The Big Snit

"The Big Snit" is a classic animated short film, made in 1985. It was written by Richard Condie and produced by the National Film Board of Canada.

WARNING! There are unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.

During a quiet afternoon, a married couple are playing Scrabble. It's the husband's turn, but all seven of his tiles are "E"s. The wife finally decides to go do some housework while waiting for her own turn. He turns on the TV to watch his favourite show, but falls asleep in the middle of the broadcast... which means nobody sees the emergency broadcast announcing World War III has started. The pet cat breaks the TV's power cord, the husband wakes up, the wife finishes her cleaning, he takes a quick look at her Scrabble tiles (she can spell "carrots"), and she catches him cheating. They have a fight, completely missing seeing everyone else in town evacuating, and she runs off to cry in the front hall. He sees a photo of the two of them from happier times and goes to make up, but she won't pay attention to him until he plays something resembling music on a concertina. They make up. He notices that the cat wants out (and has packed to evacuate), but just as he grabs the doorknob, there's a bright flash outside and at least the husband dissolves into ash. Opening the door, they see an idyllic place that doesn't look anything like their neighbourhood, decide it's too nice a day to do anything, and (completely missing the fact that they have wings now) go back to finish their game.

Watch it on the NFB's website or YouTube channel.

Tropes used in The Big Snit include:
  • Bland-Name Product: "Expo 1957" instead of Real Life's "Expo 67".
  • The Cameo: With all those missiles flying over the North Pole, it's amazing that there's any room for Santa Claus to fly his sleigh... but there he is.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: The mutually-assured destruction of World War III serves as a Funny Background Event.
  • Fluffy Cloud Heaven: What they see when they finally open the front door.
  • Ignored Vital News Reports: The announcement about World War III is not so much ignored as slept through.
  • Shout-Out: Matt Groening says that "The Big Snit" inspired the Scrabble game in "Bart the Genius", the second episode of The Simpsons.
  • Squeaky Eyes: the wife's eyes rattle when she takes them off and shakes them. (Yes, her eyes. She doesn't wear glasses.)
  • Your Mileage May Vary: It's up to the viewer to decide which snit is the big one — the marital dispute or World War III.
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