Murder: Disney's Dark Secret

Hello, Fanaticals! Today's darker side of Disney is going to talk about some murdery moments in the movies. While one is a theory revolving around grief, the other is a theory revolving around villainy.

PLEASE BE WARNED about the massive amount of death that will be discussed today, including child/infant/spousal. That is the best trigger warning I can give you, to be perfectly honest.

We have seen some crazy things throughout Disney, and despite being primarily for kids, it's not unusual for death to follow in some fashion. We talked about the death of Tarzan's (who were possible also Anna and Elsa's) parents a few weeks ago. However, here is a short list of death that is seen throughout the World of Disney:

1. Bambi: No one can forget the heart wrenching moment in the second scene after my favourite song "Little April Showers" in this movie. Watching Bambi's mother nuzzle him moments before hearing the gunshot messed a lot of us little kids up.

2. Fox and the Hound: Anyone who watched this, knows this was one of the saddest movies of our childhoods! Between the old lady leaving Todd alone in the forest and watching his mother die in the very beginning; I still bawl when I watch this movie to this day!

3. The Lion King: What child wasn't almost scarred by actually watching Mufasa be literally murdered by his own brother? Outside of the brutal murder of Tarzan's parents, this is the only death that is considered actual murder that we confirm seeing in pre-2000s.

4. Big Hero 6: While most deaths in Disney have to do with parents losing children, or children becoming orphans, this is the first time that we really see the affect that the death of a sibling can bring, considering Hiro is old enough that the memory of it would affect him.

5. Up: Carl and Ellie's love story is one of the greatest things Disney could have given us. It shows not "true love", but true friendship is a good, solid base to a marriage. It was also the first Disney movie to really focus on a non-royal marriage, which in turn brought about the first real story about what the aftermath of the death of a spouse looks like.

This is only about half the list that includes death in Disney, we are going to take a look into some theories behind a death, and a potential murder. Let's jump in.

Nemo Didn't Survive

This is a theory that definitely has some credibility to it. We start with his name, Nemo. "Nemo" is Latin for "nobody". The movie title then translates into "Finding Nobody".

The theory behind this definition of meaning is that Nemo did not actually survive the barracuda attack on his mother and siblings. The entire movie is based on Marlin going through the five stages of grief and overcoming his fears that stemmed from the PTSD of the attack: mainly the fear of going out too far from home, and the fear of trusting people.

With this theory, Dory could be portrayed as a metaphor for him rejecting the death of his family and constantly trying to forget that it ever happened which is why she is by his side in the entire "quest" to "find Nemo"; this is defined by her short-term memory loss. The moment that she "remembers" Nemo, is when we see Marlin finally begin to accept that maybe it did happen, and he finally begins to heal from all his trauma, including realizing how far away from home he has gone.

Kuzco was not Yzma's First Victim

Who does not love the craziness that is Yzma and Kuzco from Emperor's New Groove? The Kuzco's poison speech is hilariously crazy and sometimes takes a second to follow. However, there is a crazy occurrence as Pacha and Kuzco make their way through the jungle that no one stops to think about: Kuzco may not be Yzma's first victim.

For one, she has a bunch of animal changing potions in her possession at the end of the movie. Why would someone have that many potions to change animal shape if not for nefarious reasons? We have to admit, her plan for taking out Kuzco-while very long winded and decently thought out-clearly seems reused. A plan like that just can't be imagined on the spot, which means she has probably done it before.

However, we also have to think about how Kuzco is literally THE ONLY animal that talks during the entire movie. During the scene where he and Pacha are walking through the jungle, though, there is a little fly that cries out "Help me!" before being eaten by a spider; this is something that Kuzco can hear. He even asks if Pacha had heard that.

Following the theory that Kuzco is not Yzma's first victim, we literally watched the murder of some poor human trapped in a fly's body. Considering that we don't actually know how Yzma got to the position that she is in, it's quite possible that fly was one of her predecessors.

What do you think about today's gruesome theories? Come join our community and let's talk! Join me tomorrow, as we take a closer look into Death, the entity. Until then, keep on theorizing, Fantaicals!