Before we start this off, how many of us really know what an easter egg is? No, not the actual component for the Easter festival. The eggs we’re talking about are the hidden objects or meanings in films placed by the filmmakers in the plain sights of the viewers. They are intentional inside jokes, hidden messages or secret features of work portrayed slyly by the filmmakers for the viewers to find.
These are usually included in games or Blu-Ray versions of the film but most of the times they’re found in the film as well, you just need a good eye for it. One of these Easter Eggs that has stuck by me is one from Fight Club.
The time David Fincher decided to include a Starbucks cup in every shot of ‘Fight Club’ to prove to the audience what is his movie was actually about. If you notice every shot of Fight Club consists of a cup from the famous cafe and it actually shows how we turn a blind eye towards it. We are so consumed by the capitalistic world that a Starbucks cup lying around has no effect on us and we pay no heed to it. It is not an unusual component to our lives but the film was an anti-capitalistic one, trying to fend us off the concept and prove to everyone that we are run by the system, and not the other way round.
You see hidden messages in films like these and you wish you would have watched it closer. So many other films including Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, every Disney or Pixar movie or even every Chris Nolan film has these eggs which may or may not have anything to do with the film but they sure are a treat to their audiences.
Now, Easter Eggs are not to be confused with plot detailing or movie mistakes for that matter. Plot detailings are when the film foreshadows the film before it ends which is only subjected to the attention giving audience.
There are so many plot details such as oranges being seen in The Godfather right before a death occurs. This is one of the ways that the director foreshadows the predicament of the storyline, it is a challenge of sorts to the audience to catch onto it. In Love, Simon, they give us a hint about who Blue actually is by giving us a riddle to solve, as well as the solution.
These are smartly placed situations and dialogues to see if the audience is paying attention while Easter Eggs also require attention, they are more so based on what the director wants to convey through the film or plant hidden messages regarding the storyline.
The most of them can be found in Disney films where one universe connects to the other or it regards the whole process in Disney. Like the room number A113 will be found in every single Disney animation to honour the classroom that was used to design a few of the characters.
Various meanings to various of the takers but the one perception from the artist himself is what stands true. The Starbucks cup to us as viewers may account to Tyler’s addiction to coffee at the most, but for David Fincher, it was nothing more than the addiction to Capitalism. This is why films are such a complex industry and why they represent art in every form possible.
While you may now pay more attention, every film has its own style of showcasing what they want to hide. In the words of Daniel Atlas from Now You See Me, “The closer you think you are, the less you’ll actually see.”
