Remember Elemental? This 2023 Pixar animated movie tells a story of forbidden romance between a fire woman and a water man. In this video essay, I use the theory of Frantz Fanon to analyze the events of Elemental through a postcolonial lens, in the tradition of videos like “A Marxist Analysis of Shrek.” Let’s explore what Elemental gets right and wrong about racism.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
01:44 Bernie’s Manichean Worldview
05:03 Challenges of Inter-Elemental Love
11:17 The Fetishization of Fire
14:51 Making Elemental Erudite
22:56 End Credits
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Sources:
Frantz Fanon, “Black Skin, White Masks”
Frantz Fanon, “Wretched of the Earth”
Frantz Fanon, “Racism and Culture”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, “The Phenomenology of Spirit”
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Variety, “Peter Sohn Talks Culture Clash, Diversity in Disney Pixar Film ‘Elemental’”
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Some Featured Media:
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Network (1976)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Shining (1980)
Chocolat (1988)
Toy Story (1995)
Ants (1998)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
The New World (2005)
Ratatouille (2007)
Gran Torino (2008)
Django Unchained (2012)
Monsters University (2013)
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Get Out (2017)
Green Book (2018)
Elemental (2023)
Didi (2024)
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Featured Music:
All tracks licensed through Envato Elements
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Credits:
Written, Edited, and Narrated by Martin Tran
Assistant Edited and Thumbnail Design by Ryan Yau
Special thanks to Fanonian scholar Nigel Gibson for guiding my research.
An additional thanks to Mel Jones and Owen Keeley for their help with the video.
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Fair Use Clause: This video features materials protected by the Fair Use guidelines of Section 107 of the Copyright Act. All rights reserved to the copyright owners.
Edited on Davinci Resolve.
Thanks for watching! :-D
#Elemental#Pixar#VideoEssay#FilmAnalysis#Theory#Postcolonialism#FrantzFanon#Academic