Multi-talented artist Jack Stauber is mostly known for the now-acclaimed meme song, Buttercup and his album, Micropop. In 2020, he produced the Adult Swim Small, OPAL. What first appeared to be a seemingly innocent home revealed a child’s troubled environment.
The Story of OPAL
The short film begins with a collection of footage and animated transition scenes. The items highlighted are a TV, a remote, cigarettes, mirrors, makeup, and medication. Then an open window appears to a yellow home with a cheeseburger on the table. A young girl with pigtails opens her eyes at the table with three family members. From left to right is her mother, father, and grandfather calling her Opal.
She’s happy to see her family, happily dancing on the table while holding the burger. Suddenly, Opal notices a gray house across the street. Her father sweats and her mother closes the window curtains. They told her to never go to the house and head straight to bed. Opal sneaks out in the middle of the night after hearing heavenly singing from the gray house. She enters and discovers a shaded old man, a mirror man, and a sickly woman.
All three members of the household correlate with the items that were shown in the intro. The man in shades has a hard time breathing for he smokes cigarettes while watching TV. The man in the bathroom is surrounded by mirrors using a head mount. And the woman in the bedroom has medication to treat her head injury. Two of them have called Opal “Claire” as if she belongs in this household. When she enters the attic, Opal discovers that the yellow house is part of her imagination and that her name comes from a burger chain billboard.
Escaping Neglect
OPAL is a cross-media story that focuses on people using a habit to escape the reality of a harsh situation. Claire the young girl is seen as the source of blame to the three household members. Her living situation is shown as a sign of neglect for almost every room shown is in a state of disarray. The adults have dove into a certain habit that gave them self-neglect as well. Jack Stauber even composed a specific melody for them to sing about their habit.
The Shaded Man
The Shaded Man in the film’s intro shares the same features as Claire’s grandfather. He wears a gray shirt, has a rotund body, and no hair. His real self shows he is very sensitive to bright light as watches television with shades on. Comments on YouTube believed the grandfather was blind for he could not see Claire until he smelled her scent. Yet, that’s not the case for the audience sees him climbing stairs while interacting with the Mirror Man. The grandfather screams directly at her, so he is near-sighted.
In his song Easy to Breathe, the grandfather wonders how people can breathe on TV. Earlier, he asked Claire to help him find his cigarettes. Due to smoking, his lungs are failing to give him proper respiration flow. He sits at the TV to feel like a normal person.
The Mirror Man
The Mirror Man appears to be Claire’s father for he shares his white collared shirt and work pants. The gray house’s bathroom is where he spends all of his time for he wants to feel youthful. Claire’s father’s speech is unsettling for he sees himself as a “tiny little thing.” He mentions people often get mad at him despite being a growing boy.
In his song Mirror Man, the father calls his head mount and mirror-hung bathroom the Reflection Chamber. This allows him to always pay attention to his face. What’s more disturbing is when he sees Claire’s outfit under his reflection, he pretends it’s his body. Mirror Man’s song sequence shows live hands putting cosmetics on his skin. The father believes his young appearance will be his chance to escape responsibility. He has grown to become a narcissist for he does not want to see anyone but himself.
The Sickly Woman
The Sickly Woman is Claire’s mother, looking disheveled based on her messy hair, slanted eyes, and cracked lips. She stays trapped in her wrecked bedroom nest to a vanity of medicine. Unlike her grandfather and father, Claire’s mother is abused by her husband, forcing herself to take medication to stay alive.
This is supported in her song sequence for Virtuous Cycle. The mother sings about how she needs a baby girl (Claire) to listen to her troubles and give her care. She rolls her eyes back showing the viewer how she has gotten into this condition. During an argument, she attempted to call 911 for the police but was smacked from behind by the father. She stumbles off the stair railing, causing her skull to splatter on the floor.
Because of Claire’s father’s negligence, her mother mixes alcohol with her medicine. Her intoxication has forced her to become spiteful and pessimistic, calling herself and Claire “survivors.” She refers to her father and grandfather as adversaries for she believes is blameless yet the house is in shambles.
Claire and Opal
As mentioned earlier, Opal is the name Claire has given to herself based on the burger chain. The gray house is her home in reality while the yellow house is imaginary. How she enters the house shows she has practiced to try and avoid contact with her family. She carefully tip-toed around the trash knowing it would startled her grandfather. How she reacts to her parents shows anxiety and confusion about things she doesn’t understand. The heavenly singing in the attic is where she cries and is the only safe place in her real home.
The most convincing sign of Claire pretending to be Opal is her closing her eyes. In both the beginning and end, her eyes are closed shut to help her envision her pretend family. All of their eyes are wide open, showing they are giving Claire the needed attention. She doesn’t take a bite of the burger for she may not know what it tastes like. Her body appears to be malnourished as her eyes are larger than her head.
The Opal’s Burgers billboard lights are a clever indicator of something fake. They are first seen above the pretend family unlit. They turn on brightly at night, driving Claire to quickly enter the house before succumbing to reality. To her, this billboard is a sign of hope that she will escape the gray house.
Conclusion
Jack Stauber’s OPAL was released on Halloween Day in 2020. He succeeded in creating a short musical touching the subject of neglectful households. Using the perspective of a child gives the audience insight into how they could handle their living situation. The disturbing stop-motion, 3D animation, and live-action visuals added a sense of realism for people who have experienced it. They relate to Claire and hope she will not become like her family.
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