The beloved stories we heard as children always brought us comfort and entertainment, but is there a bigger picture in these cherished stories?

Theorists have conjured up an idea that the reason Charlie Brown is bald is that he has cancer and that all the actions in his comic are him pointing out the things going wrong in his life. Brown was originally drawn to reflect the flaws in everyday life.

Is “Winnie the Pooh“ just a childhood tale? Christopher Robbin is supposedly schizophrenic, and he is just imagining Pooh and all of his friends. If you take a closer look, Robbin’s imaginary friends also have problems of their own. Pooh is addicted to honey; Tigger struggles with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder; Eeyore is depressed; Piglet has an anxiety disorder; Owl has Dyslexia, and Rabbit has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Allegedly, “Aladdin“ shares many characteristics of a post-apocalyptic era. When Genie emerges from the lamp, he announces that he has not left the lamp in 10,000 years. This would make the current year 10,300. Genie also helps Aladdin dress and proclaims that his outfit is “much too third century,”. Argabah, where the movie takes place, is not even a real place. It is presumed that Egypt, Arabia, and Afghanistan combined to create a new place because countries are foreign in the post-apocalyptic era. The magic carpet is one of the few surviving pieces of technology left in the era.

The beloved “The Wizard of Oz”, written in 1900, is supposedly political satire. Henry Littlefield, a high school history teacher at the time, came up with this theory. It was later discredited. Littlefield published an article in the American Quarterly, stating his theory on what the “Wizard of Oz“ is truly about: populism. In the late 19th century, populism was rising quickly and the populists relied on industrial workers, farmers, and other helpless businesses to help create economic growth. In the story, Dorothy represents the common citizen, the Scarecrow represents farmers, and the Tin Man industrial workers. The Cowardly Lion is a lot like Williams Jennings Bryan, a politician known for being a coward. The abbreviation “Oz” stand for ounce which is how gold is measured, and the color green in Oz represents the dollar. The yellow brick road shows the gold standard, and the Wizard  represents President William Mckinley. The Wicked Witch of the West, killed only by water, is the drought, and the Wicked Witch of the East represents bankers.

While some of these theories may seem crazy, they kind of all make sense, too. Regardless, it is another lens to view the stories loved by so many.