crackpot theory theme
This is a general theme pertaining to theories that are presented as scholarly, but do not in fact adhere to the mainstream academic standards of the time. The theme may pertain to urban legends, fringe science, or conspiracy theories. Examples include the Bermuda Triangle, flying saucers, and Bigfoot.
19 total · 10 major · 9 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| futurama4x17 | major | Aliens were peddling human noses as aphrodisiacs. |
| movie: Godzilla vs Kong (2021) | major | Much was made of young Madison having fallen in with the conspiracy theory podcast host Bernie Hayes. Hayes advanced any number of cookie cutter conspiracy theories, most of which were proved true within the context of the film. |
| movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) | major | The main idea of the story is that an elongated crystal skull with occult powers was the centerpiece of an ancient South American civilization. |
| movie: Lifeforce (1985) | major | It turned out that the vampires of legend had actually come from life force stealing space aliens. |
| movie: Mission to Mars (2000) | major | The film is predicated on the notion that the so-called "Face on Mars", which is widely explained away as a case of facial pareidolia, is actually an artificial structure resembling a humanoid face. |
| movie: Signs (2002) | major | The film confronts the viewer with the idea that crop circles are being made by extraterrestrials. |
| movie: Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) | major | We learned that the space race of the 1960s was in response to a crashed UFO on the Moon. This turned out to be central to the plot, and also a subject that was returned to again and again. |
| shortstory: Vampires of the Desert (1929) | major | The main idea of the story is that the seeds of some ancient man-eating plants sprouted and the resulting plants crept around, killing everyone. |
| tftc1989e7x08 | major | Elliot and Arianne were paranormal researchers of a non-ESP variety. |
| videogame: Final Fantasy III (1990) | major | It was revealed that the floating continent had been engineered by a technologically advanced, ancient civilization through the use some crystal-based technology. Although the story is set on an unnamed planet, the idea here is similar to the fringe theory that Atlantis existed and had developed advanced technology. The crackpot theory themes applies for this reason. |