The entertainment industry is going down a new path with upcoming releases that break the ice over, particularly sensitive subjects. More and more movies are and will be centered around main characters that were commonly overlooked before. It is an exciting time for everyone whose been fighting for equality!
Pixar is one of the big studios going full speed ahead down this road. Its new short film program called “Sparkshorts” was explicitly designed to introduce such topics, while at the same time, adding new creators and testing out experimental storytelling techniques. The program’s prized jewel is said to be a short film called “Loop” about an autistic girl of color who’s non-verbal featured as the main character.
“Loop” is one of 6 new short films that Pixar announced will be airing soon. It will be coming to Disney+ on January 10, 2020. Pixar is crossing a few boundaries for the first time with the release of Loop and its sweet, relatable, and highly diverse main character.
Jim Morris, the President of Pixar Animation Studios, said:
[Sparkshorts] films are unlike anything we’ve ever done at Pixar, providing an opportunity to unlock the potential of individual artists and their inventive filmmaking approaches on a smaller scale than our normal fare.
The plot is as follows: A non-verbal autistic girl of color is partnered up with a rather chatty boy for a canoeing trip. Both characters are compelled to learn about how the other experiences the world during the trip in order to complete the journey.
The breakthrough aspect of this is not so much the fact that she’s a girl and of color, but that she has autism. Loop gives all those people who have family members on the autism spectrum something they can relate to. It’s still quite rare to see a main character that has a learning disability, although awareness about this is beginning to spread.
Most people are pleased to see underrepresented groups beginning to get noticed positively. Kerry Magro, an Autism entertainment consultant, expressed on social media:
I’m very glad that this character will be a girl and also nonverbal, two groups who are underrepresented in our entertainment industry currently. I’m looking forward to checking this out and hope that the character is a realistic portrayal of someone on the autism spectrum.
Below is a heartwarming teaser of a trailer for the series. We’ll soon see if “Loop” is as beautiful as it looks like it will be!
