*Note: I wrote this for my Pixar Blog back in 2019, which I have since taken down
The following section will examine Pixar Animation Studio’s body of work through the lens of Dr. William Moritz’s 5-step “explication of the text” framework for analyzing film: identification, situation, matter, style, and context of the text.
1. Identification of the Text
Pixar Animation Studios’s feature films are 21 movies created between 1995 and 2019. These films are Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monster’s Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3, Cars 2, Brave, Monster’s University, Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory, Cars 3, Coco, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4.
They were intended to be viewed in a theater. While I have not been able to see every single one in this original format, one can still appreciate the films a great deal by watching them at home on a television thanks to Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, which allows for high definition streaming of all 21 of Pixar’s feature films.
2. Situation of the Text
The production of Pixar’s films largely coincides with the advent of sufficiently powerful computers capable of rendering three dimensional high-definition images. As the possibility of advanced computer graphics emerged in the 1970’s and 80’s, filmmakers including Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas became interested in the idea of using computers to create movies. Pixar began when some employees of the New York Institute of Technology’s Computer Graphics Lab began working for George Lucas’ production company, Lucasfilm. They worked on visual effects with Industrial Light and Magic before becoming a hardware company; however, Pixar struggled in its early years. In 1991, Disney finally believed that the technology needed for a computer-generated movie was ready and made a $26 million deal with Pixar to create three feature length computer animated films. Those three films were Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, and Toy Story 2 and the rest is history…
In many ways, Pixar was a technological achievement that many people were responsible for ushering in, most notably Edwin Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith, as well as Steve Jobs who financed the company while it was struggling to stay afloat. However, Pixar’s incredible stories are largely products of the “Pixar Braintrust” which has consisted of John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, and Joe Panft among others.
3. Matter of the Text
Pixar’s films are animated and take place in fictional universes with personified animals and objects. A number of the Pixar’s films have primarily human characters including The Incredibles, Brave, and Coco; however, these films still do not attempt to depict reality and all contain surreal, absurd, or supernatural elements.
Although Pixar’s films vary a great deal narratively, many share similar themes. Such themes include the importance of friends and family, the power of teamwork, and the virtues of conquering one’s fears among others.
4. Style of the Text
Despite the immense differences in subject matter, most Pixar movies share a signature visual style marked by vivid, crisp imagery and cute, lovable characters. The shared imagery is likely due to the in-house software the studio uses to render its films.
Narratively, the films fall in various subcategories of the comedy genre. Stories are kid-friendly but geared towards audiences of all ages.
5. Context of the Text
One can make numerous arguments for the context that has inspired Pixar’s films. I’d personally argue that the technology is perhaps the most significant factor informing the films. It seems that each new story is attempting to push some new technological boundary. I also think much contemporary art embraces the surreal.
Pixar’s arguably unmatched harnessing of the desktop computer’s artistic capabilities makes its works some of the major artisitc achievments of the early 21st century. As emerging technology such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and interactive media offer new and exciting technology-enabled artistic content, it will be interesting to see if Pixar manages to stay at the forefront of technology and art’s intersection.
Sources
Catmull, Ed (March 12, 2014). “Inside The Pixar Braintrust”. Fast Company.
Sito, Tom (2013). Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation.
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