The Disney Theory
After the release of Frozen in 2013, Disney superfans formed an intricate theory, called the Disney Theory, to explain how many Disney movies, like Frozen, The Little Mermaid, Tarzan and Beauty and the Beast, are connected. Students like sophomore Katie Wright enjoy the theory because, as Wright says, they give fans something fun to look forward to and give a new purpose to the movies. In fact, the theory was very strong, until it was disproved by Frozen II. Even though it was proven incorrect, it is still a very interesting theory to discuss, and many questions still need to be answered. Ladies and gentlemen, the Disney Theory.
Frozen
In Elsa’s coronation scene in Frozen, there is a brief moment where viewers can see Rapunzel and Flynn Rider entering the castle. Many people miss it upon first glance, and some might argue that it’s just an easter egg for fans to look for, however, this short cameo is the basis for the whole Disney Theory. So why would Frozen directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck specifically choose to include these two characters? Well, Rapunzel’s real mother, the queen of the fictional kingdom Corona, looks strikingly similar to Elsa and Anna’s mother, the Queen of Arendelle.
Theorists believe that Rapunzel’s real mother and Elsa and Anna’s mother are sisters who were married off to the kings of their respective kingdoms. This leads to the next clue of where the King and Queen of Arendelle were sailing to when their ship crashed. In a Reddit “Ask Me Anything,” Frozen director Jennifer Lee said they were traveling to attend a wedding. They were most likely planning to attend Rapunzel and Flynn Rider’s wedding, since if the two queens are related, they would be her aunt and uncle. However, they never make it to the wedding because their ship crashes somewhere in the North Sea off the coast of Denmark, which just happens to be where a sea princess lives.
The Little Mermaid
The opening scene of The Little Mermaid starts with Ariel and Flounder navigating a sunken ship, a ship that looks suspiciously similar to the one that the King and Queen of Arendelle used to sail to the wedding. Based on the architecture of and outfits worn in the fictional village Corona, Tangled was most likely set in Germany. The King and Queen were going to Germany from Norway (where Arendelle is supposedly set), which would have meant their ship sunk off the coast of Denmark, where The Little Mermaid was set. It’s a bit of a stretch, but the ship that Ariel and Flounder explored could, in theory, could be the same ship from Arendelle, linking Ariel to the Disney Theory.
Tarzan
In that same Reddit “Ask Me Anything,” Lee revealed that Chris Buck, who directed both Frozen and Tarzan, thinks that the King and Queen of Arendelle “didn’t die on the boat. They got washed up on a shore in a jungle island. The queen gave birth to a baby boy. They build a treehouse. They get eaten by a leopard…” Sound familiar? Buck basically says that they are actually the parents from Tarzan, which would sound ridiculous if it didn’t come from the film’s director himself. So the King and Queen of Arendelle were going to a wedding but don’t die on the ship. Instead, they wash up on the shore and give birth to a baby boy (Tarzan), which would make Tarzan the brother of Anna and Elsa. The parents are killed by a leopard, and Tarzan eventually meets Jane Porter, a Baltimore, Maryland native who arrives on the island to study gorillas. One would think that since Tarzan isn’t a princess movie, Disney would let up on the easter eggs, but classic Disney uses Jane as the next clue to the puzzle.
Beauty and the Beast
In a scene in Tarzan where the animals are playing with Jane’s items, one gorilla appears with a complete tea set—the same tea set that Chip and Mrs. Potts belong to in Beauty and the Beast. This means that somehow that tea set was transferred from Belle to Jane, who must be related. Beauty and the Beast is set in the 1740’s and Tarzan the 1880’s, which means Jane could be a distant relative and would explain why the directors would clothe them both in similar-looking yellow dresses and why their love interests are both “beast-like.” One of Belle’s great grandchildren must have immigrated to the U.S. from France (where the movie is set), which is possible because there was a large wave of French immigration to the U.S. during the French Revolution in the 1790’s.
Frozen II
I wholeheartedly believed in the Disney Theory…until Frozen II was released. Warning—I’m about to drop a ton of spoilers about the movie. It turns out that the entire theory with Anna, Elsa, Ariel, Tarzan, Jane and Belle is wrong, all thanks to Frozen II. In the movie, we learn that the Queen of Arendelle was actually from the indigenous Northuldra tribe, who lives in the forest near Arendelle. This means that the Queen is most likely not related to the Queen of Corona (Rapunzel’s mom). If that’s not enough, we also learn that the King and Queen of Arendelle were actually not travelling to Rapunzel and Flynn Rider’s wedding. Instead, they were sailing north to the Ahtohallan, a river that would reveal to them more about Elsa’s powers. If the queens of Arendelle and Corona aren’t related, and the King and Queen of Arendelle didn’t actually travel south to Corona, then Ariel wouldn’t have explored their ship. Also, Frozen II confirms that the parents actually do die, so they wouldn’t have given birth to Tarzan. The only part of the theory that is still plausible is the possible family relations between Jane and Belle, so I guess all is not lost. Still, I’m not willing to give up on the Disney Theory, because why would Chris Buck, who directed both Frozen an Frozen II create an entire movie that disproved his own theory? It was him who said the King and Queen of Arendelle were going to a wedding and were possibly the parents of Tarzan. His theory was literally the whole basis of the Disney Theory, yet in Frozen II he specifically disproves it. It’s all very suspicious, but perhaps it was a little extra to form an entire theory about the lives of people who aren’t even real.