Do you remember back in English class, when the teacher would ask everyone to find the hidden meaning in the text? The curtains in the room were blue because the author supposedly wanted to portray sadness, or the protagonist was made to be the middle child because of all the struggles that come with “middle child syndrome.” Obviously, authors have stories to tell and want to convey certain meanings to their audience, but not everything needs to be thoroughly analyzed.
Well, here we are, grown adults still looking for meaning and connections between things. Rather than tearing apart a short story or novel, people are picking apart movies and series, specifically ones that are targeted towards children, and trying to find the dark, hidden message behind the relatively light plot. It is no secret thatDisney often has Easter Eggsin their movies that connect characters or storylines, but some fans have concocted horrifying theories about certain films. Beloved shows likeSpongeBob SquarePantsandRugratshave their fair share of dark suggestions created by fans, and some of the creators and actors have even jumped in on the conversations.
Here are 10 conspiracy theories about kids movies and shows.
10SpongeBob SquarePants Lives Under a Nuclear Test Site
Kids can get past the idea that underwater creatures (plus one very sassy squirrel) interact on a friendly level, and live their daily lives as they go to work and have fun on the ocean floor. When looking at the main setting ofSpongeBob SquarePants, Bikini Bottom seems relatively normal to make businesses and critters' homes out of things that are likely found at the bottom of the ocean. However, fans have called out the fictional city and questioned its origin.
In an interview withHuffpost, the voice of SpongeBob, Tom Kenny, actually confirmed that Bikini Bottom was inspired by Bikini Atoll, where nuclear testing took place. The theory is that the children’s show takes place afterward, and the creatures have been mutated by the chemicals that remained in the area. This has allowed them to speak and have a sense of purpose much like humans.
9Winnie the Pooh Characters Represent Mental Illnesses
The adventures with Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, and the whole Hundred Acre Wood gang inWinnie the Poohare nostalgic and should warm everyone’s hearts. However, Dr. Sarah Shea and her team of fellow pediatricians published a paper in 2000 titled “Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood: a neurodevelopmental perspective on A. A. Milne” that put a dark spin on the children’s series and caused quite an uproar with fans.
The theory is that each of Christopher Robin’s animal friends represents adifferent mental illness. Winnie the Pooh is impulsive, gets sidetracked a lot, often follows patterns, and is obsessed with honey, so he has been associated with someone who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and/or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Tigger, the tiger who literally bounces off everything, is believed to also have ADHD.
Further, Piglet is often quite nervous about speaking up and joining in on adventures, so the little pink pig is thought to have an Anxiety Disorder. Eeyore is rarely happy even when surrounded by his friends; therefore, people believe he is clinically depressed. It is easier to see these connections as an adult, but in the end, are critics trying to put labels on every personality with which a kid might identify?
8Tarzan Is the Long-Lost Brother of Elsa and Anna
Fans only need to watch the first 12 minutes ofTarzanandFrozento make the connection between Tarzan and his possible siblings. InFrozen, when Anna and Elsa are teenagers, their parents leave for a two-week-long trip (it is never said where they were going), but instead of reaching their destination, their ship is caught in a storm. Audiences watch as it goes under a massive wave, and the people of Arendelle later hold a memorial service for the king and queen as they believe them to be dead. It is important to note that the event is not a funeral due to the ground where their engraved stones are is not disrupted to make people believe the couple has been buried.
The opening scene ofTarzanshows Tarzan as an infant in his mother’s arms as she and his father desperately flee from their ship that’s on fire. The family makes it to the coast of an unidentified African jungle where they build and live in a treehouse until a leopard kills the parents. ThoughTarzancame out 14 years beforeFrozen, fans believe that the coincidence between Elsa and Anna’s parents never being found from their “shipwreck” and Tarzan’s parents coming from an unknown location on a ship is enough evidence to link the characters.
7Peter Pan Is an Angel of Death
Peter Pan is best-known as the boy who never grew up. In mostPeter Panfilm adaptations, he is portrayed as a boy who lives in Neverland, fighting off pirates and going on adventures with the Lost Boys. In the original 1953 animated version that most fans immediately know and love, Peter appears in the window of the Darling children’s nursery, and after a little sprinkle of pixie dust and happy thoughts, the children soar through the sky with their new friend to his magical land.
There are many theories to be had about the eccentric young man from J. M. Barrie’s bookThe Little White Birdand his playPeter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. The most common theory seems to be that Peter is an angel who meets dying children on Earth and brings them back to Neverland (Heaven), where they get to meet incredible creatures and go on adventures all while never having to grow up.
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6Carl Dies in the Beginning of Up
Out ofall the Pixar movies,Uphas to be one of the most heartbreaking, yet here people are wanting to turn it into something even more devastating. Within the first 10 minutes, viewers watch a love story unfold as Carl and Ellie meet as children, share similar interests, get married, and prepare for the rest of their lives together. The adorable prologue takes a turn when Ellie is much older and falls walking up a hill; she is later in bed, saying her goodbyes to her husband.
Audiences were choked up after this, but some fans have speculated that Ellie was not the only one who passed at the beginning of the film. The theory is that Carl also died from grief, and Russell Jang, the Wilderness Explorer, is actually an angel meant to help Carl “up” to the afterlife. Carl is unwilling because he needs to complete his promise to Ellie and get to Paradise Island, so Russell simply tags along to verify Carl gets to fulfill his wish as well as move on to Heaven.
5Ariel’s Mom Is Killed by Captain Hook’s Crew
Sometimes, it seems like fans are forcing connections between two or more Disney animated movies when in fact, they need to realize that animators used generic drawings when it came to background characters. Alas, there are some diehard individuals who believe Ariel’s mother, Queen Athena, was killed by Captain Hook and his crew in the prequel to the 1989 version ofThe Little Mermaid.
InThe Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning, we get to see King Triton in his younger years when he had his beautiful wife by his side, and all seven of his daughters were young and curious girls. Within the first five minutes, a pirate ship approaches a lagoon where many merpeople are, including Triton and his family.
Queen Athena attempts to escape, but is killed when the ship crashes into the rocks. Between the connection of the lagoon (which does look an awful lot like the one inPeter Pan) and the pirates getting stranded after crashing,people speculate that Captain Hookis behind both the wheel of the thieving pirate ship and Athena’s death.
4Mary Poppins Is a Time Lord (Doctor Who)
BecauseMary Poppins’s eponymous heroine is simply one of those people that everyone accepts due to her warm and genuine nature, this fan theory (viaCBR) is a bit more plausible than some of the others. When she is needed, she appears from the middle of nowhere. When she needs something for herself or those she is helping, items magically appear from her larger-than-life bag.
Some fans have analyzed this incredible woman and deduced that she is in fact a Time Lord just like the other Doctors fromDoctor Who. Like the Tardis, her umbrella serves as her mode of transportation, she is clearly a very magical being that uses her powers for good, and let’s not overlook the fact that she has a great sense of style — including the hat. Sometimes it is just fun to accept the theories when they are also rooted in fantasy elements.
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3The Rugrats Are Figments of Angelica’s Imagination
The theory about all theRugratsbabies being figments of Angelica’s imagination is possibly one of the more popular ones out there, and it stems from two proven storylines. First, in the “Mother’s Day” episode, it is revealed that Chuckie’s mother passed away due to a car accident. In that same episode, Tommy recalls the first time he saw his mother, but he was in an enclosed box in the hospital, indicating he was either born prematurely or there were complications with his birth. Tumblr fans took these occurrences, along with the fact that Tommy’s baby brother could not speak, and started this wild theory.
Angelica Pickles is older than the rest of the baby gang (aside from Susie who later becomes her friend), and she was lonely due to her mother’s workaholic nature. From the conversations she’s overheard from the adults, she then concocted her cousin (who is thought to have died at birth) and all of his friends (Chuckie supposedly died in the car crash with his mother) out of thin air to give herself playmates to boss around. Arlene Klasky, one of theRugratscreators, voiced her opinion on the dark theory (viaMTV).
2Nemo Did Not Survive the Attack
Some fans really paid attention in their high school English class, but instead of deciphering the author’s mood based on the color of an object, they picked up on Nemo’s name being the Latin word for “No One” or “Nobody.” That really puts a damper on the original title, “Finding Nobody.”
Fans have theorized that Nemo, like his mother, did not in fact survive the barracuda attack at the beginning ofFinding Nemo. The film then follows Marlin as he imagines a single egg becoming his only son as he copes with his loss and experiences the five stages of grief. Because of thecreation of a sequel(13 years later), as well as the whole storyline of Nemo experiencing things without Marlin’s knowledge, this theory is rather bleak. What fans absolutely know is that Marlin is an overprotective parent and does raise several concerns due to what he has been through with losing his wife and children, but to say Nemo does not exist at all is far-fetched.
1Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) and Jane (from Tarzan) are Related
When Terk, Tantor, and a few others go in search of Tarzan, they stumble upon the humans' campground. Initially, they are hesitant about approaching, but fear quickly turns into curiosity, and Terk, being the outgoing gorilla that she is, decides to lead the group in a musical number. She ends up tapping on a tea set that looks all too familiar. The cream and purple coloring with the gold accents looks identical to Mrs. Potts, Chip, and the rest of their group fromBeauty and the Beast. One tea cup even has a small yet distinct crack in it.
Fans believe that an explanation for this crossover is that Jane inherited the set from Belle. When looking at the two characters, there are similarities in their looks, and they both are beautiful in the color yellow (not a color worn by many Disney women). The tea set, however, is the main factor that leads people to this connection.
