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To learn more about hidden movie details, the significance behind them, and why we feel so entertained making fun of our favorite films, we reached out to Michael W. Boyce, Ph.D., a Professor of English and Film Studies at Booth University College in Winnipeg, Canada. He told Bored Panda that he believes Easter eggs in motion pictures are great: "The most passionate fans get a chance to show off their arcane knowledge and feel like they’re in on something special, secret."
On a purely business basis, it also demands multiple viewing for movie buffs to try and catch everything, the professor added. But still, even the most loyal fans can miss Easter eggs. Sometimes the view of the egg moves on screen so quickly, that "it can only be appreciated with high resolution pausing," he said.
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We also managed to get in touch with Melanie Williams, film historian and professor at the University of East Anglia. "I think Easter Eggs are mostly quite a fun thing, rewarding viewers' vigilance," she told us. "But sometimes when elaborate fan theories are attached to certain motifs, it can get a bit close to conspiracy theory territory when everything has a hidden meaning," the professor added that the documentary about The Shining, Room 237, treads that tightrope.
"The idea of the Easter Egg hunt is that someone's hidden them for you to find. Or that they're an in-joke for the makers of the film, which may have been the case in older productions: When you could only see a film at the cinema (like initially Star Wars), it would be very difficult to spot the THX reference," Williams is talking about the hints to the film THX 1138 by George Lucas. "But ever since playback technologies of various kinds from VCR onwards, it's become a game that more people can participate in." However, she believes that Hitchcock's cameos were a kind of prototype for this — "something to look out for in every one of his films."
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Since everyone has their own traits and takes notice of their surroundings differently, it’s nearly impossible to create an Easter egg that every single person could uncover. However, it turns out that when fans sometimes find a secret note in the film, it comes as a surprise even for the filmmakers. "We’re story people — we like to make links and connections, even when they’re not intentional. If you meet someone for the first time and discover you have a mutual friend or both attended the same summer camp, you start to project a narrative — you were somehow meant to meet," Boyce explained.
"I am aware of some Easter eggs in films that the directors/writers have said, 'No, that wasn’t on purpose.' Does it mean that it’s not an Easter egg? Not necessarily," Boyce continued. "We can be influenced by things subconsciously, or secondhand. Even eggs that are purely coincidence can still produce meaning."
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Discovering subtle details in movies takes time, patience, and sometimes even a dash of luck. But once you stumble across one, you feel a great pleasure. "It's an archetypal movie nerd activity to comb over tiny fleeting details from a film and then interpret all kinds of things into them," Williams noted. "The filmmakers obviously love that anybody is paying such close attention and therefore perform this fan service to reward their loyal followers."
"As long as nobody takes it or themselves too seriously (and sadly, often they do!), I think it's a great way of introducing people to what you can get from paying close attention to the details of a film's mise-en-scene so it can be a nice gateway to film analysis," the film historian added.
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When asked why it is so rewarding to find or learn about hidden tidbits in films online, Boyce thinks it comes down to an expression of a person’s fandom. "We like to feel special, included. This is a small way we can do this," he explained.
"For some, simply knowing they’re aware of something most people aren’t is more than enough to feel special. Others will attempt to share their knowledge with others (usually people utterly uninterested in that level of detail) by pointing out all the details." Then, there's a whole other category of people who "use this to gatekeep fandoms and exclude fans who aren’t in on the eggs — if you don’t know then you’re not a 'real' fan," Boyce stated.
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But while there are tons of fascinating facts about movies and how they’re made, there are also places that consistently parodies them. As it turns out, masses of film enthusiasts on the internet love it. "I think some people poke fun at this because it's really easy to poke fun at something you’re passionate about," Boyce guessed why we’re so eager and entertained to read these made-up facts.
"We’re vulnerable to the things we love," he continued. "Most people poke fun in a lighthearted manner, but because some people take their fandoms so seriously, it can sometimes lead to hurt. But then we’re always hurt by what we love, right?"
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The subreddit in question was created in July 2017 and has gained a strong foothold on the platform. It has amassed over 821K members who are always on the lookout for the newest posts, with a few thousand people scrolling through the forum at any given moment. Well, the page certainly knows how to draw in the crowds by being packed with tongue-in-cheek humor that can make any movie enthusiast burst into laughter.
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