Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

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Memories of that overzealous English teacher, who forced you to accept that every character, every scene and every action had a ''[[wikipedia:Allegory|deep inner meaning]]'' have led to widespread fear on the part of readers and viewers everywhere that every tale secretly contains some other story being told in [[Subtext]].

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Casshern Sins]]'': {{spoiler|Casshern is Satan but good. Luna is Jesus but evil.}}

* ''[[FLCL]]'' has enough confusing symbolism to fall into this, but it also features an in-story example that doubles as [[Self-Deprecation]] for Gainax. In episode 2, Kamon is rambling about having a robot in their house, and Naota explains to Haruko that his father "once wrote a book on the deep mysteries of [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Eva]]."

* Many ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' fans believe that the religion of Ishval was based off modern Islam, due to the Ishballans' dark skin and the [[Arabian Nights]]-esque setting they lived in. Hiromu Arakawa (the creator of the manga) has stated that she based it off of the Ainu, an ethnic group that were driven from Honshu and live on Hokkaido, where Arakawa was born. A similar theory is that Ishval was based off of Ishvara, a hindu concept of monotheism. [[The War on Terror|And of course there's the Ishval Massacre......]]

*** And for added flavour, Arakawa comments on the sleeve of volume 15 of the manga that she talked with plenty of Japanese [[WW 2]] veterans for the Ishvalian flashbacks. The idea would seem to be: it's a commentary on the persecution of minority communities, especially by militarized governments with empires.

*** The paper Edward is given when he gets into the army praises the British army...

* ''[[One Piece]]'' has spawned a good example of this trope:

{{quote|''Franky was born a carpenter, the 'son of a pirate', we never actually see his father, who is a nonentity in his life. He builds ships to destroy sea monsters, representing mankind's sins in their desire for progress. These ships also represent those created to serve him, i.e. the apostles. Naturally, a strong authority: Marines vs Romans, causes betrayal among the apostles, and Tom dies, who represents Franky's human aspects. Afterward, Franky dies through martyrdom. (Struck by a train is similar to cruxifiction if you think about it) and disappears for a length of time, after which he rises from the dead better then ever.''}}

* ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' fans are usually kidding when they invoke this—nobody ''really'' believes that [[School Newspaper Newshound|Mika's]] introductory episode was intended as a condemnation of the tendency of news media to focus on celebrities at the expense of more important issues, or that the costume designs in ''[[Yes! Pretty Cure 5]]'' symbolize the public school system draining children of their creativity and individuality.

* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' seems to attract this like flies and naturally, massive [[Internet Backdraft]] erupts when people try to discuss what it's an allegory for.

* ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]''. Even ''the creators'' can't agree on what all of it means. [[The Singularity|Pro-technology manifesto?]] Massive religious allegory? Treatise on the negative influences of Western culture on Japanese society? You decide; the [[Word of God]] isn't going to help here.

** [[Word of God]] was specifically "I want this to mean something completely different to the Japanese audience than the American audience, to spark a dialog and debate of the ideas." The fact that the [[Wild Mass Guessing]] on both sides of the Pacific were diverse and insane in pretty much the same ways was actually called a disappointment.

* ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'': Anybody who was part of the (in)famous [[Tenchi FF]] mailing list at the proper time will remember one Mr. Grey, who argued that ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' was all an allegory for an obscure form of Zen Taoism. According to Grey, Ryoko and Ayeka were each half a universe, Ryoko represented the Altruist, and Tenchi represented the [[Noodle Implements|goat]].

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': Kamina {{spoiler|[[Memetic Mutation|Died For Your Sins]]}}.

** But Knives and Vash could also be Cain and Abel.

** Don't forget that all the plants are angels! Plus [[Creepy Cool Crosses]].

** [[Flat What]].

* ''[[Rozen Maiden]]''. Rozen is the immortal creator of the Rozen Maidens, bestowing upon them Rosa Mysticas (souls). His face is never shown, and he is consistently bathed in white light when he is. (In other words, they couldn't make it any more obvious that he is God-like if they tried.) He disapears as soon as he makes the seven maidens, telling his creations that they have to kill each other until one remains to become the perfect girl-Alice.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', especially due to the [[Faust]]ian overtones. Let's see... self-sacrificial [[Holy Child]] {{spoiler|who disappears to save humanity from despair}}, a girl who makes a [[Deal with the Devil]] {{spoiler|in order to save her best friend from damnation}}, a [[Weasel Mascot]] {{spoiler|and [[Eldritch Abomination]] in disguise}} who regularly promises a wish {{spoiler|in exchange for their souls and eventual damnation}}, also coupled by the fact that the finale showed on Good Friday, of all days.

 

== Art ==

* Maybe the [[Punisher]] isn't a fascist, and just wants every single murderer and rapist to die.

* Pretty much anything written by [[Grant Morrison]].

* Somebody came up with the idea that the [[Fantastic Four]] represent the four elements (Thing is Earth, Invisible Woman is Air, Human Torch is Fire (duh), and Mr. Fantastic is Water). This sounds like something that was developed retroactively. [[Stan Lee]], of course, has no problem with being labeled a genius, so he hasn't discouraged this. Lampshaded in the "Ultimate" version.

** When [[John Byrne]] took over the title in the 80s, one of his first issues features the Four fighting four elementals, who were ordered not to face their counterparts, thus making the mapping explicit. [[Neil Gaiman]] later took advantage of the scheme for his ''[[Marvel 1602|1602]]'' version of the Fantastic Four.

 

== Film ==

** A 1987 [http://www.drummerman.net/shining/essays.html San Francisco Chronicle article] made the case that it was a metaphorical commentary about the genocide of Native Americans.

*** Take your pick: it was a lament for the clear political demarcation of the Cold War, a metaphorical study of the Holocaust, a pontification on mankind's predilection for violence through the ages, or a commentary on the breakdown of the family, the crisis of masculinity, the state of modern America and its ideologies, sex­ism, racism, or the dominance of big business. This film, due to its open-endedness, seems to exist as a Rorschach test for most commentators.

** For the record, it was originally supposed to be the diamonds from [[Reservoir Dogs]], but Tarantino decided to leave it deliberately ambiguous for the sake of this type of discussion.

* Because it starred a black protagonist, quite rare for the 1960's, ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]'' was—and still is—lauded for its metaphorical depiction of race and the Civil Rights movement in America. Funny part is, [[George Romero]] didn't intend to include such a message at all; he had previously stated that he cast Duane Jones simply because he gave the best audition.

* The final scene of (fittingly enough) ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]'', the film, shows a shepherd walking through the desert. Some thought it was supposed to symbolize Jesus's resurrection, which was not itself featured with the movie (and the play it was based on). However, it was not one of the actors but a real shepherd, who just happened to walk by when the crew was filming, and they decided to leave him in.

** Significant words: They decided to. Which implies that they had some kind of reason to, even if it's not "to show Jesus's resurrection".

*** Considering that both Lucas' and Spielberg's films are packed with daddy issues, this would not be surprising in the least.

* Guillermo del Toro wrote ''[[Pan's Labyrinth|Pans Labyrinth]]'' as a straightforward fairy tale that happened to be set during the Spanish Civil War. Not only do many viewers immediately assume the supernatural elements are all hallucinations, but there are plenty of theories as to what the story is an allegory for.

* Roy Batty in ''[[Blade Runner]]'' is rather Christlike, in that {{spoiler|he saves Deckard in the end}}. If so, he's a very Gnostic Christ, with Tyrell as a fallible and imperfect God.

** It needs to be pointed out that {{spoiler|Deckard is saved from death by Roy Batty's bloody, nail-pierced hand. And that after Deckard is safe from danger, Batty "gives up his spirit" by letting go of the white dove he's been clutching.}} Say what you will about professors over-analyzing for symbolism, but this film's [[Crucified Hero Shot|Jesus Christ posing]] is rather obvious and intentional, so consider also [[Messianic Archetype]].

* ''[[Transformers Film Series|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'' is just a mindless action movie... or is it? [http://io9.com/5301898/michael-bay-finally-made-an-art-movie This article] brutally rips on both this trope and the movie.

* [[Bill Murray]]'s ''[[Groundhog Day]]'' stands as Hollywood's sole Buddhist message movie. As Phil (short for 'philosopher', obviously, a common name for the Buddha), Murray eventually realizes what takes many lifetimes to understand; namely, that every cycle of birth-death-rebirth (every 'day') is always the same, over and over, depressing, painful, and bound by karma (i.e.- how you've treated others in the past), until you awaken and make a conscious choice to change that destiny. It's interesting that Phil takes the Tantric path, initially using the opportunity of being 'reborn' every morning to simply fulfill all desires, and therefore, to ultimately purge himself of them. Still, over who knows how many 'days' -- how many lifetimes of days—he eventually comes to see the connectedness of all things, the sacredness of all life, and the joy to be found in knowledge, wisdom, and simply making a difference in the lives of others. By his own effort, and even against his own initial nature, over many lifetimes he achieves Enlightenment, and is able to move on. Plus, that scene where he lets the groundhog drive the truck is freakin hilarious. On the note of "who knows how many 'days,'" [[Word of God]] is that Phil relived that same day for ten years. He was only saved when he finally falls asleep with the one virtuous girl on his bed on the "first" day. [[Sarcasm Mode|Deep Aesop]], right there.

* ''If...'' is a favorite example for people who feel plagued by pretentious movie criticism. Possibly due to the film's anti-establishment themes, a lot of critics at the time were eager to show that they "got it" and came up with [[Deliberately Monochrome|various symbolic meanings]] for its switching between color and monochrome. In fact it was just a low-budget project and they couldn't afford to do the whole thing in color.

* You could potentially read read way too much into [[Quentin Tarantino]] films if you wanted to. For example, [[Oliver Stone]] basically did this with the script of ''[[Natural Born Killers]]'' by turning it into a commentary on the mass media. And ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'' arguably implies that the basterds' sentiments towards the Nazis (and thus the sentiments of the audience that glorifies the basterds) are [[Not So Different]] from the Nazis' sentiments towards the Jews and are similarly contemptible. Of course since 95% of everything Tarantino does is based on the [[Rule of Cool]] you're probably just reading too much into it.

** Quoting Tarantino from memory: "If 100 million people see my movie, I want them to be seeing 100 million different movies."

* ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]: New Moon'' -- [http://tinyurl.com/ybm23qy a heroic account of schizophrenia and delusional narcissism]. It's probably mockery, but it makes a staggering amount of sense, [[Take That]]s aside.

** There's actually a very strong argument to be made that the entire series was Meyer subconsciously writing a Mormon treatise (short version: Edward is Joseph Smith, vampires are Mormons, werewolves are Lamanites,<ref>An incredibly racist word for "Native American" stemming from the Mormon belief that their skin was darkened as a sign of the sin of their forefathers, and if they live good Mormon lives they'll be whitened up in Heaven</ref> and all women are good for is having babies. Long version [http://stoney321.livejournal.com/317176.html here]).

* Literally true in the case of the western ''Purgatory'', in that the title town contains a number of wild west legends, all seeking redemption.

* Fans of the movie version of ''[[Sin City]]'' often wondered if the three protagonists were one and the same. Marv was the real character with John Hartigan as his [[Author Avatar]] made up by his own delusions while in a near-death experience. Dwight is Marv "with a new face" after faking his death. A lot of this came about because much of Dwight's backstory was alluded to but not explained (his story was essentially a sequel to his [[Origin Story]] from the comics). Comic fans explained that these were, indeed three seperate characters that were featured in different stories published years apart and in a different order.

* In-universe example: The film ''Being There'' has Peter Sellers playing a simpleton who talks about gardening and various mundane subjects yet prompts all those around him—including important political figures—to regard him as a genius who speaks constantly in profound metaphors.

* ''[[Tron: Legacy]]'' might as well be called ''Gnosticism: the Movie''. Finding something that ''isn't'' capable of being read as symbolic of gnostic philosophy!

 

** It really doesn't help that part of the whole response to other Sonnets factor is showing how much more clever you are than previous writers (you know, like Petrarch throwing in special rhymes besides Sonnets, and later writers making up their own ever more complicated rhyme schemes to show off).

* Pretty much every English teacher in the world insists that Robert Frost's poem ''Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening'' is about suicide and/or a longing for death, despite the fact that Frost stated publicly and often that it was just a poem about a guy who is enjoying looking at the snowy woods and didn't have any deeper symbolic meaning.

* ''Things Fall Apart''. In one scene, it is noted that the white colonists arrived at about the same time as did the swarm of locusts which would be eaten by the African characters during that season. Thus, the obvious conclusion (supported by Cliffs Notes), is that the locusts symbolize the colonists—seemingly a good thing, but ultimately destructive. However, there is never a scene where the locusts are destructive, and they were simply intended to be edible locusts.

* In one of his books, ''I Have Landed'', Stephen Jay Gould discussed how many critics thought there was a symbolic meaning to the references to butterflies in [[Vladimir Nabokov]]'s novels. However, the author was an entomologist, and intended no symbolic meaning.

** The whole "Carroll was a pedophile" thing has been proven as false since ages ago and has absolutely no basis in fact.

* The seven ''Chronicles of [[Narnia]]'' have been claimed to be [[An Aesop]] focusing on one of the [[Seven Deadly Sins]]. Just goes to show that this trope applies even when there's plenty of actual, valid symbolism, allegory, and "supposition" to choose from. And a book was just published saying that each novel corresponds with one of the seven heavens of the medieval cosmos.

** It's safe to say, however, that The Deplorable Word of ''The Magician's Nephew'' is a nuclear metaphor, as Aslan says that humans are working on weapons just as dangerous. And that Earth will soon have [[Red Scare|rulers]] just as [[Those Wacky Nazis|disinterested in human life]] as Jadis. This is pretty overt. [[Word of God]] confirms.

* The Greek poet and Literature Nobel Prize winner Odysseas Elytis once attended a celebration in his honor, where samples of his work were read and then had their meaning analyzed in detail by distinguished scholars. When his turn came to speak and thank everybody, he put his tongue in his cheek and gave special credit to the scholars for finding more depth to his poetry than even he had thought of.

* Despite [[Douglas Adams]] explicitly saying that the number 42 was randomly chosen with no intended hidden meaning in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', [[Epileptic Trees]] involving everything from base thirteen to Tibetan monks continue to live on.

** In-universe example: When Vogon Jeltz asks Arthur and Ford what they thought of his poetry, they attempt to save their own necks by going into excruciatingly sycophantic analytical detail. At one point they comment that the poem serves to "counterpoint the surrealism of the underlying metaphor." Jeltz doesn't buy it, and sentences them to being tossed out the airlock, grumbling: "'... counterpoint the surrealism of the underlying metaphor.'... Death's too good for them."

** There are those that argue that ''[[Harry Potter]]'' is symbolic of gay society. To support this, some people simply replace the word "wand" with [http://bash.org/?111338 something else], and reflect upon how it seems almost as many scenes were written with that substitution in mind ([[Fridge Logic|despite the fact that female characters also use wands]]). Ignoring that the series only has one (informed by [[Word of God]] ''only'') gay character.

*** The "wand" thing, actually, is mostly a game. There are much more logical arguments about the possibility of it being the story where Harry is symbolically gay, analyzing everything from his literal living space in a closet to the treatment of non-human magical beings. Correct or not, people have thought it through quite thoroughly.

*** Since the literary tropes of Europe are highly influences by Christianity and Rowling is a Europen writer, it would seem not very suprising that Christian symbols appear in her works. Lions are universally used as a symbol for strength and nobility for centuries and when has there ever been an animal more associated with evil than snakes?

** There are some cases of genuine, intentional symbolism in the books. For example, J.K. Rowling has said that the Dementors are meant to represent clinical depression. The feeling of being around Dementors as exactly the same as being depressed. "Like there would never be any happiness again in the world" is one example. It's safe to say that if anyone manages to convince themselves that Rowling meant the Dementors to be anything more allegorical than "depression", they're terribly deluded.

** [http://www.harrypotterforseekers.com Harry Potter for Seekers] is an entire website devoted to the alchemical and spiritual symbolism in Harry Potter, as if it's a genuine discipline of mysticism. One page evaluates the symbolism of the characters. Take the lead protagonist, for example:

{{quote|"Harry...symbolizes the new soul force in the seeker who wants to go the Path of Alchemical Transformation resulting in total liberation. Harry...will break all seven chains tying the seeker to the universe of time and space, and he will defeat the root-force of the fallen universe that dwells within the seeker."}}

** Fagin, the [[Affably Evil]] crook from ''[[Oliver Twist]]'', is named after an Irish co-worker of Dickens's (from his hated years in the boot-blacking factory.) Subverted in that Dickens's Fagin is explicitly Jewish (ethnically, anyway: in the scene where he's introduced we see him breaking Kosher laws by eating pork sausages.)

* Shirly Jackson wrote a short story called "The Lottery". It is about a town who ritually sacrifice a person, RANDOMLY DRAWN from the entirety of the townspeople, to be stoned to death to help the harvest. [[Word of God|It is about nothing else.]] There is no symbolism and deeper meaning in it beyond that.

** Some people also seem to think that 'the West' into which Frodo & Co eventually go is ''only'' allegorical. While it ''can'' be construed as symbolic, it's also very much an actual place (as explained in the Appendices and ''[[The Silmarillion]]''.) Yes, it's a place. Where the angels and immortals live, and the dead rest in the ever-expanding halls of Mandos. It's not allegorical, it's stated.

** Tolkien drew a distinction between "allegory" and "applicable". The fact that a story has parallels with a real life event doesn't mean the parallels can't be legitimately drawn, but it doesn't justify 'explaining' the story by the parallels. Nor does it mean the author intended the parallels.

** Many theologians consider the [[Book of Revelation]] a parable, but unfortunately it is no longer clear what the events and persons it refers to are.

* ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'' pretty much has everyone as Jesus in purgatory.

* There is a common interpretation of a scene in ''[[The Metamorphosis]]'' wherein Gregor's father throws apples at his insect form is an Adam and Eve metaphor. In a short story written by Franz Kafka...who was Jewish.

* The Israeli author Aharon Megged parodies this trope in his book ''The Flying Camel and The Golden Hump''.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* Parodied on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]].'' At the end of ''Bloodlust,'' the villain ends up nailed to one of his own trophy stands, causing Tom Servo to quip "Why ''this'' symbolism? Did Christ hunt people on deserted islands?"

* Also parodied in a skid of German comedian [[Loriot]], where two film critics get into a heated argument about a silent movie slapstick clip, that is just 4 second long. One of them sees the "movie" as one of the greatest examples of cinematography and artistic quality, while the other one regards it as a socialist allegory about the population revolting against the exploitation by the ruling class. The skid and the clip in quest, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BXEG6AznuM can be viewed here].

* Of all the shows likely to avoid such theories, you might expect ''[[Seinfeld]]'' to be one of them. You'd be wrong. Interpretations of the final episode have claimed that, in reality, the airplane on which the four leads were flying crashed, killing them all. Their trial was actually a stand-in for their judgment in the afterlife, and their prison sentence represents them being damned to hell for all eternity (or, more pleasantly but less likely, given the nature of the characters, is representative of a ''very'' lengthy stay in Purgatory).

* It is theorized that ''[[Mister Ed]]'' is just visions of a disturbed man having deranged hallucinations that manifest themselves in the form of a talking horse.

** One could probably fill half the pages of the Literature section with Key's maunderings. This is the fellow, after all, who claimed that the word "sex" was embedded on Ritz crackers (by what method, he never quite explained) and in just about every single advertisement you ever heard of. He had a particular hate-on for liquor and tobacco advertisements, seeming to think that subliminal inserts in those ads were almost singlehandedly responsible for alcohol and tobacco addiction.

* Freddie Mercury insisted unto his death that "Bohemian Rhapsody" had not only no hidden meaning, but no meaning at all. Due to this, [[Freud Was Right|most theories revolve around his bisexuality]], which he ''also'' denied ([[Ambiguously Gay|well, refused to confirm]]) until his death. To be fair, though, the song definitely ''sounds'' like it might have some meaning deeper than "Mom, I just shot a guy and the police are after me, help..."

{{quote|Does it mean this, does it mean that, that's all anybody wants to know. Fuck them, darling. I say what any decent poet would say if you dared ask him to analyse his work: If you see it, dear, then it's there.}}

* [[The Beatles]] get this a ''lot'':

**** The original version of the song was written as a campaign song for [[Timothy Leary]], when he ran for Governor of California. The later version was a lot stranger...

** "Helter Skelter" and the rest of the ''White Album'', along with several other Beatles songs, are all a huge (and tragic) example of this. The song was written about nothing (or a playground slide, or maybe [[The Roman Empire]]), but Charles Manson built up this whole mythology around it about how it was prophecy and so on. Then he went around murdering people to fulfill the prophecy, or whatever. Whoops. Turns out it wasn't any of that at all...

*** John Lennon admitted, not long before his murder, that the line "The Walrus was Paul" was included in "Glass Onion" for the ''sole purpose'' of screwing with the conspiracy theorists.

*** The originators of the "Paul is Dead" phenomenon have actually come out and admitted that it was a hoax, but that doesn't stop most proponents from claiming that they accidentally stumbled upon the truth.

* Arguably any song by [[System of a Down]] that they haven't been interviewed about (e.g. I-E-A-I-A-I-O).

* Inverted by Don McLean's song "American Pie", which is intentionally jam-packed with [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/music/american-pie/ obscure imagery and references]. McLean, however, refuses to explain any of them, or to confirm/deny any interpretations by fans. He once gave an explanation, after much pestering, as to what the song meant: "It means I never have to work again." For the record, most of them seem to be jabs at rock-and-roll "sellouts", and the central theme is the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and Jiles "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

* Parodied with Rebecca Black's Friday. Rebecca Black posted a video on youtube explaining the "deeper meanings" of the song, and explained the anti-war sentiments, etc. of the song. Played for laughs, and shows that Ms. Black has a good sense of humor about the controversy surrounding her song.

* Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" has been interpreted as an anti-Vietnam War song, or a story about getting arrested for drug use. When actually asked, Simon himself said he had never really thought about it, but supposed it may have been a song about two schoolboys sexually experimenting with each other.

* Blue Öyster Cult, Dio and other bands with cryptic lyrics as a part of their [[Signature Style]] pretty much ''ask'' for this. Of course, when [[Moral Guardians]] do the interpreting, they aren't nearly as creative as the band is about it, so every song becomes about doing drugs and killing yourself for the glory of Satan.

* [[Faith No More]]'s "Epic" practically asks for this, with the end featuring repetitions of "What is it? It's it!" This, unsurprisingly, has led to many people trying to figure out just what exactly "it" is. The most common interpretations seem to be life, rape, and fashion (if you've never heard the song, just try to imagine what lyrics could inspire those three interpretations). In the end, though, this is yet another example of words just being put together because it sounds good.

** One of the most common (if not ''the'' most common) interpretations is that the song is about auto-fellatio. Gives a whole new meaning to certain lines that you will never, ever unhear.

*** And of course:

{{quote|"You want it all, ''but you can't have it!''"}}

** There are some fans [[Epileptic Trees|who believe]] that [[The Eighties]] pop album ''Invisible Touch'' is a [[Concept Album]] about [[The End of the World as We Know It|nuclear war]].

** Or Jethro Tull's "A Passion Play". Or "Dark Side of the Moon", and everything [[Pink Floyd]] did afterwards.

*** "This song is about a hotel run by cannibals."

*** "This song is about God creating humankind."

*** This song is about ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]''.

* [[Peter Gabriel]]'s ''Shock the Monkey'' has been interpreted as either being about animal rights or the [[Electric Torture|Milgram Experiment]]. [[Word of God|Gabriel himself has stated]] that the song has a romantic subtext.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

** A darkly existential take on Linus and the Great Pumpkin can be found [http://www.reverseshot.com/legacy/spring04/pumpkin.html here].

* [http://img14.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pearlsdeconstruction.jpg Hilariously parodied] in ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]''.

* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' has to at least get a mention for the ''[[Fight Club]]'' theories. As well as from a long lost ''[[Non Sequitur (comic strip)|Non Sequitur]]'' comic that makes its own theories about the child's need for an imaginary friend.

* Not so much Jesus, but it's generally excepted amongst it's (''many'') detractors that the entire population of ''[[Funky Winkerbean]]'' (and by extention, ''[[Crankshaft]]'') is in Purgatory (Limbo is also accepted) and merely awaiting inevitable death.

 

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' is about a boy who hates his father so much {{spoiler|he kills him}} because he was [[wikipedia:Oedipus complex|jealous of the time his mom and dad spent together]].

** Not to mention the game beating you over the head with "Yuna is Jesus" analogies every thirty seconds. She had to die to save the world from Sin, [[Just for Pun|for Christ's sake]].

** Close, but not exactly. The trick is that Xenosaga is based on Gnostic philosophy and mythology, not contemporary Christianity. {{spoiler|chaos}} is not Jesus. Jesus was just a prophet and a preacher; just a man with no actual divinity of his own. {{spoiler|chaos and Mary (or Anima and Animus)}} were the actual power behind him, though, who worked all of "his" miracles. Xenosaga's fun like that.

*** {{spoiler|chaos}} is called Jeshua, which is the Aramaic name for Jesus, and was close to Mary Magdalene in a previous life, so he's at least ''a'' Jesus, if not ''the'' Jesus.

* ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]''. There is an [http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/f/portal-is-the-most-subversive-game-ever/a-20071207115329881080/g-2006071916229527001 article] claiming that the game has feminist/lesbian themes: The only male presence (or at least, the only thing ever referred to with a male pronoun) is the Weighted Companion Cube, an inanimate object; the way your "gun", rather than being a weapon of destruction, shoots oval-shaped "openings"; nearly all aggression on GLaDOS's part is passive aggression, or aggression by proxy via the turrets; and the fact that the player character, Chell, is neither male nor [[Stripperiffic]] eye-candy for male players like nearly every other female video game character. To be fair, it wasn't entirely clear whether the articles were serious or not ...

** On the other hand, there's also a theory that GLaDOS [http://www.game-ism.com/?p=91 desperately wants to die] and that the whole maze was just a [[Thanatos Gambit]] to make Chell hate her enough to do it. Subsequently, 'Still Alive' expresses her disappointment when she finds out there's a backup.

*** In the commentary tracks ([[New Game+]], in the chamber for the final fight), GLaDOS' voice actress states that she needed to get back into character to sing "Still Alive". Said character is: "A lonely little AI who's angry that everybody comes to kill her."

*** It's hardly surprising that GLaDOS's voice actress was more sympathetic to her when [[Sympathetic POV|she was the one playing her]].

* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' as noted elsewhere, is a fun game about two teams of soldiers killing each other, with no plot whatsoever. This hasn't stopped Tropers on the [[Fridge Brilliance]] page from making comparisons to the [[Cold War]], claiming it represents Change vs Stagnancy, and many more. These claims have almost ''nothing'' to base themselves on, because there is ''no plot''.

** Valve released [http://www.teamfortress.com/loosecanon/index.html a comic] before the "Engineer update" came out that sketches a plot around the "characters" of the game. It's quite amusing but even Valve admit it was created retroactively. Note that the comic does not reference the cold war at all, but rather seems to have more of a steampunk/western theme.

* [http://gameoverthinker.blogspot.com/ The Game Overthinker] is a blog that occasionally does this, when the webmaster isn't analysing the landscape of gaming in general.

** More so, that interpretation is probably accurate, given how [[Surreal Theme Tune|weirdly worded the song is.]] What else could it mean?

** ''[[The World Ends With You]]'' is practically a Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory game as a whole. Subliminal messages and religious symbols can be found everywhere if you look hard enough, and the roles of characters in the plot can be pretty much delved into something much deeper. Not to mention the fact that {{spoiler|Joshua is the Jesus figure while simultaneously managing to be God, whose name is literally "Jesus" in another language...}}

* There's [http://www.zeldauniverse.net/articles/the-stone-tower-why-termina-was-doomed/ a theory] with popularity that says the Stone Tower temple of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask]]'' is an allegory of the Tower of Babel. It also turns the mask into a punishment from the gods and Link into a messianic figure sent to "redeem" Termina from their "sins".

** Just ''Majora's Mask''? Heck, every part of the series has had it's fair share of this! From Link literally being ''Jesus'', to the Master Sword, the Moon Pearl and the Shadow Mirror symbolizing the imperial treasures of Japan (therefor making Hyrule, despite all evidence to the contrary, Japan), to absurd reasons why Link can't talk and overinterpratetion of Zelda's many Alter Egos as her having a [[Split Personality Disorder]]. It has all been there.

* Just what the hell is ''[[Pokémon]]''? Neo-Nazism, Satanism (enslaving creatures), atheism (you can capture GOD), and so on. The most common one is that it's glamorized dog/cock fighting. [[Word of God]] is completely ignored of course.

** There has been at least one article relating it to simply coming of age. The main character leaves the safety of home with just a bare amount of power or knowledge (symbolized by the starting pokemon) to get by in the world, and as the character explores it grows in both (capturing more pokemon and learning new abilities) until it can take control of its own destiny and become an actualized adult (winning the game).

* ''[[The Path]]'' can be (and was, in fact, intended to be) interpreted in many ways. Is it a cautionary tale about the dangers of temptation in its many forms? Is it a metaphor for life and growing up? Are the girls actually the memories of the grandmother at different stages in her life?

* [http://sydlexia.com/pac-nihilism.htm This article] on ''[[Pac-Man]]'' had got to be a parody of this trope.

* ''[[Duke Nukem Forever]]'' is not juvenile sexist tripe, but a [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/video-game-article/duke-nukem-feminism.php direct assault on the player's own participation and collusion with the Patriarchy.]

 

* Parodied [http://www.viruscomix.com/page434.html in Subnormality].

* Parodied in [http://www.machall.com/view.php?date=2003-04-05 Mac Hall].

* [http://threepanelsoul.com/2007/06/25/on-literary-criticism/ This] ''[[Three Panel Soul]]'' strip deserves a mention.

* ''[[Xkcd]]'''s readers tend to assume that any depressing strip about romance or relationships is the product of Randall having a breakup.

* This very wiki's [[Wild Mass Guessing]] page often includes these kinds of claims.

* Parodied in [http://community.livejournal.com/deleterius/2481366.html?format=light this] [[MST]], when a Snape/Hermione fic based on ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'' summarizes the plot of the latter. McGonagall, having taken a correspondence course in Muggle Freudian Psychology, immediately starts in on it, much to the horror of the other characters.

** The author later created [[Brows Held High]], specializing in pretentious art films of this sort, and was later picked up by [[Channel Awesome]].

* Parodied in ''[[Atop the Fourth Wall]]'' 's review of ''[[The Dark Knight Strikes Again]]'', part 3: Linkara, fed up with the comic, decides to mock interpretation of symbolism by claiming that [[300]] ([[Frank Miller]]'s earlier work) is about ''constipation''.

* [http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/ The Journal of Cartoon Overanalyzations] (J. Cart. Anal. for short) is all about articles that do this to cartoons, ranging from a semi-serious discussion of the [[Viewer Gender Confusion]] in ''[[The Brave Little Toaster]]'' to an interpretation of the setting in ''[[My Little Pony]]'' as a lesbian separatist colony.

* ''[[Something Awful]]'' parodied this with their [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/ap-reading-exam.php 2nd Grade AP Reading Exam].

 

== Western Animation ==

** Also, in the song "[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|There's a Platypus Controlling Me]]";

{{quote|'''Crowd''': DON'T STOP, DON'T STOP!

'''Person''': Oh, I get it! Platypus is a metaphor for whatever's keeping you down. The corporations are a platypus, the government's a platypus, your teacher is a platypus, ITS ALL JUST PROPAGANDA. }}

 

** Dr. John Zmirak [http://takimag.com/article/where_bad_ideas_go_to_die#axzz1d3X0POvP identified] one major reason why this kind of analysis can sometimes produce results that seem so outlandish and bizarre to ordinary laymen. All too often, scholars simply state their premises and proceed to analyze a work in light of those premises... but rarely does anyone ask whether those premises are actually ''true''. A scholar might, therefore, produce a Marxist or Freudian or Feminist reading of Tony Orlando's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" without ever considering whether Marxism or Freudianism or Feminism have or do not have any instrinsic validity as philosophical systems (he takes it as instructive that Economics departments rarely teach Marxism anymore and Psychology departments have been quietly moving away from Freudianism for decades).

{{quote|-- ''"I look forward with interest to [[Artistic License Chemistry|alchemical]] readings of Sophocles and [[Artistic License: Biology|Lamarckian]] Biblical criticism. I’d really enjoy a good, solid account of Toni Morrison firmly grounded in Nostradamus."''}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]

[[Category:Audience Reactions]]

[[Category:Meta Concepts]]

[[Category:The Index Is Watching You]]

[[Category:Esoteric Trope Names]]