Your favourite fan theories?

MakeEmLaugh

What are your favourite fan theories i.e. theories about hidden meanings in films that are never elaborated upon by the filmmakers?

One of mine concerns The Dark Knight, and the theory that The Joker is an Iraq War veteran, which adds a surprising amount of shade to the film.

For those who haven't heard it before, allow me to quote from What Culture.

A widely-circulated fan theory around sites like Reddit is that The Joker is, in fact, a war veteran, and this one holds a lot of water for two reasons:

a) The Joker’s frequent utterance of the phrase, “You wanna know how I got these scars?”, while never actually divulging a single, definite explanation.
b) Remember when he visits Harvey Dent in hospital in the second half of the movie, and says, “A truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics because it’s all part of the plan.”?

So, The Joker was a regular soldier in a convoy, probably in Iraq, when his truck was blown up, probably killing most of his fellow men. This not only scarred his face severely, but caused him to become deranged and want to fight back against the government and, well, basically any semblance of authority or order, whether good or bad. It would also explain his familiarity with the rifle he fires during Mayor Garcia’s inauguration – his military background.

poundapunnet

I really like the one where Ferris Bueller is Cameron's imaginary friend, to the extent that I kind of take it as the automatic reading of the film whenever I re-watch it.

Icaras

Where 007 and James bond are code names not the persons name. Does make sense when you think about it.
On mobile will add a link later.

poundapunnet

Icaras wrote: »

Where 007 and James bond are code names not the persons name. Does make sense when you think about it.
On mobile will add a link later.

It did until Skyfall fecked it up :pac:

Matt_Trakker

The theory that R2D2 and Chewbacca were top field agents of the Rebellion:

http://km-515.livejournal.com/746.html

krudler

poundapunnet wrote: »

I really like the one where Ferris Bueller is Cameron's imaginary friend, to the extent that I kind of take it as the automatic reading of the film whenever I re-watch it.

that Cameron is the narrator from Fight Club and Ferris is Tyler Durden.

pixelburp

Good thread idea, original!

I quite liked the more recent theory that cropped up on the internet, the one that claimed all the Pixar films were part of a shared universe. Very much a case of fans reading way too much into background visual easter-eggs, but it made for interesting reading.

Ipso

I read one ages ago about Contact and Pink Floyd's album Wish you were here having some kind of synch going on.

Icaras

poundapunnet wrote: »

It did until Skyfall fecked it up :pac:

Forgot all about it.

Link below anyway....
http://www.cracked.com/article/18367_6-insane-fan-theories-that-actually-make-great-movies-better/

Adamantium

The only thing that is keeping Harrison Ford sprightly is the Holy Grail; ready and willing for Indy 5.

dreamers75

poundapunnet wrote: »

It did until Skyfall fecked it up :pac:

Not really each actor was a different bond.

poundapunnet

dreamers75 wrote: »

Not really each actor was a different bond.

Yes really! Daniel Craig's James Bond in Skyfall was absolutely definitely born James Bond. I mean maybe by some massive coincidence/oversight he just happened to be assigned a code-name that was the same as his birth name but it seems to me to suggest that each actor was playing the same character and there wasn't any unifying theory kind of thingamajig.

Chris_Heilong

poundapunnet wrote: »

Yes really! Daniel Craig's James Bond in Skyfall was absolutely definitely born James Bond. I mean maybe by some massive coincidence/oversight he just happened to be assigned a code-name that was the same as his birth name but it seems to me to suggest that each actor was playing the same character and there wasn't any unifying theory kind of thingamajig.

I think they are meant to all be the same character, like in the books.

Tipsy McSwagger

Sean Connery's character in The Rock was actually James Bond

poundapunnet

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

I think they are meant to all be the same character, like in the books.

Yes, I know. I get that. But the fan theory about the films was that each actor was in fact playing a different man with the code names James Bond and 007. And that theory worked and made sense (given the time span of the franchise and the different spins on the character) until Daniel Craig got taken back to where his parents Mr and Mrs Bond used to live and had people from his childhood confirm that his real actual name is James Bond.

endacl

That there are hidden things to have theories about. I remember a friend sendin me an email attachment, longer than an MA thesis, around the time of The Matrix. I got through the first page or two before my bull5hit filter kicked in. Every single moment of that movie had a 'hidden meaning' apparently.

Hard enough to make a movie I'd imagine, managing a multi million dollar budget, a crew of sometimes hundreds, locations on different countries, and all the rest, without bothering with 'hidden meanings'. They're like conspiracy theories anyway. Film makers don't actually have to put them in. Just hint that there might be one and there'll be no shortage of loopers ready and willing to lap it up.

Bipolar Joe

endacl wrote: »

That there are hidden things to have theories about. I remember a friend sendin me an email attachment, longer than an MA thesis, around the time of The Matrix. I got through the first page or two before my bull5hit filter kicked in. Every single moment of that movie had a 'hidden meaning' apparently.

Hard enough to make a movie I'd imagine, managing a multi million dollar budget, a crew of sometimes hundreds, locations on different countries, and all the rest, without bothering with 'hidden meanings'. They're like conspiracy theories anyway. Film makers don't actually have to put them in. Just hint that there might be one and there'll be no shortage of loopers ready and willing to lap it up.

On the same note, that Kubrick faked the moon landings, and was Illuminati. That doesn't make any sense, I hear you cry over the Internet! But wait, didn't you notice how Danny was wearing a jumper with a rocket ship on it? IRREFUTABLE PROOF! The list goes on, it's great. I can't think of any other film maker with that much mythos surrounding him. Some of the things people read too much into makes me laugh.

Zubeneschamali

endacl wrote: »

The Matrix.

The obvious fact in The Matrix movies is that no-one ever got out, the "real world" is just another layer of artificial reality, which is why it makes no sense.

upstairs for coffee

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

On the same note, that Kubrick faked the moon landings, and was Illuminati. That doesn't make any sense, I hear you cry over the Internet! But wait, didn't you notice how Danny was wearing a jumper with a rocket ship on it? IRREFUTABLE PROOF! The list goes on, it's great. I can't think of any other film maker with that much mythos surrounding him. Some of the things people read too much into makes me laugh.

Speaking of Kubrick there is a great documentary on his movie 'The Shining' that deals with all the fan theories about the film. Excellent movie, can't remember what it is called

blue note

upstairs for coffee wrote: »

Speaking of Kubrick there is a great documentary on his movie 'The Shining' that deals with all the fan theories about the film. Excellent movie, can't remember what it is called

Room 237. Hopefully netflix will get it soon!

MakeEmLaugh

Another of my favourite fan theories is that Fabienne, Bruce Willis' girlfriend in Pulp Fiction, is pregnant, and attempts to hint at this several times the night before and morning after he reneges on his agreement to throw a fight for Marcellus Wallace.

This is why she talks about how she wishes she had "a pot belly" and that "pot bellies are sexy" when he returns home after the fight.

The next morning she extensively talks about her breakfast, and the amount of food she wants ("I’m gonna order a big plate of blueberry pancakes with maple syrup, eggs over easy, and five sausages... To drink, a tall glass or orange juice and a black cup of coffee. After that, I’m going to have a slice of pie").

This is because she is pregnant, and eating for two, something that is never made explicit in the screenplay.

SimonTemplar

Mary Poppins is a timelord.

http://verse.aasemoon.com/images/thumb/1/18/Mary_Poppins_TimeLord.jpg/819px-Mary_Poppins_TimeLord.jpg

dreamers75

poundapunnet wrote: »

Yes, I know. I get that. But the fan theory about the films was that each actor was in fact playing a different man with the code names James Bond and 007. And that theory worked and made sense (given the time span of the franchise and the different spins on the character) until Daniel Craig got taken back to where his parents Mr and Mrs Bond used to live and had people from his childhood confirm that his real actual name is James Bond.

So hes actually the 1st James bond?

Fysh

Back before Reloaded and Revolutions were released, I read a good fan theory about the way in which the humans-as-batteries thing might be resolved: basically the idea was that all the humans in the Matrix were actually artificial intelligences. There had been an AI uprising and possibly even a war - but the humans had won and created the Matrix as a place to put the AIs to avoid further bloodshed. Morpheus and the resistance forces are all AIs, and the machines running the Matrix are controlled by humans in the external reality.

A nice idea, as far as it goes. I don't know how you use it to craft better sequels than Reloaded or Revolutions, though (though I suppose you could argue it's just about still compatible with those films...)

norrie rugger

pixelburp wrote: »

Good thread idea, original!

I quite liked the more recent theory that cropped up on the internet, the one that claimed all the Pixar films were part of a shared universe. Very much a case of fans reading way too much into background visual easter-eggs, but it made for interesting reading.

Why is it reading too much into it?
They share settings, characters and other references (yeah in blink and you miss them Egg mode) so why not be the same pix-verse?

norrie rugger

That Firefly/Serenity are in the Alien universe and that the alliance is Weyland Yutani (the Anglo-Sino Alliance in the verse)

Helped by Joss of course with: top centre




And in Serenity the Operative saying

The Operative wrote:

I believe in something greater than myself. A better world. A world without sin.

The Operative wrote:

We're making a better world. All of them, better worlds

Weyland-Yutani
Building Better Worlds

Lukehandypants

blue note wrote: »

Room 237. Hopefully netflix will get it soon!

Dissapointing movie made by crazy people.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Jokey on claime that Inception was a sequel to Titanic.

Jack Dawson purposly lets go of the driftwood at the end of Titanic, thus commiting suicide, and then winds up on a beach in limbo at the start of Inception.

Lukehandypants

Watching Ferris Buller, a bit at the start when Ferris rings Cameron they have a conversation about Cameron coming over Ferris's the conversation ends and Cameron says to himself that he feels like he's dying, the phone immediately rings and its Ferris saying that Cameron's not dying.........

rockbeast

Slight cheat as it's TV(!) but my favourite is the Tommy Westphall theory.

"The last five minutes of St. Elsewhere is the only television show, ever. Everything else is a daydream."

http://www.slushfactory.com/content/EpupypyZAZTDOLwdfz.php

pixelburp

norrie rugger wrote: »

Why is it reading too much into it?
They share settings, characters and other references (yeah in blink and you miss them Egg mode) so why not be the same pix-verse?

Don't get me wrong it's a fascinating theory, but I just think the various easter eggs are no more than little background shoutouts rather than part of an all-encompassing theory. Similar to how C3PO and R2D2 can be seen in Raiders of the Lost Ark, that sort of thing; just gifts to the fans rather than clues to a grand plan of Pixar's. Still admire the imagination of those who put the theory together though

Lukehandypants

pixelburp wrote: »

Don't get me wrong it's a fascinating theory, but I just think the various easter eggs are no more than little background shoutouts rather than part of an all-encompassing theory. Similar to how C3PO and R2D2 can be seen in Raiders of the Lost Ark, that sort of thing; just gifts to the fans rather than clues to a grand plan of Pixar's. Still admire the imagination of those who put the theory together though

I don't thinks it's about easter eggs, it's more about a different way at looking at the story and finding something new within the story.
Rather than 3po and r2d2 in raiders or the Millenium Falcon in blade runner, these have more to do with fx houses who did the fx on such films putting a little refrence to them in other films.

ThirdMan

Icaras wrote: »

Where 007 and James bond are code names not the persons name. Does make sense when you think about it.

What about him being a martini drinking horn dog in virtually every film?

And how come Blofeld doesn't ask Goerge Lazenby "where's the last lad?" in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Lukehandypants

The big bang theory, raiders of the lost ark theory.
If Indiana Jones wasn't in the film the ending would be excatly the same, he even helps the nazis find the ark, although if indy wasn't there it would have taken them longer but they would have found it anyway.
They still would have taken it to the island and opened it up and everyone would have died anyway.

Icaras

ThirdMan wrote: »

What about him being a martini drinking horn dog in virtually every film?

And how come Blofeld doesn't ask Goerge Lazenby "where's the last lad?" in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Who doesnt like a good martini and the company of a beautiful lady with a dirty sounding name?

Blofeld is a supervillian, of course he knew the secret. You dont get a secret volcano island base by sheer luck.

Actually Blofeld was a secret code name for the leader of spectre too!!! Fan theory heard here first.

FunLover18

The one thing I don't like about the Pixar theory is that it includes the Cars films ... I really don't like the Cars' films.

There was another theory by the same site recently that Andy's Mom in Toy Story is Jessie's original owner
http://jonnegroni.com/2014/02/24/the-true-identity-of-andys-mom-in-toy-story-will-blow-your-mind/

Re the Bond theory I don't really buy into it. Two code names is just daft, even in the Bond universe. Anyway Craig's films are clearly a reboot and don't count, in CR he was James Bond before becoming a 00.

Gulliver

Here's one I have about Calvary.

Warning! This contains major spoilers for the film! Don't read until you've seen it.

After the events of Calvary, Chris O'Dowd's character has a further breakdown in prison, leading him to write an romanticised, light-hearted, nostalgic account of what his life should have been like had he not been abused, with his idealised current self as a protector and confidante of his younger self. He incorporated elements from his present into the past narrative (mafia altar boys) and it became Moone Boy.

When he left prison, he couldn't get a job and so moved to England and got the only job a marginalised psychopath could - the IT department in Reynholm Industries.

It's either that or I can't tell when Chris O'Dowd is playing different characters.

Timmyctc

Lukehandypants wrote: »

The big bang theory, raiders of the lost ark theory.
If Indiana Jones wasn't in the film the ending would be excatly the same, he even helps the nazis find the ark, although if indy wasn't there it would have taken them longer but they would have found it anyway.
They still would have taken it to the island and opened it up and everyone would have died anyway.

But the film is about the adventure, the journey. No one is disputing that the events would have unfolded the same. Thats why the Big Bang theory annoys me.

Lukehandypants

Timmyctc wrote: »

But the film is about the adventure, the journey. No one is disputing that the events would have unfolded the same. Thats why the Big Bang theory annoys me.

And maybe because it's a theory from a pretty lame sit com.

blue note

Timmyctc wrote: »

But the film is about the adventure, the journey. No one is disputing that the events would have unfolded the same. Thats why the Big Bang theory annoys me.

It's not really a theory though in the same way that the others are though. If someone had a theory that Indy was secretly a Nazi or an Angel or something it would fit.

And the big bang theory is lame but that particular observation was very funny.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

blue note wrote: »

It's not really a theory though in the same way that the others are though. If someone had a theory that Indy was secretly a Nazi or an Angel or something it would fit.

And the big bang theory is lame but that particular observation was very funny.

did it originate in the big bang theory?

am I really going to have to respect the writers of the big bang theory for something?

Lukehandypants

The big bang theory is a show for people who wear hipster glasses and have a tshirt that says
"use the force harry"

blue note

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

did it originate in the big bang theory?

am I really going to have to respect the writers of the big bang theory for something?

I doubt it, I'd say it was probably posted on ylyl before with the dinosaur meme or something. And it was probably said by people in the 1980s as well.

But in fairness I imagine great writers keep notes of things they hear and might use in the future. And I'd say it's a great skill to recognise what to keep note of.

pixelburp

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

did it originate in the big bang theory?

am I really going to have to respect the writers of the big bang theory for something?

Surely it would have originated around a half hour after Raiders first aired?

It is true when you back away from the film and look at it rationally you realise Indy's involvement was broadly irrelevant to the conclusion, but as mentioned the joy of the film was the adventure rather than the plot. The Big Bang Theory just brought it to broader attention by dint of being a popular sitcom (that perpetuates crass, lazy stereotypes, but that's another days rant )

CatInABox

The Indiana Jones theory is pretty good, and the one hole that I heard that was plausible was the fact that the Nazi's wouldn't have found Marion without Indy finding her first. I'm not sure if that was ever plugged.

Lukehandypants

CatInABox wrote: »

The Indiana Jones theory is pretty good, and the one hole that I heard that was plausible was the fact that the Nazi's wouldn't have found Marion without Indy finding her first. I'm not sure if that was ever plugged.

I dunno I'd say ravenwood would have spilled his guts after a good few beatings, u know them nazis are hard to say no to.

norrie rugger

vee haf vays of making you talk...

ThirdMan

norrie rugger wrote: »

vee haf vays of making you talk...

humanji

I don't think the Indiana Jones one holds water. If Indiana wasn't about, then it's still quite likely that the ark would have been found. It would just have taken longer (it's set in 1936, so they had a long time to scour the general area to find it and considering one of the entrances to the Ark room was beside the airport, it's certain they'd have found it). And even though the Nazis would still have died when they opened it, others would come to see what happened to them. A load of melted bodies around the ark would indicate that things didn't go according to plan, so they'd have to experiment with the ark to find out how to control it. Worst case scenario, the only way of using it would be to drop it on the front lines or in a city, and have it opened by someone who doesn't know they're going to die.

One theory I heard recently enough is that Titanic/Gatsby one:

Lukehandypants

humanji wrote: »

I don't think the Indiana Jones one holds water. If Indiana wasn't about, then it's still quite likely that the ark would have been found. It would just have taken longer (it's set in 1936, so they had a long time to scour the general area to find it and considering one of the entrances to the Ark room was beside the airport, it's certain they'd have found it). And even though the Nazis would still have died when they opened it, others would come to see what happened to them. A load of melted bodies around the ark would indicate that things didn't go according to plan, so they'd have to experiment with the ark to find out how to control it. Worst case scenario, the only way of using it would be to drop it on the front lines or in a city, and have it opened by someone who doesn't know they're going to die.

One theory I heard recently enough is that Titanic/Gatsby one:

Nah that's just the same actor.

Stone Deaf 4evr

That the fast and the furious is the exact same film as point break.