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How Do the Pixar Shorts Fit into the Pixar Theory?

Did you ever wonder?

By Jonathan SimPublished 6 years ago 5 min read
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As some of you may know, the first article that I ever put out on Vocal was "The Pixar Theory by Jon Negroni".

In case you don't already know, the Pixar Theory is a theory that explains how every Pixar feature-length film takes place in the same universe, and it's just a long story arc told out of chronological order. Recently, YouTuber Seamus Gorman put out an interesting video:

He talked about how if the Pixar short films took place in the same universe as the feature-length films, it would just create a lot of problems that we don't want to have to deal with.

But I'm gonna break this down piece-by-piece. I'm gonna go through every single Pixar short film since 1986, and I'm gonna talk about how they do or don't fit into the Pixar Theory.

Now, this was made way back in 1984, before Pixar was even named Pixar. So, that's why the animation isn't as good as it is now. But in this film, Wally B. is a bee, and André is, according to the Pixar Wiki, a "boy-like character". This was back when they couldn't really animate humans that well, so I'll assume that André is a human.

If I had to guess, the bumblebee is interested in André the human, the way Remy was interested in human culture. Wally is interested in the human and he follows him, trying to learn about humans, which was a big part of the Pixar Theory.

In the Pixar Theory, BnL gives life to toys, and they come to life. Well, in this short film, we have two alive lamps, and a ball. BnL gives life to these lamps the way toys are given life. I mean, come on; if an Etch-A-Sketch can be alive in Toy Story, why can't a desk lamp?

We also know that these things exist in the Pixar universe. The ball in the short film has been in a lot of the Pixar films.

And a red version of the exact same lamp appears in Andy's bedroom.

Like with Luxo, Jr., BnL has given enough energy to inanimate objects for them to essentially come to life and have their own human-like emotions. Red also has the ability to have dreams, the way Woody had a nightmare in Toy Story 2.

Again, BnL has given toys energy to come to life, the exact same principle from Toy Story. And some of the toys in Billy's room appear again in Toy Story 3, once again hiding from destructive children.

Once again, it's living toys brought to life by energy from BnL.

And I just want to share this hilarious fun fact with you: in the original release, the Sunny Miami's breasts were GIGANTIC. She had a pair of mondo gazungas. But when the film was rereleased years later, they shrunk her breasts.

This is a nice little link to the Pixar films. The old man, Geri, in this short film is the same man who cleans Woody in Toy Story 2.

The birds you see in this short film later appear in the same formation in Inside Out.

You remember how in the Pixar Theory, there were years when animals were being mistreated by humans? With all the fishing in Finding Nemo, and we saw how desperate Hank was to get away from humans in Finding Dory.

In this short film, we have a small lamb who gets sheared. Although it is for his own good, the lamb feels a lot of resentment toward humans the same way Hank does and all the animals who don't like human culture, including Remy's dad in Ratatouille.

Well, I thought I was doing pretty good with myself up till this one. Since it's just three humans, there's no evidence of any link to the Pixar Theory involving humans, animals, or artificial intelligence. But there's no evidence that goes AGAINST this short film fitting into the Pixar Theory.

We know that it exists in the same universe as Tin Toy, because Tin Toy exists, since we see the toy beneath Ernie's bed.

There is a lot of animal-human interaction in this short film, but I don't see how it would tie into the Pixar Theory. However, according to the Pixar Wiki, the theater where this short takes place is the same theater where Charles Muntz introduces the skeleton in Up, and a waiter from Ratatouille is one of the performing musicians.

On a side note, this is the corniest freaking magician I have ever seen in my life. No modern magician looks or acts like this and no magician in their right mind would pull a rabbit out of a hat without the specific intent of showing the stereotype.

Okay, this is the only short film so far to go AGAINST the Pixar Theory. In Pixar movies like Up and Inside Out, they made it at least subtly clear that you came out of your mom's vagina, and not from a cloud creating babies and giving them to storks.

So, I hate to say it, but Partly Cloudy doesn't fit in with the Pixar movies.

Well, I don't really know about this one... it's not really something that can be dissected. Does it fit into the Pixar Theory? I don't know. The point is, what the hell are those things anyway?

The lumberjack that's chopping down a tree is Tom from Up, but is he real or is he just a visual in whatever the hell these things are. What the hell is this supposed to BE?

Aw, no. I don't know about this one. I don't know how it possibly ties into the theory, and I don't really know what it is. Dammit.

How the hell do volcanoes come to life? I mean, come on. It's a nice story, it's a nice song, but I can't solve this.

DAMN IT, PIXAR. THIS WAS SO EASY IN THE BEGINNING. THERE AREN'T EVEN ANY EASTER EGGS OR ANYTHING IN THIS.

Well, the birds and crabs in this short have human-like qualities, as seen in Ratatouille, but I don't know if this is how they act in real life.

To my knowledge, the bully in this short film grows up to be in Riley's class in Inside Out.

And that's it!

So, it seems like some of the short films do fit into the theory, some don't and some just don't have any evidence to support it.

fact or fiction
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About the Creator

Jonathan Sim

Film critic. Lover of Pixar, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Back to the Future, and Lord of the Rings.

For business inquiries: [email protected]

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