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For kids, it's cute and colourful. For adults, it is a lesson in parentification.
Disney Pixar's Elemental was announced last May, and it is the 27th feature film for the studio behind titles like Toy Story, Monsters Inc and Inside Out.
Because Elemental is set in a world inhabited by anthropomorphic elements of nature, the film immediately drew comparisons to Inside Out after its announcement.
Inside Out follows the inner workings inside the mind of a young girl named Riley, who adapts to her family's relocation as five personified emotions administer her thoughts and actions.
Inside Out debuted out of competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in 2015, and it received positive reviews for its craftsmanship, screenplay, subject matter, plot, and vocal performances, so expectations for Elemental were high. It also showed at last year's Cannes Film Festival, but critics were brutal.
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Many expected it would flop, while Deadline criticised the film for being "swamped in syrupy sentiment."
But I didn't hate it. I wouldn't say I absolutely loved the film either, but I would not mind watching it again.
I wondered whether younger audiences would enjoy or even understand the film.
What is Elemental about?
Elemental is a 2023 American computer-animated romantic comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
The film is set in a world inhabited by anthropomorphic elements of nature, and the story follows fire element Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis) and water element Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), who meet and fall in love after an accidental run-in.
The pair face many challenges set against the backdrop of themes like bigotry, bias, classism, immigration, and spatial planning, but where many saw a love story, I saw a lesson in parentification.
Parentification
Simply put, parentification refers to the phenomenon in which the roles of parent and child are reversed, and the child ends up parenting their parent.
In an interview with 702, clinical psychologist Nkateko Ndala-Magoro highlighted another form of parentification that sees older children parenting their younger siblings on behalf of their parents.
Ndala-Magoro said that this phenomenon occurs mainly when a parent suffers from mental health disorders or addiction, but she clarified that it is not exclusive to these scenarios.
Blurred boundaries are also a hallmark of parentification, and she said that this makes it harder for people who grew up in these kinds of circumstances to establish solid and healthy boundaries in adulthood.
"They feel like they've got to be permissive all the time, they feel like they’ve got to please others all the time because their 'no' was not regarded and also, the family dynamics in that relationship…."
And that is precisely what we see in Elemental when Ember takes on the hopes and dreams of a father who left his life and family behind to start anew in an environment that was not welcoming to people like him.
While it may seem innocuous that a father shares his hopes and dreams with his daughter, his emphasis on his sacrifice significantly burdens the film's lead character.
According to Ndala-Magoro, parentification can also occur when a parent or both parents have no age-appropriate friendship group or support structure, and they share their burdens with their children in a not age-appropriate way.
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You may see other themes in the film, and you may even think that the film's central conflict stems from other issues due to the multiple layers of the film's story, but parentification is the film's most significant source of conflict.
It is also great to see how that conflict is resolved without dragging the story on for too long and how its resolution clears a path for the film's characters to develop and move forward, free from that baggage.
Elemental opens in cinemas in South Africa on 16 June, just in time for the long weekend.
Source: 702
