Recently, I came across a new-to-me term to describe a hidden message in books and movies: Easter Egg.
It was the brainchild of game developers who weren’t often credited for their individual work. According to Dictionary.com, the first discovered Easter Egg appeared in the 1979 Atari VCS 2600 game “Adventure,” created by Warren Robinett. He hid “Created by Warren Robinett” within a one-pixel, gray dot on a gray background. A sharp-eyed teen discovered it after the game was released a year later and wrote to Atari.
Robinett’s manager, Steve Wright, loved the idea of hidden surprises because they reminded him of hunting for Easter eggs as a kid.
Since that time, Easter Eggs have appeared in many popular movies:
- Raiders of the Lost Ark shows a hieroglyph of C3PO and R2-D2 from Star Wars when Indiana Jones removes the lid of the Ark of the Covenant.
- Disney movies are famous for including Mickey Mouse in scenes.
- Stan Lee made cameo appearances in many of the Marvel Comics films.
You might want to check out Larkspur & Tea Publishing’s Movie Easter Eggs Log journal on Amazon. That way you can keep a list of all the Easter Eggs you find.
Happy hunting!