10 Movies With Hidden Subtext You Totally Missed
What lies beneath...
Sometimes what you see is what you get. That horror movie just wanted to scare everybody senseless and that rom-com was merely another uninspired attempt to merge two of the most popular genres.
There are, however, other times when the movie in question has more layers than an onion, masses of subtext and symbolism that bring new meaning to the entire story.
At times, it's stirring the audience square in the face. Neill Blomkamp's District 9 is quite obviously a metaphor for apartheid, with speciesism representing racism and xenophobia, while the mutant prejudice in the X-Men movies is intended to mirror the real-life hardship minorities face every day.
But these themes aren't always surface-deep. Often they're buried deep beneath the core narrative and the message goes unheeded until repeat viewings, background reading and your know-it-all friend brings it to light.
It isn't just sophisticated or politically-charged movies that harbour these hidden depths. Everything from kids films to supernatural horrors have slipped them in under the radar, and here are some of the concealed messages that may have passed you by.
10. Toy Story 3 Evokes The Holocaust
Toy Story 3 may be all misty-eyed nostalgia and coming of age on the surface, but beneath it all lies a metaphor for one of the darkest events in human history.
Don't let the family-friendly certification fool you, director Lee Unrich appears to have buried a pointed Holocaust analogy deep inside the toy box.
The parallels between the Jewish people left behind when World War II broke out and Woody's gang are in place. Sunnyside Daycare is the closest thing you'll ever see to a Nazi concentration camp in a Pixar movie - the toys even end up in a giant oven of sorts before a last-minute rescues saves them from a fiery fate.
Woody, Buzz and co are later taken to a Bonnie’s house, a place where their kind can live in harmony, which has been interpreted as a nod to Israel.
Holes only appear in the theory when you consider that Lotso is way more evil than Hitler.