History Fridge / TheBraveLittleToaster

*** "I took a man to a graveyard. I beg your pardon, it's quite hard enough just living with the stuff I had learned". This dark blue car is a hearse; it was thus his job to transport the dead in caskets every day. Clearly, he had heard about how many of these people had died and, being a sentimental fellow, grieved for them. He also likely heard a number of stories of good people killed in unfair ways (accidents, disease, grudges, terrorism, etc.), and this made him quite depressed long before he wound up at Ernie's Disposal. Some say that the fact that he was crushed simultaneously with the wedding car indicates they're talking about the same person; I don't think so, as the hearse would say "Then, I took him to a graveyard" or something similar. Instead, I think they're contrasting marriage and death, or perhaps comparing them. "Til death do us part" is spoken at weddings, after all, and it is somewhat ironic that a car representing death is compacted together with a wedding car (and thus ensuring they will never separate).

* Many people were probably annoyed by Blankie's neediness and tendency to cry at the drop of a hat. But he was characterized that way for a reason-- he's an ''electric blanket'', an object whose very reason for existence depends upon cuddling close to someone and keeping them warm.

** Not to mention the fact that while the other appliances could still perform their intended duties (vacuuming, playing music, lighting the room), Blankie had absolutely no way to fulfill his purpose. Which is probably why Toaster became so affectionate towards him later. Blankie had nobody to cuddle with, and Toaster had no bread to toast. Meanwhile, Lampy panicked when his bulb burned out -- but Rob replaced it. Meanwhile, the Air Conditioner is jealous of the others because Rob was too short to reach his knobs.

** On an even darker note, consider that the junkyard is where old and broken machines go when they have outlived their usefulness or are considered unwanted, waiting to be crushed into cubes. Now consider that for some people, a retirement home or being admitted to a state hospital could be seen as the same sort of thing: A place where the "worthless” people go to wait for death. It's no wonder so many people dread the thought of living in such places.

** On an even darker note, consider that the junkyard is where old machines go when they have outlived their usefulness, waiting to be crushed into cubes. Now consider that for some people, a retirement home could be seen as the same sort of thing: A place where the "worthless" old people go to wait for death. It's no wonder so many elderly people dread the thought of living in such a place.

*** "Once took a Texan to a wedding. He kept forgetting, his loneliness letting his thoughts turn to home every turn". This is the most open-ended of the stories the cars speak of in this song (and whose lyrics can be heard many different ways, too). Here's what I think: the Texan remained lonely even after he was married, which to me makes me think that his wife passed away before he did. "He kept forgetting" might refer to memory problems, such as Alzheimer's Disease or short term memory loss, causing him to be either very homesick or making him think he's wherever he grew up. It may also be that the Texan liked this yellow wedding car so much that he kept her; if this was the case, it would be unlikely the Texan would willingly let her get sent to the junkyard, and instead she was brought here after he had forgotten about her.

** The Danish dub also has a few darker moments. The Indy 500 car isn't "impressed how he did" and never mentions his place in the race, meaning he has no idea whether he was even in the running for victory or not. The car that lists a lot of American cities it visited instead sings about how awesome his life was and how loved going fast and is crushed right after such an optimistic statement, almost like he's in denial. And finally, the hearse gets these lines: "I've driven so many people to their graves /Death, to me, is a soothing song for my soul / For my time as a hearse was tough on me".

* The now obsolete 80's appliances mocking the main characters for being "outdated", when actually the heroes are the type of appliances that last for many years whose functions would still be useful today. Many people still use 20- (sometimes even ''50''-) year-old toasters, lamps, and vacuums. Compare that to how often you have to update and replace your computer, television, mobile phone, etc...

*** Considering how the blue car and green truck both met their ends--the former with no resistance whatsoever, the latter actively going into the literal jaws of death--it's an unnerving thing to think a Disney song began and ended with what was essentially two suicides (and contains a possible reference to another suicide).

** The Danish dub also has a few darker moments. The Indy 500 car isn't "impressed how he did" and never mentions his place in the race, meaning he has no idea whether he was even in the running for victory or not. The car that lists a lot of american cities it visited instead sings about how awesome his life was and how loved going fast and is crushed right after such an optimistic statement, almost like he's in denial. And finally, the hearse gets these lines: "I've driven so many people to their graves /Death, to me, is a soothing song for my soul / For my time as a hearse was tough on me".

* When the Toaster is getting up on her [[VisualPun literal soap box]], she is standing in a beam of sunlight while the others are in the shadows. As she wins them over, they get closer to her, effectively "coming into the light" about it's plan. Kirby, the most curmudgeonly of them all, only gets a tiny corner of himself into the light when he begrudgingly agrees, and before that, he ''retreats'' into the shadows when he calls them insane.

** Or worse, did the old fridge die and they intended to get use out of its corpse?

* Peterson's appliance shop. In the scrapyard, the cars are at least 'killed' quickly; in the shop, they're slowly torn apart, built into other things, and sold part-by-part. It's the appliance version of a death camp.