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Snow globe

A snow globe (also called a waterglobe, snowstorm,[1] or snowdome) is a transparent sphere, traditionally made of glass, enclosing a miniaturized scene of some sort, often together with a model of a town, neighborhood, landscape or figure. The sphere also encloses the water in the globe; the water serves as the medium through which the "snow" falls. To activate the snow, the globe is shaken to churn up the white particles. The globe is then placed back in its position and the flakes fall down slowly through the water. Snow globes sometimes have a built-in music box that plays a song. Some snow globes have a design around the outerbase for decoration. Snow globes are often used as a collectible item.

For other uses, see Snow globe (disambiguation).

Embellishments[edit]

Today's snow globes can include music boxes, moving parts, internal lights, and even electric motors that make the "snow" move so that it is no longer necessary to shake the globe. Some also have central slots for positioning items such as photographs.

Forced-air globes[edit]

In 2005, many U.S. stores started to sell inflatable snow globes as part of their Christmas décor. These have a base with a blower, forcing air which carries polystyrene pellets from the bottom and through a tube up the back to the top, where they are blown out and fall down inside the front, which is made of transparent vinyl. The rest of the globe, including the characters inside, are made of colorful nylon fabric. These globes are typically large decorations for the front yard, and are lighted internally with a few C7 (nightlight-type) incandescent light bulbs (which are enclosed in plastic spheres to prevent heat damage to the fabric).


A variation on this is the "tornado globe", where small foam objects spin around inside a globe. This is more common for Halloween, where foam bats or sometimes ghosts may fly around the Halloween figures in the middle. These were most common in 2006, and come in both large inflatables, and smaller tabletop versions with rigid plastic globes about 8 to 12 inches or 20 to 30 centimeters in diameter. As with the snow globes, static cling often causes the foam to stick to the plastic (especially vinyl) when humidity is low, while condensation will do the same thing on outdoor inflatables when humidity is high, or rainwater has seeped in while it is deflated.

The film (1941) starts with Charles Foster Kane in a bed holding a snow globe, uttering, "Rosebud ..."; the globe slips from his dying hand and smashes. The film historian Paul Malcolm noted the scattered content of the snow globe parallels the scattered or "dispersed" story of Kane to come in the film.[6]

Citizen Kane

In the 1994 film , Charlie Calvin receives a magical snow globe from Head Elf Bernard. When the globe is shaken, a reindeer-pulled sleigh magically flies through the miniature neighborhood inside. The snow globe later serves as a plot element when Charlie shows its magic to his father Scott, helping him to remember his childhood belief in Santa Claus and realize that he truly is Santa. At the end of the film, it is revealed by Bernard that the globe—when shaken—can summon Scott back to visit whenever Charlie wants to see him. The globe makes a cameo in The Santa Clause 2, and features prominently in The Santa Clause 3 in which it is revealed to be connected to the titular escape clause.

The Santa Clause

The special edition VHS release of (1996) included a snow globe which, when shaken, stirred up both snow and "blood".[7]

Fargo

In the film (2002), Edward Sumner (Richard Gere) uses the snow globe he gave as a present to his wife Connie (Diane Lane) as a weapon to kill her lover Paul Martel (Olivier Martinez).

Unfaithful

In the film (2007), a magical snow globe transports the protagonist to a world where the spirit of Christmas persists.

Snowglobe

In the film , based on a novel by Neil Gaiman, Coraline's parents are imprisoned in a souvenir snow globe of the Detroit Zoo.

Coraline

's early short film Knick Knack (1989) is about a snow globe snowman trying to break out of his globe.

Pixar

Glass paperweight