44

I've watched the movie Trolls a few times now with my daughters. I've started to develop this idea that this children's movie was really about opium addiction.

Here's some of the things I've noticed:

  1. The main character's name is Poppy. You get opium from poppy seeds.
  2. The scientific name for opium is Lachryma papaveris. The king of the Trolls is named King Peppy, but it sounds like they're saying King Papa and when the king picks up the baby Troll she calls him "papa".
  3. The Bergens grow Trolls in the center of their town on a tree. Once a year they harvest the Trolls, consume them and the side effects are happiness. That's what people do with opium.
  4. The Bergen that prepairs the Trolls is called the Chef and she "cooks" the Trolls so that the Bergens can eat them. Cooking heroin is the most common way to use opium.
  5. The Bergens look like drug users with bad skin, teeth and posture.
  6. Actor Russell Brand is very vocal about his heroin addiction (heroin is made from opium). He's also the voice actor of Creek. That's the Troll in the movie who switches sides to help the Bergen catch the Trolls.

Poppy Flowers

There are flowers in the movie that are similar to opium poppy flowers. Yes, the flowers are generic in design but they are a single flower on a stem with large similar colored petals and a yellow center.

enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

Cloud Guy

Cloud Guy is a unique character in the film who feels really out of place. He is not consistent with the rest of the characters in design, and he adds nothing to the plot of the film. He appears in the middle and later at the end. I mean, I just don't understand this character. Why a cloud?

Does he represent the smoking of opium?

There is a phrase called "opium clouds" which has been used to title books and music. I don't know anything of it's origins just that it refers to the thick white clouds produced by smoking opium.

enter image description here enter image description here

Cloud Guy has no shoes. Which is a strange detail and mentioned in the dialog of the film.

Did he forget his shoes because he was high? and did he just come out of an opium den?

When people go to an opium den they lay down on beds or platforms to smoke opium. Often people would remove their shoes, get high and forget their shoes when they walk home.

End Credits

During the end credits there are poppy plants scrolling up on the screen.

enter image description here enter image description here

Question

Am I just seeing a connection that isn't really there or is this movie really about opium addiction? Where the Trolls represent opium, the Bergen are the users and the message of the movie is that drugs don't make you happy.

Improve this question
7
  • 16
    I haven't seen the film, but I upvoted the question because I love your train of thought. I kind of hope for your sake the consensus is that you're right, otherwise it might suggest you have a problem :)
    – Darren
    Jan 23, 2017 at 14:19
  • 2
    I think you're on to something :).
    – Teacher KSHuang
    Feb 22, 2017 at 9:25
  • 1
    Trolls is not about opium addiction. It is about consumerism, and the skill of generating happiness from the inside. As opposed to mistakenly believing that it comes from something you do on the outside. The Bergens ignorantly believe that happiness only comes from consumption, made literal in this case. As a result, they have no love in their hearts for each other, despoil their environment, and oppress the indigenous. The Trolls teach them the skills of loving each other, loving life, singing, dancing, hugging, and finding happiness from the inside. This results in a transformation.
    – DragonLord
    Oct 12, 2017 at 16:10
  • I highly recommend reading Buscaglia's "Living, Loving, and Learning" to understand this.
    – DragonLord
    Oct 12, 2017 at 16:12
  • 1
    This question about Trolls is possibly a brilliant meta-troll.
    – Morgoth
    Oct 22, 2017 at 19:46

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

Couldn't find any sources or news that confirms your theory (premise), unless there is some deep meaning that only the producers know and didn't share with the public and media.

What I indeed found is what the movie is really inspired on. Trolls are based on the Troll dolls by Thomas Dam.

Trolls is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film directed by Mike Mitchell, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film will be starring Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake. Based on the Troll dolls by Thomas Dam, the film was released in the United Kingdom on October 21, 2016 and was released in the United States on November 4, 2016.

Trolls

Another source: Books that the Trolls movie might be influenced on..

Improve this answer
6
  • 5
    That is an interesting tidbit about its inspiration, but I don't see how that contradicts anything.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Mar 2, 2017 at 21:01
  • @NapoleonWilson Why should it contradict with anything?
    – Gustavo Gabriel
    Mar 24, 2017 at 14:31
  • Because you actually say so in the very first sentence (emphasis mine): "No, The movie Trolls are based on the Troll dolls by Thomas Dam." - I don't see how this automatically contradicts the premise of the question. You might want to elaborate a little more how you come to this conclusion.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Mar 24, 2017 at 14:33
  • @NapoleonWilson I came to this conclusion based on the sources, and there is nothing relating the movie to opium addiction, or that is based on it.
    – Gustavo Gabriel
    Mar 24, 2017 at 14:36
  • 1
    The sources you list just say what inspired the movie. But this isn't contradicting the premise of this question at all. If you are saying there is nothing to be found that confirms that premise, that might be a reasonable answer, but that isn't what you're saying here at all. You say "The movie was inspired by this thing, so the story can't be about anything unrelated.", which I don't think makes logical sense.
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Mar 24, 2017 at 14:43

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .