Admittedly it’s a shame that this itself is an achievement but women’s rights and their depiction within film still has a long way to go (even in the western world). It’s to Pixar’s credit therefore that they are again at the forefront of those attempting to change attitudes and ideas through film, particularly given the genre. Though if you need any indication of how strongly Pixar value equality and individuality in the workplace then the It Gets Better video should be all the proof you need.
Nolan, to me, also has this extra depth – this additional dimension – that renders any others’ attempts as merely a hollow imitation of his work. Very few superhero films, for instance, evoke the darkness and philosophical nature that Nolan’s do, just as very few animations affect individuals so profoundly as Pixar are able. Their equals in comedy to use just one example might be In Bruges, which embeds pathos within its humour to give it that something extra which most comedies – even the very funny ones – don’t have, and thus In Bruges and others are able to add something extra to the longevity and lasting impression of the experience.
Inception and the recent Batman trilogy have in fact been described as ‘arthouse blockbusters’ on several occasions by leading film critic Mark Kermode, as he alludes to themes from Nolan’s earlier work appearing in his audience pleasers that have come later in his career. Philosophical questions about time, memory and identity are evoked in his first few films (particularly Following and, of course, Memento) and such concepts are included in his superhero epics too, thus negating the idea that a blockbuster should simply be all-action and no intellect. Kermode’s other assertion on Nolan is that he assumes thatthe audience are as smart as he is, which appears to be a very clever, idealistic and admirable way of making films.
Pixar do something comparable by treating children as adults and adults as intelligent participants; WALL-E was a precursor to The Artist which prepared the world to revel in atmosphere with the near-silent section that opens the first thirty minutes, Up had a pensioner protagonist and opened with a deeply upsetting montage, and most recently Brave was a feminist film dressed up as a fairytale. Perhaps it’s no coincidence then that Pixar and Nolan have made arguably the two greatest trilogies of all time in the form of three Dark Knights and three Toy Story films, and that’s without Finding Nemo, Up, WALL-E, Inception, The Prestige or Memento. Maybe an extra dimension isn’t so bad after all…