My Thoughts on 10 Popular Film Theories
Whenever a movie is insanely popular there’s fan theories that emerge from it. So today I’m looking at 10 popular film theories and discussing what I think about them. Let’s do it!
- James Bond is a Code Name (007 Franchise): The James Bond franchise is one of the most iconic film franchises of all time. It’s been going strong 60 years now with many actors playing James Bond over the years. A popular fan theory I’ve heard is that James Bond is a code name in a similar fashion to Jason Bourne being a code name. Every decade or so we get new actors playing James Bond from Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig and people believe that they’re all in the same universe but they’re just normal people that got the code name “James Bond”. I’ve always found this to be an interesting theory because I feel like it totally flips the Bond franchise on its head and changes your perspective on the films. To be honest, I’m not a massive James Bond fan to be able to comment too much on this theory. I’ve seen a good percentage of the films but there’s still several I haven’t seen. And I've only watched the James Bond films I have seen one time. But maybe there is something to this theory that could add some depth and new layers to the iconic spy franchise.
- Kevin McCallister is Jigsaw (Home Alone): This is one that I felt like I had to talk about despite knowing it’s almost 100% likely that it’s not true. The basic idea of the theory makes sense. Kevin McCallister makes traps to stop the bad guys. The whole concept of the Saw franchise revolves around Jigsaw setting traps for the people in those films. This is one of those iconic movie theories that’s been thrown around there for a while now. I know it’s not true because it would be stupid to combine a children’s Christmas movie and a very violent and gruesome horror franchise. I would love to see somebody play around with this idea a little bit. If we ever get a new Saw movie you cast Macaulary Culkin as the lead and have fun with that idea and leaning into the concept of this film theory.
- Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady was in Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park): In the original Jurassic Park, there’s a kid that Alan Grant meets that’s talking down about dinosaurs and says they’re just big birds. Grant then uses a raptor claw on him to try and scare him. The theory is that that little boy is Chris Pratt’s character from the Jurassic World trilogy, Owen Grady as a little kid and that’s why he’s a raptor wrangler. Owen and Alan did meet in Jurassic World: Dominion, and there was no mention of that whatsoever. The thing with these theories is that they feel very fanfiction. This theory certainly falls into that category. Had there been a line of dialogue explaining this, it would’ve been a nice wink at the camera but I don’t think it would’ve added anything to either film or the Jurassic lore. Something similar arose with the release of Jurassic World: Rebirth and that character being Jonathan Bailey’s character. In that film there was a line of a dialogue saying that he was an understudy for Alan Grant. Maybe there’s something to that, I don’t know. It’s fun to speculate all of the ties between the franchises.
- The Pixar Theory (Pixar Animation): This is one that doesn’t involve just one movie, it involves every single film that Pixar has put out. If you don’t know this theory, it’s basically that all of the Pixar films exist in the same universe. There’s multiple connections and easter eggs in all of the Pixar films to back this idea up. In Finding Nemo, at the dentist office you can see a comic book with Mr. Incredible on it. During the flashback montage in Toy Story 2 showing Jessie’s backstory, there’s a tree that was also in A Bug’s Life. There’s several other examples of Pixar films being easter eggs to tease their future films. There’s actually multiple YouTube videos out there with people breaking down the timeline of the films and which film takes place first and what films are set in the future. Once again, this is a fun theory to speculate that if true is kind of fun to think about. Do I actually think that this is true and that the Pixar films exist in the same universe? I don’t think so. Because it would strain credibility, but it’s still a fun theory that fans can pretend exists.
- Sean Connery in The Rock is James Bond (The Rock): Surprisingly, I’m going to talk about James Bond twice in this blog post, which rarely happens. Regardless, this is a fan theory that I’ve also been fascinated by and kind of ties back into what I mentioned earlier about James Bond being a code name. The Rock is one of the greatest action movies of all time, it’s so much fun with a star studded cast of actors. With Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, Tony Todd, and several other familiar actors. If you haven’t seen the film, Connery plays an escaped criminal who was the only person in history to escape Alcatraz. They use him to get back into Alcatraz after it was taken over by terrorists. The theory is that Connery’s character is a retired James Bond who purposefully got captured. Do I think there’s any truth to this theory? Probably not. I think some of these theories that are crossover between franchises likely aren’t real for the obvious reasons that their different studios and continuity. I do think it is a fun theory and it does make you watch The Rock differently if you believe that it’s actually James Bond and not John Patrick Mason. By the way, if you haven’t seen The Rock you should, it’s a fun movie and Michael Bay’s best movie.
- Batman Forever and Batman & Robin Aren’t “Movies” (Joel Schumacher’s Batman Era): This is a fun one that I hadn’t heard about before but I thought was rather interesting. Infamously, the Joel Schumacher era of Batman films isn’t great. Batman Forever has more redeeming qualities but overall it’s not a great movie. Batman & Robin is an absolute trainwreck of a movie that’s one of the worst comic book movies of all time. George Clooney himself even agrees with that statement and has been very public about it. The theory here is that Batman Forever and Batman & Robin are Batman parody movies made by Hollywood in the Tim Burton Batman universe. That’s the reason why there’s such a change in tone in design, they’re designed to be bad and parody Batman. I thought that was a fun theory that I hope is true. When you watch those movies in that regard that they were designed to be parody movies, I think they make the movies better and more fun to watch.
- Harry Potter Is the Reason Why the Dursleys Are Rude (Harry Potter Franchise): I’m a fan of Harry Potter, so naturally you knew we had to talk about Harry Potter at some point. This idea will connect to the Harry Potter mythology that was revealed in the later books that involve the Horocruxes. In Deathly Hallows, Ron has a Horocrux around his neck which causes him to be a bit of a jerk. With it being revealed that Harry is a Horocrux himself, I think it makes sense that the reason why Dursleys were mean was because Harry was around. With several of these theories, I’ve sort of denied the truth to these theories, this is one that I think could actually happen. I think it makes the Harry Potter mythology and lore more interesting as part of the reason why Harry is the person he is today is because of who he is and the power he has. I don’t know if JK Rowling has confirmed or denied this theory, but I think it’s interesting and I believe it makes sense with what’s established.
- Frodo Doesn’t Know Legolas’ Name (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King): This is more of a fun theory that doesn’t really connect to the lore or mythology of Lord of the Rings, and it comes from this one scene in Return of the King. Where Frodo is saved and wakes up after being injured after this entire journey and adventures he’s been on, he says hello to his friends. But the one individual he ignores is Legolas. Which has drawn people to believe that Frodo doesn’t know Legolas’ name. I’ve only watched the entire trilogy one time, but I don’t know if they ever share a scene together. Like I said, whether this theory is true or false it doesn’t really change with the mythology of Lord of the Rings but it’s a fun one to think about. Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom have both commented on this and find it to be a fun theory.
- Stan Lee is The Watcher (Marvel Cinematic Universe): We’ve gone this far without talking about the MCU, it’s time we start now (and we’ll continue to do so). One of the fun things about the Infinity Saga was getting to see Stan Lee show up in different movies. It always got a chuckle out of the audience and rewatching the movies, it’s fun to see spot him. Since he’s appearing in all of these movies across the world and when you get into the Guardians movies on different planets it starts to become this theory that maybe he’s The Watcher and he’s watching all of the heroes do their thing and make sure everything is going the ways it’s suppose to. There was one fan that said that Stan Lee should’ve been old man Steve Rogers at the end of Endgame and have it be where Steve was watching his friends throughout the films. I much more like the theory that Stan Lee is The Watcher. I don’t think this is true because pulling somebody from real life into the MCU and making them the most powerful being, even the godfather of Marvel seems a little bit too on the nose. But like most of these theories, it’s a fun one to think about that if true puts a smile on your face.
- Peter Parker is in Iron Man 2 (Iron Man 2): If you don’t know what the theory is, it goes back to Iron Man 2. In that film’s final battle there’s a moment where a kid in an Iron Man mask tries to stop one of Justin Hammer’s robots when the real Iron Man shows up and blows it up. The theory is that the little boy is Peter Parker which first establishes his relationship with Tony Stark. Kevin Feige himself as confirmed this theory to be true, and honestly I don’t like this theory. I get that it’s a fun theory and idea to put out and brings the MCU closer together. My problem with this theory is that if this theory is true, why did Peter Parker never bring that up with Tony Stark? If that was the case and this theory was true, I feel like Peter and Tony would’ve had a conversation about it on screen. I don’t know if the theory affects the MCU mythology all that much, it’s a harmless theory but it’s one that I don’t think makes sense when you stop to think about it.
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