Once a movie is out in the world, it's totally fair game for audiences to weave in their own interpretations and find resonances as they see fit. However, while everyone's entitled to their own opinion, sometimes those interpretations are just all kinds of weird. And really, really dark.
Here are five fan theories about classic movies that are both clearly not what the makers intended but also, if we're being honest, strangely plausible…
1. Ferris Bueller is just a figment of Cameron's imagination
Does '80s teen hero and all-round smug-face Ferris Bueller really exist? Or is he, in fact, a Tyler Durden-style alter-ego of poor old repressed Cameron, denied the love and respect of his father, ill, lonely and struggling to express himself?
Why not invent 'Ferris' the 'friend' who does all the things he wants to do – take his father's car, be brave, standout, defy authority and have a gorgeous girlfriend to boot?
One theory even reckons Cameron never leaves his bedroom and the whole day is just his fantasy of what he might do on a day off from being Cameron. But we reckon that's a bit too depressing.
2. Aladdin is set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian future
This theory comes from a line from the movie where the Genie says to Aladdin: "That fez and vest combo is much too third century." If we're to understand that he's been in the lamp for 10,000 years – and therefore has no idea of fashions during the time of his en-lampening – then the earliest it could be is 10,200 (assuming he's the kind of Genie who's happy to make sartorial assumptions about a century based on the first year).
But then said Genie is also given to making pop-culture references from the '80s – so let's say he was confined to the lamp in, say, 1992 when the film came out, that would make the year 11,992. This theory explains the talking animals (mutants), desert landscape (nuclear fallout) and the name 'Agrabah' (merging of countries in a futurist worldscape, no less).
3. Totoro is actually the god of death
Yep, this utterly delightful Studio Ghibli children's tale about a giant furry flump who befriends two little girls while their mum is not well in hospital is actually a story about the god of death.
The theory goes that Totoro is only visible to those who are dead or dying. So when Mei goes missing and they find her sandal, she has actually drowned. Her sister Satsuki lies about it, then goes to find God of Death, Totoro, who opens the gates to the world of the dead where she locates Mei. With Mei they go to hospital to see their mother – who is the only one who sees them because she's also going to die.
You're welcome.
4. The Rock shows how James Bond was imprisoned for years
If we accept that the name 'James Bond' and the title '007' are code names given to different operatives (hence the recasting), it's not that much of a stretch to imagine Michael Bay's The Rock as showing us the fate of the former super-spy.
Former Bond Sean Connery plays John Mason, described in the film as "lethal" and "a trained killer", who's been a prisoner of the US for 30 years after spying on them. Mason's certainly got the quips and skills to convince us he was once Bond.
5. Willy Wonka's candy is made from dead visitors to his factory
What's the secret ingredient in Wonka's magic candies? The corpses of visitors, according to one theory. Why else does Wonka sack all his staff and employ only Oompa Loompas? Why else are all the golden tickets magically won by children (when surely adults buy just as much confectionary)?
Why else does he have child-sized pipes in his factory that kids can get accidentally sucked up? And why else are there no vacant seats on that boat? It's almost as if he knew Augustus wasn't coming along for the ride...
