Cartoon Conspiracy Theories

Max and Ruby

Max is really Ruby’s son.

I mean, doesn’t that just make more sense to you? How else would Ruby’s mothering skills come so naturally? And given how much responsibility she has, she’s clearly older than she looks. A lot older.

Why the deception? Well, consider the time period we’re looking at here. There are no computers in this series. Max’s toys are all wind-up and rarely feature any electronics. Many of his toys are robots, or aliens, or astronauts — toys whose heyday fell in the fifties and the sixties. And there’s the jaunty music, and the fact that whenever Ruby turns on a radio, the only song that comes out is a saccharine advertising jingle that sticks in your head with the tenacity of toffee (“start your day in a healthy way! Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!”). This isn’t modern day America, folks: it’s the time before Free Love, the time of McCarthy and the Great American Dream of two cars in every garage. It’s a time when pre-marital sex was frowned upon and a single mother was an object of shame.

Clearly, to protect Ruby’s honour and the family’s reputation, Ruby’s mother started posing as Max and Ruby’s grandmother in order to perpetuate the deception that Max was actually Ruby’s little brother. And that picture that was hanging on the wall earlier? Well, it’s more than possible that the mother in the picture is Max and Ruby’s “grandmother”, posing with her husband, now passed away.

And who is Max’s father? Well, that’s anybody’s guess, but my suspicions are on Roger, a suave brown-furred rabbit upon whom Ruby clearly displays a crush. I can’t help but notice that he often takes time out of his social life to throw a football around with Max and participate in Max’s games, as any father would. Guilty conscience, perhaps?

So, clearly, Max and Ruby is the tragic tale of a young mother forced to deny the reality of her family and hide her love for her son, due to the restrictive norms and prejudices of society. It’s a story of Ruby’s struggles to raise a child in secret, with no help from her son’s father, and limited support from her own mother.