An astonishing theory based on the animated saga’s four films has been generating quite the buzz. The theory comes from the blog of specialist Jon Negroni and concerns the parents of Andy, the young boy whose two favorite toys are Woody and Buzz.
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Who is Andy’s mother? Jon Negroni has an idea: she might be the former owner of Jessie, the cowgirl from Toy Story 2. Jessie explains to Woody in the movie that she was happy when a little girl, Emily, loved her. But Emily grew older and eventually forgot her toy under her bed…and her room décor shows us that the girl grew up in the 1960’s, which could correspond to the age of Andy’s mother. The theory comes from the act that Andy and Emily are both seen wearing the same hat. Emily may well have stored her hat away for years before later giving it to her son. You following?
What about the dad?
Still crazier: a theory on the absence of Andy’s father, whom we never see on-screen. Is he dead? Did he leave them? Are the parents in the middle of a divorce? Luckily for us, Jon Negroni thought of everything. After having dropped the death hypothesis, the expert thinks that the father left home. The hints: Andy’s mother moves into a smaller house at the end of Toy Story 1 and a dog is given to Andy and his sister.
As explained in Première, which takes up Negroni’s argument:
If Andy is so attached to his toys, and especially to two figures of masculine authority (a sheriff and a space ranger), it may be because he has trouble accepting the departure of his father. Andy’s choice of favorite toys may even be viewed as an allegory: on one end is Woody, his old friend, who represents what is safe and familiar; on the other is Buzz, a figure of the future and hence a symbol of a new life in a new location—a prospect that is at once frightening and magnetic. The friendship between the two toys at the end of the film would thus represent Andy’s internal reconciliation as he comes to accept the idea of moving without his father and beginning a new life.
The movie’s creators have yet to give any clear explanation on this subject, remaining content to simply say that there are “no concrete answers.” To wrap things up, we’ll give Negroni’s double theory a quick summary: Emily, the former owner of Jessie, might be Andy’s mother, and Andy’s parents are either separated or in the middle of a divorce. Now you only have one thing left to do: re-watch the Toy Story films (for the thousandth time)!
