Or at least what’s supposedly going on beneath the surface of popular TV series aimed at children…if these bizarre “fan theories” spread around the internet are to be believed.
Winnie the Pooh
A.A. Milne’s “Hundred Acre Wood” characters of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and all the rest are probably more famous for multiple movie and TV series adaptations by Disney. And according to some high-minded fans with a passing interest in psychology, each major character in Winnie the Pooh represents a different mental health issue. For example, Pooh Bear demonstrates symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with his obsessions with honey and counting. Piglet’s nervousness and stammer indicate anxiety issues. Eyeore may have clinical depression, and Tigger acts compulsively. Christopher Robbin could even have dissociative disorder, as he imagined all of these characters himself…and projected his disorders onto them.
Caillou
This Canadian-produced cartoon is geared toward preschool audiences, as it’s presented through the eyes of an inquisitive four-year-old boy named Caillou. Also, for some reason, Caillou is bald. One popular (if dark) fan theory is that Caillou has cancer. Hair loss is a symptom of chemotherapy treatments.
The Flintstones
The Jetsons was produced by the same people that made The Flintstones, and it shows — while The Flintstones concerns a 20th-century sitcom family in prehistoric times, The Jetsons is the same concept, but in the distant future. However, some people think that both shows take place in the future. The theory: The Flintstones takes place long after The Jetsons in a post-apocalyptic world. Humans have used rocks and genetically-enhanced animals to approximate the technology to which they’d grown accustomed.
Sesame Street
The long-running educational show presents a unique but winning mixture of a realistic, multicultural urban setting…and wacky puppets. One of those is Count von Count, who has been stated to be “1,832,652 years old…and still counting!” He’s a literal vampire, hanging out with a bunch of kids all day. One fan theory holds that the reason the show has a different bunch of kid actors every season is because the characters they play keep getting their blood sucked out of them by the Count, one after another.