If you thought that reading Spirited Away as a metaphor for child prostitution was dark, one particular interpretation of Toy Story 3 takes morbid horrors to the next level. While some people have analysed the film and determined it to be a religious allegory, another outlandish theory sees it as an allegory for the Holocaust. The logic for this interpretation goes something like this: the abandoned toys represent the Jews of Europe, abandoned to the Nazis; they suggest taking sanctuary in the attic, echoing Anne Frank; Sunnyside stands in for a concentration camp, with Andy's toys representing the "undesirables" sent there as they are no longer needed; the toys finally face the incinerator, representing the mass murder of the Jewish people. The theory even concludes with the idea that the toys don't actually survive at the end, and that their rescue and return to Woody is representative of their entering heaven. Combining the subjective nature of symbolism with the rich visual tapestry and it's clear that movies can be open to a wide variety of interpretations. Which films have you seen which you viewed in a different light once you noticed a deeper symbolic meaning? Why not post a comment below and let us know?
