Elio and The State of Disney and Pixar

Elio and The State of Disney and Pixar

I remember seeing Elio in theaters. I’ve always been a fan of animated media of all sorts, since I was a kid and well into my adulthood, and I still am today. I remember my mom approaching me about it. I’d never heard of the film in my life, and neither had she, but she was checking our local theater’s website for anything that looked interesting playing soon because we hadn’t been in a while. Lo and behold, there was Elio, and she sent me the trailer. I was immediately intrigued, and we’d decided after some deliberation that we wanted to see it.

At the time, I had no idea about the turbulent nature of the film’s development nor the controversy surrounding its queer erasure. If I had, I wouldn’t have been nearly so enthusiastic about it, especially with how personal those particular issues are to me. However, because of my unawareness of the context surrounding the film, I went into the theater with fresh eyes, having heard quite literally nothing about it. 

Call me easily impressed, but at the time, I was dazzled by what it accomplished. The story was nothing groundbreaking, but it seemed well-executed, colorful, and fun. I made particular note of the body language throughout the film, of the alien and human characters alike. Elio spinning his arms like pinwheels as he tried to fight off his bullies felt incredibly realistic in its kiddishness, and I thought that the way so much was able to be communicated in Glordon’s body language and how effectively the filmmakers were able to portray him even in moments where his alien translator was broken very compelling. I thought that it was a film that clearly had a lot of love put into it, and spent the afternoon going over what I liked and disliked about it with my mother as we walked around town afterwards.

And yet, despite having spent such a long time talking about it then, I could hardly remember it when sitting down to write this post. I needed to look over its Wikipedia page to refresh my memory on the plot to think of what I wanted to say exactly. I didn’t recall the name of a single character except the titular Elio. Even though I’d enjoyed the film, it’s faded near completely from memory since I first viewed it. And although my memory can admittedly be bad at times, I don’t think this is entirely a me problem. No, it seems that the comments of some of the movie’s critics may be true; it’s a movie that’s been watered down and stripped of originality to the point of being entirely forgettable. 

It begs the question– what does the future hold for Pixar, especially if these trends of stifling minority voices and erasing diverse themes continues? 

It’s no secret that Disney hasn’t had the best reputation with the LGBTQ+ community. Between the controversy regarding Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the numerous times they’ve tried to draw in queer audiences by lauding the importance of queer relationships in their films when said relationships were only actually shown on screen for seconds at best, its neutering of LGBTQ+ storylines such as Win or Loses’ trans character, and its premature cancellation of shows with queer themes like The Owl House, there are a lot of reasons for queer folks to dislike the company. 

That’s not even taking into account the horrendous reception of some of its recent films, such as Wish, a movie meant to be a celebration of the company that was instead regarded as nothing but a cheap cash grab potentially slapped together with an AI-slop script, and the 2025 remake of beloved classic Lilo and Stitch, which mangles the original film’s message so much that it’s not only unrecognizable, but considered downright offensive and colonialistic. There are also issues regarding the treatment of the company’s staff within both the studios and the theme parks. Needless to say, there are a lot of entirely justifiable reasons to resent Disney.

But despite this, people still love animated films, and want to see the success of the creatives behind them. Unfortunate though it may be that such a shady corporation has monopolized much of the animation industry, there are a lot of genuinely passionate artists working under them. Fans of animation everywhere want to see these creatives succeed in their fields, especially with rising concerns about AI turning these creative fields into soulless husks.

This is why stories like Elio’s are so disheartening. This is a movie which had the potential to be an all-time classic. It’s impossible to say what could have happened if the creative direction hadn’t been changed in the way it had, but at the very least, it would have certainly had a strong identity of its own. Instead, Adrian Molina left the project, and the queer themes in Elio’s story were erased, never to meet the screen. Minority voices were stripped of their power as the film’s development continued, as a former Pixar artist noted, “there was no longer Latinx representation in the leadership” of the movie (The Hollywood Reporter). It ended up being a box-office failure, and I only ended up seeing it in the first place by happenstance. In a world where artists are being continually mistreated and pushed to the wayside, and people of color and the LGBTQ+ community have to struggle continually to make their voices heard, it’s depressing to see a story of corporate erasure and the murder of a strong concept like this one.

I still think that a lot of love must have gone into this film. Despite its turbulent development, this much shined through in the movie itself. At least, I believe as much. Even if I didn’t end up remembering it as well as I certainly would have if its queer themes had ended up making the final cut, I still remembered feeling it as I watched. That only makes it all the more tragic and deplorable to see it butchered in the way that it was. 

It’s clear to see that letting a diversity of experiences shine through the filmmaking process is not a “market risk” or whatever else corporations may think. It’s a boon, and it’s of vital importance even and especially aside from finances. Letting minority voices shine through and giving creatives the freedom to tell the stories that they want to tell is essential to the success of creative works, especially in a world of growing disingenuousness. If changes aren’t made in the structure of Pixar and Disney to allow for these voices to be heard, something great will be lost. I fear they’ll never reach the quality their classic films had again. Though, certainly, a loss for a huge corporation like Disney doesn’t mean much. 

If you want to learn more about this topic, I’d highly recommend LavenderTowne’s Youtube video on the subject.

With all of that being said, it’s vital to do all we can to support creatives, and especially art made by and about people from minority communities. If you’ve seen something made with passion, something that uplifts underrepresented voices and is made with care and love, share it. Tell your friends about it. Send a kind word to the artists behind it. It can be a cruel world out there. As such, it’s imperative to do what we can to spread a little warmth and kindness.