Elemental: Extracted Elements

For about the past two weeks in my persuasion class we have been digging deeper into the various characteristics of persuasion and the wide influence it can have. We have been asked to select a film to analyze that includes elements of persuasion, and with no pun intended I am choosing Disney Pixar's Elemental. I chose this film for the project mostly because it is one that I have watched a few times and have really enjoyed. It is also very interesting to see the portions of persuasion and how it truly plays a big part in this film.  This animated film was inspired by the director, Peter Sohn’s, personal journey in life with his family and heritage. They use the four elements, fire, water, air, and earth to describe the issues that many immigrants and mixed-race couples have faced in a way that is easily understood by all. The persuasion taking place in this movie is through the relationship between the main characters Ember and Wade; their relationship is able to influence the parents and many others that fire and water are allowed to get along. 

In modules 4 and 5 of my persuasion class, we have been discussing different traits that may influence the decisions people make or how they are getting treated, such as age or gender. Throughout Elemental, it is very clear that the characters who are classified as the fire element have constantly been avoided based on the danger they can cause to the other elements. Eventually, they are even put in their own place away from the other elements due to the harm they are thought to cause. There is also a clear issue shown with the younger characters as being more reckless such as the young fire boys that show up to ruin the shop and cause Ember to lose her temper. This is an example that is able to separate the element from the behaviors as they are ruining the shop because they want to, not because they are fire. 

The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) is linking beliefs with the behavior that they may cause such as believing a person is bad and mistreating them because of that belief. It is interesting to apply TRA here because of the many beliefs and emotions that come from the variety of characters in this film. The obvious one that is shown here is the belief of the other elements that fire is bad and dangerous to them. It is clear that they had a slight reason to believe this to be true, as shown at the beginning of the movie when the fire element is trying to live with the other elements and it is not working. They end up turning their beliefs into a behavior of mistreating the fire element such as when they are unable to find housing in the main area of element city due to them being fire. This later is shown in the film with Ember's parents, the main character that is fire, falls in love with Wade, the main character that is water. They have an issue with this pairing due to their trained belief of being left out by the other elements and treated unfairly. This belief later turns to her parents not allowing the pair to be together with the risk of Wade beginning to treat Ember like they always have been by the other elements. 

This similarly dies into the Social Influence Model which is the theory that people will change their opinion on something just to fit in with the majority opinion. In the film, it is very clear that the other elements over time have just been taught to believe that the fire element is bad and cannot participate in the regular aspects of element city. This then causes the fire element to have issues with the other elements due to constantly being left out, but Ember does not hold the same issue with the elements which allows her connection with Wade. It becomes clear in the movie that the elements are better when they work together and there was no true reason for the elements not getting along, besides the long standing belief that they should not get along. 

Elemental is also interesting to look at through the lens of the Reinforcement Expectancy Theory which is the belief that behavior is based on gaining a positive reward. This is interesting for this film because the elements only chose to look past their issues when there was something to gain from it. Originally Ember did not want anything to do with Wade, as her parents had taught her that the other elements, especially water, were bad and would mistreat them. When they messed up the pipes and discovered the issue that could potentially hurt element city as they knew, they had no choice but to work together to stop the issue. Another instance where a behavior was done with hope for a positive reward, would be with Wade’s family when they first meet Ember. Overall this entire interaction is the family trying to accept her because their son has, but specifically the instance where Ember repairs a broken vase is interesting. They positively encourage Ember and Mrs. Ripple discusses her connections at the glass museum when she fixes the vase without them asking, to not only show more support of Ember in front of Wade, but also because it would potentially make her look good in front of those at the museum. 

I have found this assignment to be very interesting, not only because Elemental has been a very interesting film to me already with what it is supposed to represent, but also because it was able to give me an even better understanding of the different topics that are discussed. This assignment has allowed me to dive deeper into the theories and topics we have been learning about in class.