Though Disney is known for its wholesome material and eclectic family-friendly programming, sometimes people find their movies and TV shows a little off.
Whether these weird inclusions are intentional, accidental Easter eggs, or simply crude jokes is up for debate, but Disney has been called out on multiple occasions for including disturbing material in its children’s films. Some of these weird things you notice on screen aren’t just in your head, they’re real (though others are a bit open to interpretation).
Below, we’ll take a look at some examples of weird stuff lurking in Disney’s catalog, from supposed subliminal messages to in-jokes and product placement you might have missed.
when The Lion King When it was released on home video in 1995, some viewers noticed something odd. Sex This is seemingly spelled out in a cloud of dust after the adult Simba collapses over the edge of the mountain.
Some parents were outraged, and some groups called for the tape to be taken off shelves. But the hidden word is actually a nod to the film’s special effects department. “It doesn’t say ‘sex,'” says Tom Sito, a member of the special effects department. The Lion King “It says special effects. It’s SFX,” Disney animator Jonathan McGregor told The Huffington Post in 2015. However, Disney has since removed the dust cloud entirely from the streaming version of the film.
Popular Holiday Movie Series Santa Claus Tim Allen stars as Scott Calvin, an ordinary guy who accidentally causes Santa’s death and eventually assumes the role of jolly Santa Claus. In 2022, Disney rebooted the series as a TV series on its Disney+ streaming service.
The third episode of season 1, “Into the Wobbly Woods,” features a harmless but unfortunate joke: In one scene, a group of elves greet Santa with a dance of joy and a sign with the unfortunate misspelling, “We Love You Satan.” However, Santa points out this obvious mistake, and the elves correct the sign to the correct message, “We Love You Santa.”
Though the show featured the joke for laughs, some parents took it seriously, sparking an outrage against the company in 2022.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a majority shareholder in Pixar shortly after the digital animation company spun out from Lucasfilm in 1986. As a result, there are plenty of Apple Easter eggs sprinkled throughout Pixar’s films (presumably a way to expand Apple’s customer base through clever product placement).
For example, in 2001 Monsters IncFollowing the success of his new business with Sally, Mike Wazowski is thrilled to be on the cover of Business Shriek magazine. On the back of the magazine is an advertisement for a new computer with the slogan “Scare Different,” a play on Apple’s 1997 “Think Different” advertising campaign.
On the other hand, Eve (the extraterrestrial plant evaluator) who appears in the 2008 film “Extraterrestrial Plant Evaluator” Wally It was made to resemble futuristic Apple products; in fact, when you power it on, the robot makes the same sounds as an Apple MacBook booting up. The company’s iconic designer, Jony Ive, helped design the probe. “Apple is so proprietary and secretive that they can’t even hint at where the future of technology is headed,” the film’s director, Andrew Stanton, told CNN Money in 2008. “All he could do was nod along to what we said we wanted to do.”
And finally, the film has a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Apple moments. car (2006) In the Piston Cup Racing Series, one of the racers will be racing a white Axxelo stock car called the “Mac iCar”, which also has the number 84, a reference to the year the Apple Macintosh was released.
by the way carThe Pixar film series is filled with a world of anthropomorphic cars, trucks, and planes that are living things with personalities and desires. Sometimes, those desires can get a little raunchy. Pixar is known for incorporating adult humor in its movies, but some might find these tongue-in-cheek sexual innuendos a bit too much.
For example, the fictional Route 66 town of Radiator Springs has a truck stop called “Top Down” that advertises itself as “Full of Convertible Waitresses,” a slightly crude adult joke since the truck stop is full of “topless” waitresses. But this kids’ movie also has some not-so-hidden messages: In another brief scene, twins Mia and Tia “flash” their headlights when they first meet superstar racer Lightning McQueen.
Believe it or not, the 1977 film did feature a bit of nudity. The RescuersAs Bernard and Miss Bianca take off aboard Orville the albatross, the group swoops and soars over New York City. During the initial descent, a topless woman is seen in an apartment window.
Disney claimed the nudity was added in post-production, not by animators, but rather in the film’s production. However, only two frames of the scene made it onto screen, and Disney removed it from subsequent home video releases. In fact, Disney even recalled the 1999 Laserdisc version. The Rescuers Due to “objectionable background image”.
We know that Scrooge McDuck, the richest duck in Duckburg, is wealthy and powerful, but is he a member of a secret society known as the Illuminati?
In season 3’s “Yuppy Ducks” DucktailScrooge is waiting for the doctor in the examination room. In the background is an eye chart with the words “Ask about the Illuminati” written on it. Is this just a harmless joke or something more sinister? The jury is still out on this one.
The classic Disney fanfare, set to the tune of “When You Wish Upon a Star” and featuring a stylized version of Cinderella Castle, a shooting star, and the Walt Disney signature, plays at the beginning of every Disney film. However, upon closer inspection, some believe the so-called “Mark of the Beast” (the symbol of the Antichrist) may be hidden in the Walt Disney Company logo.
if you circle Look at the swirl above the word “Walt” I And the curves of the letters Yeah in DisneyConspiracy theorists claim that this resembles a hidden “666.” While this may seem far-fetched, some argue that it’s proof that Disney is up to something sinister. Until now, we’ve thought that Disney just wants to spread joy around the world.
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