[Spoiler Alert]
Movies have been the reason for discussion and debate from a long time. Whether it’s about the socio-cultural nature of a particular movie or the sheer ridiculousness of a concept, movies often push people into having passionate discussions. It’s funny how fiction, represented on the big screen, can become so relevant personally. We often develop some theories about these popular movies. These theories can make or mar our outlook of our beloved movies.
Here are a few theories that’ll change the way we look at some of the most popular movies of all time:
1. The Hobbit Trilogy
An Unreliable Narrator is telling the story. This theory basically renders the movie pointless as you can’t trust anything that happened.
The Hobbit trilogy is told by an old Bilbo looking back on events. If you consider that the events in the story have happened over 60 years ago and the fact that Bilbo was under the influence of the Ring, the story becomes extremely unreliable. It may or may not be true. The plot holes and the sudden action-sequences in the trilogy also give us a reason to believe that the narrator was not totally sure of what had happened. This theory can help a lot of nerds get rid of their nerd-rage about the Hobbit trilogy not being as good as the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
2. Blade Runner
Deckard is not just a replicant but he’s also a particular replicant made specifically to replace Gaff.
Deckard has Gaff’s fake memories and is a replicant just to replace him. LAPD decided to find a replacement for Gaff and he was walking with a stick and clearly out of commission. Gaff keeps making origami that are often different pointers in the complicated plot. He knew about the unicorn dream (as seen by the final origami model) because it was one of his own dreams. This goes to show that Deckard is Gaff’s replicant who was created specifically to replace him.
3. Inception
Cobb’s wedding ring was his totem. At the end of the movie, we see that Cobb is not dreaming.
The spinning top was red-herring that led all of us down the wrong path of being taken aback by the concept of a totem itself. While Arthur and Ariadne are extremely secretive about their respective totems, Cobb mentions the exact function of his. He is extremely open about his wedding ring. This shows that Cobb was willing to let someone attack him in a dream of his. Cobb’s personal life had taken a toll on him and he was getting increasingly suicidal by the end of it all.
4. Mad Max: Fury Road
The character of Max doesn’t really feature in the movie. Tom Hardy actually plays the role of a grown up “Feral Kid” from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
In a movie that has the name of a character in it, it is surprising that Max Rockatansky doesn’t feature in it at all. The titular character’s absence is often hinted at by the director. The music box that the feral kid had received at the end of Mad Max 2 was shown playing in Fury Road right before the last action sequence is about to start.
5. James Bond
James Bond isn’t the name of a person but it’s a code-name given to anyone who becomes Agent 007.
This theory completely explains why the secret agent would use his real name during every mission. When an agent gets too old or is captured, he is replaced by a younger Bond. This legacy of “James Bond” keeps growing with the numerous exploits of every Bond.
6. Drag Me to Hell
The protagonist isn’t cursed and the movie isn’t supernatural at all. It’s about a girl with an eating disorder who is driven insane because of depression.
The vomiting witch always shows up in the kitchen and tries to shove food down the protagonist’s throat. There’s a scene where a cake comes to life as well. By the end of the movie, she decides to jump on to the railway track as that would finally free her from her depression.
7. Ratatouille
Remy only exists in Linguini’s head. The mouse is an imaginary friend of the young chef.
Ratatouille is a beautiful movie about a young cook who learns the tricks of the trade from a tiny friend of his – a mouse. A popular fan theory is that Remy, the mouse, only exists in Linguini’s head. Linguini is a great cook but he was short on self-confidence. By imagining a rat who helps him cook, he basically projects his culinary skills.
8. Star Wars
The humans in the epic space opera aren’t really humans but mere avatars for a bug-like alien species.
Humans on screen aren’t actually humans, merely an Earth-based representation of a bug-like alien species. Just like in a colony of bugs, there is a hierarchy involved in the Star Wars franchise as well. There’s a typical Queen followed by the fertile men (Jedis). The general soldiers lie at the bottom of the table here. Only a handful of females exists so it becomes important for the Jedis to protect them. A male Queen (Palpatine) then produces soldier drones (clones) to fight the fertile men and get hold of the Queen.
9. Taxi Driver
Travis Bickle died in a shootout and whatever you see later on in the movie is a last-moment fantasy of his.
Taxi Driver’s ending is widely considered the best depiction of black humor in Hollywood history. Travis Bickle wanted to be special throughout the entire movie and as soon as he is about to die because of the shootout, he fantasizes about being worshiped as a hero in the society later on.
10. Star Trek
Spock and Sherlock Holmes are related to each other.
The entire theory revolves around the quote -“If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” This line was originally from Sherlock Holmes but was quoted in Star Trek. It was later used again in Sherlock. Spock attributes the quote to “an ancestor” which basically means that the Vulcan is a descendant of the British detective.
11. Toy Story
Sid realises his mistakes and becomes a garbage boy to save discarded toys.
In the entire franchise, Sid is the only one to have seen the toys actually move. In Toy Story 3 we see that Sid has become a garbage boy. A popular theory about this entire scenario is that Sid had a change of heart later on and decided to save all the discarded toys. He now looks for toys in the garbage and then gives them a new home.
12. Titanic
Jack is a time-travelling agent who is sent back in time to prevent Rose from committing suicide.
Jack makes references to man-made structures that didn’t even exist during the movie’s timeline. He refers to structures such as Lake Wissota, which was made five years later, and a roller coaster on Santa Monica Pier, which was constructed four years later. His haircut also feels particularly modern for that time period. He had no money from that time so he had to gamble his way on to the Titanic.
13. Finding Nemo
Marlin is actually suffering from different stages of grief after losing his wife and children (including Nemo) at the start of the movie.
We see how a shark kills Marlin’s wife and kids at the start of the Pixar movie. This tragedy has a huge impact on Marlin as he goes into depression later on in his life. The rest of the movie is about these stages of grief: denying Nemo of his right to schooling, anger over Nemo being unsafe, bargaining by putting up with the annoying Dory to complete his journey, despair after seeing his son flushed down the drain, and finally acceptance by learning to let go.
14. Peter Pan
Peter Pan is an angel who guides dead children to heaven.
The fantastical world of Peter Pan makes no sense without any context. A theory about the movie can explain all the logical fallacies in the classic. Peter Pan is actually a fairy who guides dead children’s souls to heaven (referred to as Neverland). The kids don’t age there because they’re already dead.
