Rejected! Trivia Quiz

Answer: a series of fictional advertisements

The film is about a series of advertisements for the fictional companies Johnson & Mills and The Family Learning Channel. These commercials were never actually aired as commercials - the film originated partly as a joke due to numerous people asking animator Don Hertzfeldt what it would be like if he did commercial work.

The collision of commerce and art is so violent that the characters in the cartoons eventually implode with their cartoon universe.

Answer: black, white, yellow and red

The film is basically black and white stick figure animation, except the stick figures are sort of bulbous, and whenever they bleed it is in red. The anthropomorphic banana got to be yellow. In other words, it is pretty low budget.

Answer: banana

In the opening scene, a human-sized banana walks out to face a character holding a giant spoon and declares that it is, in fact, a banana.

Answer: Beethoven's 9th Symphony

During the introduction, closing credits, and the several interludes of black and white text, various portions of the first two movements of Beethoven's 9th are playing. The adagio and chorale would have been poorly suited to this film, considering the cartoon world is not ultimately redeemed as much as it violently collapses upon itself.

Other portions of the film are accompanied by various jazz and elevator music tracks.

Answer: He is beaten with baseball bats by the people wearing silly hats.

The scene involves three people wearing silly hats in a plain room with a sign on the wall that says "silly hats only". A fourth stick person walks in wearing a plain top hat, and the other three stare at him with progressively unhappier faces. After the Family Learning Channel logo appears, the film quickly cuts back to the three silly hat wearing stick people using baseball bats to furiously beat a prone, limp stick figure wearing a top hat.

Answer: The cartoons lack input and coherent narrative structure.

The scene depicting the end of the cartoon universe is preceded by black and white text saying:
"Perhaps it was the animator's creative stagnation in the commercial world, or a deeper loss of individuality therein...
Without any input and lacking any remaining reason or coherent narrative structure, the rejected cartoons grew unstable. They began to fall apart."

I wish I could describe this sequence, but it is really beyond the power of mere words. Suffice to say, the animation is really neat, and if you have a chance to see it a theater it is immensely impressive.

Answer: He falls down a giant flight of stairs.

This scene, intended to advertise Johnson & Mills kelp dip, features Poopie the baby taking his first steps. It includes '80s sitcom studio audience sounds, including "awww" as the baby takes its first steps, and applause as he falls down the stairs.

Answer: gelatin dessert

Johnson & Mills is not a real company, though it is likely meant as a reference to both Johnson & Johnson and General Mills. The three advertisements consist of one scene of the film followed by a short still advertisement featuring a picture of the product and various non-sequitur endorsements.

These three commercials, like those for The Family Learning Channel are rejected immediately and never aired.

Answer: his eyeballs

The man is standing by himself next to a yield sign when an alien flies down in a flying saucer, reaches out, and plucks the man's eyes out of their sockets. After the alien flies away with its new possessions, the man walks into the sign.

Answer: "I'm the Queen of France!"

Two stick figures face each other against a plain white background, one of them rips the other's abdomen out, beats him to death with it, and then puts it on his own head. He declares he is the Queen of France, then the bongo drums start and his arms proceed to grow longer as he dances. This is an advertisement for Johnson & Mills' bean lard mulch.