

Nemo has also inherited some of the anxiety from his father due to his constant worrying, and Nemo is a representation of those with deformities. Marlin and Dory were there for each other in the theory and helped each other out in a time of need.Īnother more believable theory is that Marlin is overprotective still because of his desire to protect his only remaining son and actually does suffer from some PTSD. Dory is always forgetting everything, so she doesn't find anything suspicious about Marlin or his imaginary son Nemo.

Perhaps Nemo represents Marlin's will to "just keep swimming" and when he runs away after a panic attack, Marlin has to find his son Nemo-or his will to keep living. Ray, the teacher tries to tell him the truth, and Marlin's fight or flight kicks in, and he ventures out into the ocean looking for Nemo, whom he subconsciously knows to not exist. On Nemo's first day of school, Marlin has a mental breakdown because when he goes to take his imaginary child to the teacher Mr. Marlin frantically looks for any surviving eggs, and because there are none and he is too desperate for some good news, his mind creates "Nemo"-the last surviving egg that grows up to be a little impaired from either genetics or the attack. In the theory, Marlin has been hiding from the barracuda, but then realizes and simultaneously denies what just happened. One theory states that Nemo does not actually exist, and Marlin is just in the denial stage of grief-where his entire family has just been brutally slaughtered. Although we call them great, this shark species isn’t the largest amongst the 450 species. RELATED: Pulp Fiction: What Was In That Briefcase?

Dory suffers from acute short-term memory loss ( a trait that is hereditary), and some fans think Marlin is suffering from grief and post-traumatic stress disorder. On the surface, this is a cute and catchy thing a fish might say, but after the conclusion of the film, it takes on a different meaning. Some fans of the now-classic animated film think Marlin and Dory might have more in common than first thought, and they may both be suffering from mental illness of some kind.
