The Case for Elio
As a child, I grew up watching The Sandlot, High School Musical, and The Incredibles (to name a few favorites). I loved those movies. Each of those films, though different in plot, reinforced the same idea: the power of friendship, teamwork, and belonging (cue: We’re All In This Together).
This consistency is no surprise. For decades, children's movies have promoted messages of identity and belonging. That’s good. Kids are actively constructing their view of the world while navigating an innate desire for connection. Doing this well helps them form secure attachments– building blocks for long-term social and emotional health.
Pixar’s newest animated film, Elio, steps into that familiar territory. It follows a grief-stricken boy who struggles to find his place on Earth– and ends up finding it among aliens in outer space. Despite largely positive audience reviews, the film marked Pixar’s worst premiere in history.
So what went wrong?
It seems that ideology may have played a role. Elio was originally directed by Adrian Molina, who drew from his own experience to portray the titular character as “queer-coded.” After producer feedback, those elements were dialed back in favor of a more “masculine” character. Molina soon parted ways with the project, with two new directors taking his place. Its release was delayed. And the final project– after lengthy attempt to create a uniting film with a shared narrative– angered both sides of the ideological spectrum.
Some critics called Elio too “woke.” Others said it didn’t go far enough. And what could’ve been a tender film about grief, identity, and belonging, became a lightning rod in the culture war.
Sadly, Elio is not alone in this. As director James Gunn noted of his new Superman film: “I’ve heard people say it was woke, and then I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s not. It’s a story to me about kindness.” Not many of us would argue against kindness as a value we’d like to promote, and yet, this overall message was lost amidst criticism grounded in ideologically coded offenses.
As Clapham Principal Mark Rodgers wrote in his review of Superman, sadly our primary lens has become political. I’ve noticed this in myself, often wary of what message may be hiding behind a new song, movie, or book release.
At Clapham, often working in the culture and media spaces, we’ve seen this trend growing. So we’ve launched a new service: polarization reviews. It’s a tool for creators and organizations to better understand how their stories might land across divides. Our team includes trained reviewers across the ideological spectrum who screen content for that could be unintentionally polarizing while also affirming where the content encourages common ground.
Although we have clients who currently use our review process, we decided to test it on our first film for this review, and here’s what some of our reviewers noticed:
“Characters from the "Communiverse" champion values like “tolerance and open-mindedness,” contrasting starkly with the rigid, warlike alien antagonists. Some viewers may interpret this as a critique of any exclusive or traditional belief system, suggesting an ideological tilt that could alienate viewers with more conservative worldviews.”
“A key element of the story is Glordon’s desire not to be a warrior like his dad. The conversation when this is revealed feels remarkably like a coming out story, with Grigon even saying, “I may not always understand you, son, but I will always love you.” This comes after Glordon said he thought his father would hate him if he wasn’t a warrior and that he feels like he’s living a lie by pretending to want to be a warrior.”
“Elio also has different characters who could represent different groups of people at different points in the movie. Elio could represent a citizen of Earth while Elio’s clone could represent an immigrant who travels to earth to perform a duty. It felt intentional that Pixar had Elio saying “Thank you for your service” to the clone and saluting him at the same time. In American culture, this is a common saying that is used to show appreciation to those who have served in the military, especially, but also expands to those in the service industry which many native Spanish speakers are. This expression could have been directed at both the soldiers and the clone.”
Depending on your lens, these moments might seem neutral, or like subtle signaling. And that’s exactly the point. Our goal is not to sanitize storytelling. It’s to recognize how different audiences may read the same scene in vastly different ways, helping make sure the stories and powerful messages of these films maintain their universal appeal and are not victims of the culture war.
The power– and risk– of a story, is that you can find a political agenda in any of them, if you’re looking for it. Stories have always been tools to share what we believe is worth fighting for.
So what does Elio fight for?
In my view, it answers the universal human question, both children and adults are asking: “Am I alone?”
In Elio, the answer comes after a moment of long silence as he sits, helpless, in the middle of the universe– then a chorus of voices radio in from across earth, introducing themselves and offering help. It’s cheesy, but it’s moving.
As a member of Gen Z, often called one of the loneliest generations in history, I found that message timely and meaningful for the upcoming generations. Though our world may grow more fragmented, we may need more stories that gently say: I may not understand you, but I still love you.
Despite its box office challenges, I believe Elio offers a story worth telling– one that points to our shared humanity, our desire for belonging, and the hope that we are not, in fact, alone.
