During the first month of my freshman year of college, the campus theater was showing the movie “Inside Out,” and because I was never one to turn down a free movie and popcorn, I went to see it. The climactic scene of the movie has the protagonist Riley crying in her parents’ arms after she attempted to run away from home. With one line Riley breaks the hearts of all moviegoers by saying, “ I... I know you don't want me to, but... I miss home. You need me to be happy, but I want my old friends. I wanna go home.” If the freshmen in the audience hadn't been crying then, they were now.
Pixar has always had the ability to be absolutely relevant in the lives of its audience members because Pixar has geared most of its films toward the generation that has grown up with them: Generation Y, my generation.
Pixar’s first full-length film was “Toy Story,” released in 1995, and although I wasn't born yet, my sister was the perfect age to identify as Andy. By the time Toy Story 2 came out in 1999, it was a common belief that our toys left on the floor or under the bed would jump to life once we left the room. I blame “Toy Story” for the obsessive nature in which I set my stuffed animals on my bed lest one of them feel left out at the end of the night.
As we grew up, the stories grew with us.
As we started elementary school, “Monsters Inc.” told us of the important friendships we were to make and solidified our fears of monsters in the closet as well as gave us the courage to beat those monsters with baseball bats.
When we wanted to cross the street by ourselves we remembered “Finding Nemo” and how we need to give our parents a break when they get too worried for us (although we didn't realize that til now). We also had our home address and P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney forever stuck in our memory.
There's never been a movie more quoted by a 10-year-old than the “The Incredibles.” In our minds, it was the epitome of humor and we treated it as such.
“Cars” came out in 2006 at the same time my sister was getting her driving permit and the road seemed like a place for freedom.
Once we got to “Ratatouille,” “WALL-E,” and “Up,” we were looking for adventure. A rat as a chef, a robot in love, and a house pulled by balloons all seemed like impossible ideas made possible when seen on the big screen. Our future as high schoolers and mature teenagers seemed more colorful and real.
Unsurprisingly, when we entered college so did our counterparts Sully, Mike, and Andy. Of course, “Monsters University” and “Toy Story 3” made our mothers cry more than us.
Now our fellow cartoon characters have caught up with us and as we stand boldly before our unknown future they do as well. Perhaps Dash and Violet will be in an internship or searching the job market in “The Incredibles 2,” set to come out in 2019, or Andy will be broke and eating Ramen in “Toy Story 4.”
We don’t know what the future of Pixar holds, just as we don’t know our own. They might meet a host of new characters with wacky names and have off-beat adventures, or they might end up bankrupted and living in their parent's house again. Our lives are as certain as the next blockbuster hit, but if we have to go through life filled with uncertainties, we might as well go through it with Pixar.
