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Monday, January 13, 2020
Why Pixar’s First Non-Verbal Character In The Short ‘Loop’ Was a Game-Changer
www.forbes.com: Two teenagers floating together in a canoe doesn’t possess the makings of a compelling feature film if you ask director Erica Milsom. But the director of the Disney/Pixar Spark Short “Loop” took the premise and gave audiences the company’s first non-verbal autistic leading lady.
4 comments:
Alexa Janoschka
said...
I had never heard of this short film until this article. I think that Pixar does a wonderful job with the release of their short film series. They typically have to move and memorable stories that somehow leave people feeling a little better than before. They bring interesting stories to their audiences and make viewers think about the world in different ways. I haven’t watched this particular short, but from what I read the story brings new light to disabilities and human connection. I love how the director has used past jib experience to connect with her current work. My parents made the decision when I was younger to enroll me in a class with students with disabilities. It was a partnership that put kids without disabilities and kids with disabilities in the same learning environment and it was a very beneficial experience during my childhood. I can’t remember being in that classroom but later teachers wrote that the learning environment that they were studying created a better understanding between the two groups of kids and almost all students were more effective learners. I am very interested to watch this short (hopefully it is on Disney+) and am expecting to be very impressed by the end. I am excited to see how they use color to capture point of view (as mentioned in the article)
I’ve actually only ever seen a couple of Pixar shorts, but I’ve never heard any review short of stellar regarding any of them. I definitely need to make the time to watch some because I think that the creativity and skill filmmakers need to make you feel emotions so intensely in such a short span of time is incredible. I think this short, and any piece of art that promotes inclusivity and educates the public about a disability, is really remarkable and important and should be watched. I will definitely make an effort to try and watch this one! It’s so crucial for our society to be able to connect and empathize with people facing different challenges than we. I think that’s a challenge we face, and I’m not innocent of it either! I really admire this team for creating a story that doesn’t include only able-bodied characters (which is so common and I’m sure contributes to society’s inability to understand people’s disabilities). I hope to see more art in the future that has a diverse cast of characters.
Pixar shorts are so wonderful. This is just another testament to that. Disability diversity is very often looked over when discussing diversity, and Pixar is hopefully helping to open up the window to more normalized representation of disabled characters within film. Some of Pixar’s other short films include I Lava You, which is the cutest, sweetest film about two volcanos falling in love, and they sing to each other. A lot of people online said it made them cry, when the short was first released online and in theatres, before the movie Inside Out. Another one of the famous Pixar shorts, and my personal favorite, is Bao. Bao highlights East Asian culture, and gives a sweet twist to the classic filled dumplings, or a baozi. It follows a wife, whose husband is off to work all day. One day, as she made bao for dinner, one of the dumplings becomes a baby boy. As bao grows up, the mother is very protective of him, making sure he doesn’t get hurt or get into trouble. When bao grows up, he tries to move out with his human girlfriend and the mother, in a panic to keep him at home- ends up eating him.
I had never heard about this short film before reading this article, and I had to watch it immediately after reading about it. Watching the short film, I couldn't help but get a warm feeling in my heart knowing that Pixar went through the hard efforts in order to be able to properly portray autism in a short film. I actually have a cousin who has lived with my family for about two and a half years now is autistic. He is high-functioning and is verbal, but he does see the world much differently than a "neurotypical" person does. I've only seen about three shows/films that feature a character with autism, "Loop" being one of them. It's always interesting to compare the show/film to my life as someone who lives with a boy with autism and how he affects my life and the way my own personal way of communication has had to change in order to communicate with him. Justin, my cousin, has had many "sensory overloads" where something he hears or sees becomes too much for him, and it has been quite the long journey to try and figure out what the best way is to help him when he needs it.
4 comments:
I had never heard of this short film until this article. I think that Pixar does a wonderful job with the release of their short film series. They typically have to move and memorable stories that somehow leave people feeling a little better than before. They bring interesting stories to their audiences and make viewers think about the world in different ways. I haven’t watched this particular short, but from what I read the story brings new light to disabilities and human connection. I love how the director has used past jib experience to connect with her current work. My parents made the decision when I was younger to enroll me in a class with students with disabilities. It was a partnership that put kids without disabilities and kids with disabilities in the same learning environment and it was a very beneficial experience during my childhood. I can’t remember being in that classroom but later teachers wrote that the learning environment that they were studying created a better understanding between the two groups of kids and almost all students were more effective learners. I am very interested to watch this short (hopefully it is on Disney+) and am expecting to be very impressed by the end. I am excited to see how they use color to capture point of view (as mentioned in the article)
I’ve actually only ever seen a couple of Pixar shorts, but I’ve never heard any review short of stellar regarding any of them. I definitely need to make the time to watch some because I think that the creativity and skill filmmakers need to make you feel emotions so intensely in such a short span of time is incredible. I think this short, and any piece of art that promotes inclusivity and educates the public about a disability, is really remarkable and important and should be watched. I will definitely make an effort to try and watch this one! It’s so crucial for our society to be able to connect and empathize with people facing different challenges than we. I think that’s a challenge we face, and I’m not innocent of it either! I really admire this team for creating a story that doesn’t include only able-bodied characters (which is so common and I’m sure contributes to society’s inability to understand people’s disabilities). I hope to see more art in the future that has a diverse cast of characters.
Pixar shorts are so wonderful. This is just another testament to that. Disability diversity is very often looked over when discussing diversity, and Pixar is hopefully helping to open up the window to more normalized representation of disabled characters within film. Some of Pixar’s other short films include I Lava You, which is the cutest, sweetest film about two volcanos falling in love, and they sing to each other. A lot of people online said it made them cry, when the short was first released online and in theatres, before the movie Inside Out. Another one of the famous Pixar shorts, and my personal favorite, is Bao. Bao highlights East Asian culture, and gives a sweet twist to the classic filled dumplings, or a baozi. It follows a wife, whose husband is off to work all day. One day, as she made bao for dinner, one of the dumplings becomes a baby boy. As bao grows up, the mother is very protective of him, making sure he doesn’t get hurt or get into trouble. When bao grows up, he tries to move out with his human girlfriend and the mother, in a panic to keep him at home- ends up eating him.
I had never heard about this short film before reading this article, and I had to watch it immediately after reading about it. Watching the short film, I couldn't help but get a warm feeling in my heart knowing that Pixar went through the hard efforts in order to be able to properly portray autism in a short film. I actually have a cousin who has lived with my family for about two and a half years now is autistic. He is high-functioning and is verbal, but he does see the world much differently than a "neurotypical" person does. I've only seen about three shows/films that feature a character with autism, "Loop" being one of them. It's always interesting to compare the show/film to my life as someone who lives with a boy with autism and how he affects my life and the way my own personal way of communication has had to change in order to communicate with him. Justin, my cousin, has had many "sensory overloads" where something he hears or sees becomes too much for him, and it has been quite the long journey to try and figure out what the best way is to help him when he needs it.
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