborer + his similarly wallowing counterpart) + befriended by cock-crowing rooster-aspirant "anorexic duck" (vs gluttonous swine: starving self to lighten body the aspiring Soul), Ferdinand.

Recruited by latter to retrieve alarm clock (civilization/consciousness threatening nature/dream) meant to replace him (because, as one of my co-workers unwittingly described then-new film at time of widespread corporate layoffs + welfare reform, "If you don’t have a job on the farm, you’re food," all animals’ behavior when brethren disappeared reflective of employees’ similar "Who’s next?" sheepishness in face of downsizing, many critters notably "keeping their heads down"), Babe enters house while Hoggetts away (arising into consc’ss while superego in absentia) + sneaks past sleeping cat Duchess (complacent aspect of H personality) to which Ferd allergic (inimical to desirous Spirit), nearly bringing down model house(-w/i-house: end of dreamworld concurrent w/ return of consc’ss), Ferd interceding long enuf to sneeze + wake Duchess (Babe simultaneously dropping clock + setting off alarm "waking" whole farm in ensuing melee); Hoggetts’/conscss's return to upturned house (evidence of psychic turmoil, brightly-colored paw/hoof/footprints emergent psychic material, like traces of dream) begets Rex's clampdown (psychological gatekeeper back on guard) + puts F+B at risk for Xmas dinner ("eating" material aka sublimation).

On children’s holiday visit, techie son urges dad to modernize (psychic agitator pushing ego twd advancement) + gives folks fax machine ("You can send letters over the phone" pooh-pooh’d at 1st [granddaughter's "I wanted the (house) I saw on the television!" tantrum further evils of technology], capitalized on later) at about same time poachers raiding sheep stock (threat to innocence, and atavistic nature depleting Self), till Babe alerts Hoggett (msg from instincts to consciousness), whose truck too slow to stop ’em (need to do as inner-son sez); crooks bust thru gate (defenses down: now "open" to change), which he fixes w/ motorized contraption (1st step in re-creation) that Ferd later uses as catapult for escape (technology also conversely freeing the aspiring soul).

After Babe proves self at "sheeppigging" (calming, ordering capability of unconscious/sincere motives vs dogs’ harshness, B transcendent potential in all), jealous Rex acts out + gets muzzled + sedated (corralling both self-destructive brute [uncivilized] impulses rebellious twd change + mental censor inhibiting same, later divulging of his deafness following apocalyptic flood [great turning point in life, à la middle age] senior-aged Hoggett’s own physical deterioration); when pig next suspected of killing elder sheep Maa (separation from comforting [woolly-pelted] not-the-mother/past), Hoggett stopped from slaughtering innocent/ce by both Fly’s bark (msg from "Body") + police (consc mental "authority"/Mind) via wife (Soul)’s news of wild dogs in area (à la Rex) – made fully aware of atavistic threat.

Mrs H (Arthur’s ordering consciousness) away, Arthur settles in w/ dogs + Babe (allowing "lower" intelligences into consc’ss) + faxes entry form for B in shepherding contest (test of own ability to be governed by heart); exiled (Satanic) Duchess sneaks in (invasion of consc’ss by disruptive material) while all watching angelic choir on TV (projection of own inner peace), when lights short out (separation from civilization/consc’ss, intrusion of displaced complacent destroying their complacency), D informing B of meat-status ("Porrrk, they call it") initiating pig’s Dark-Night-o/t-Soul (Hoggett’s awareness of own encroaching mortality) flight from farm (heart/child’s leaving comforting nest).

Nursed back to health, Babe enters contest involving unexpected black sheep (echoing racist tinge of dog’s earlier "thick, woolly heads" reference) + wins trust c/o password (abracadabra unlocking access to mystical communion, B conduit btwn species/realms) relayed by Rex (debilitated conscious authority "lowering" self to similarly hermetic role), who returns from farm via linemen’s truck (re/establishing connections); quiet climax as B "orders" sheep (via code Hoggett recognizes but dsn’t need to understand: respect for self-contained unconscious processes) into corral triumph of meekness over vulgarity + selflessness over ego (+ Miller’s successful reinvention after virtually creating modern action thriller), light behind Hoggett’s noggin divine illumination, as both god + god"head" – the divinized individual.