Humanities Honors Program

Whipped Cream is a two Act ballet performed by the American Ballet Theatre, with choreography by Alexei Ratmansky and sets and costumes designed by pop-surrealist, Mark Ryden. The story follows the protagonist, The Boy, after he overindulges on whipped cream following his First Communion. As a result, he has a series of dreams that become progressively more bizarre as The Boy descends into a fantasy world. The emphasis on subconscious combined with the 1920s Viennese setting of Whipped Cream immediately recalls Sigmund Freud and his Dream Theory. By using Freud’s Dream Theory as a point of departure, the paper argues that the main ‘want’ of The Boy lies in a craving for control and a need to escape the confines of reality in favor of a fantastical world. He conjures up an alternative life for himself, a future in which he has power and resources otherwise unavailable to him. Buffered by Mark Ryden’s grotesquely cute set, props, and costumes, and reinforced by the cuteness theories of Daniel Harris and Sianne Ngai, we see how The Boy seeks to control the fears of growing up and the pressures that come with it, by recreating the world as he sees fit. By the end of the ballet and despite The Boy’s desire to reshape the world, his mental breakdown and the inherent violence present in such a cutesy facade, expose a darker ending and the enduring presence of the reality The Boy is actively trying to escape.