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Elemental
Movie

Elemental

2023 • Animation, Adventure, Comedy

Woke Score
7
out of 10

Plot

Follow Ember and Wade, in a city where fire, water, earth and air live together.

Overall Series Review

Elemental tells the story of Ember Lumen, a Fire elemental, and Wade Ripple, a Water elemental, whose unlikely romance plays out against a heavy-handed allegory for the modern immigrant experience and systemic prejudice. The movie establishes the Fire people as the latest and least-integrated immigrants in Element City, facing microaggressions, housing discrimination, and cultural isolation. The plot focuses on Ember's struggle to choose between the duty of taking over her family's traditional shop and pursuing her individual artistic passion. The story explicitly positions Wade and his Water family, who are wealthy and privileged within the established city structure, as the compassionate catalyst for Ember's self-actualization, which includes abandoning her path of filial duty. The film also features a deliberate inclusion of non-traditional identities through secondary characters, reinforcing its message of 'coexistence and tolerance' by centering the acceptance of intersectional identities.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics8/10

The film’s central conflict is a direct metaphor for systemic oppression and prejudice, where the Fire people represent a vilified or marginalized immigrant group experiencing institutional bias, such as their names being anglicized upon arrival. Wade's Water family is presented as the established, privileged class who are instantly nurturing and supportive of Ember, while she is the one who must overcome societal and cultural barriers. The narrative relies heavily on these immutable, elemental characteristics and intersectional hierarchy to drive the plot.

Oikophobia7/10

The narrative frames the home culture and ancestral duty of the Fire family as a barrier that Ember must overcome for personal fulfillment. Ember's path to happiness requires rejecting her father's sacrifice and the responsibility of maintaining the family business in favor of an individualistic career in the wider, progressive Element City. The established culture of the city and Wade's family is depicted as spiritually and emotionally superior, helping Ember 'unencumber herself' from her inherited filial guilt.

Feminism8/10

Ember is the lead protagonist who is hot-tempered, quick-witted, and a fearless adventurer pursuing an individual career in glassmaking. Wade is a hyper-emotional, 'go-with-the-flow' male character who cries frequently and is financially supported by his wealthy family. Wade's main role is to facilitate Ember's professional and personal growth, reinforcing the 'Girl Boss' trope where the female lead is the emotionally and professionally dominant figure while the male is portrayed as a sensitive, non-protective 'beta' type. The couple's future is framed around Ember's career, and they begin their life together unmarried.

LGBTQ+7/10

The film features Pixar's first non-binary character, Lake Ripple, Wade's younger sibling, who uses 'they/them' pronouns and has a girlfriend. This character and their identity, though secondary, is explicitly highlighted to promote 'coexistence and tolerance' and is a deliberate inclusion for representation. Other background elements suggest further same-sex pairings.

Anti-Theism5/10

The Fire people have a central cultural tradition around a 'blue flame' altar and Ember's mother performs 'love readings,' suggesting a non-Christian, cultural spirituality. There is no explicit anti-theism or villainization of Christianity. However, the film's core moral lesson is entirely subjective and secular, promoting the idea of 'following your heart' and individual desire as the ultimate good, which supersedes and invalidates traditional concepts of duty and ancestral sacrifice.