By Hadicha Abduvalieva, ha154@uakron.edu
Ever since the Elemental movie came out, I refused to watch it. It looked like a generic Disney and Pixar movie and the whole “fire girl and water boy” trope did not interest me at all. When my little brother would come into my room asking to watch a movie, if he ever mentioned Elemental, the answer was always a hard no. But one day, he convinced me so I gave it a chance.
Elemental is set in a city of where people made of fire, earth, water, and air live together. The story starts when a fire couple immigrate to Element City looking for a new life and settle down in the poorer outskirts with their new born child, Ember. The father, Bernie, opens up a shop hoping one day his daughter will successfully take over. As Ember grows older, she aspires to continue running her father’s dream shop.
A good portion of the movie is focused on the romance between Ember, the fire girl, and Wade, a water boy; but I wasn’t that interested in that aspect of the movie. Instead, I want to put emphasis on to the immigrant experience. Throughout her life, Ember is dedicated to take over her father’s shop, but her temper gets in the way. She is unable to handle the pressure of running the shop on her own, but tries endlessly to control her emotions all for the sake of succeeding her father. She tries her hardest to not disappoint, going through much trouble to keep the shop from being shut down by city inspectors. Soon she realizes that the cause of her temper is because running the shop isn’t what she truly wants. All her life, she focused on her father’s goal without taking into consideration any of her own. Wade brings this up to her and tells her to follow her own passions, but she refuses. She says that “doing what you want” isn’t for people like her.
Because Element City was founded by water people, the place is built catered to them. Wade also comes from a rich and accepting background, so he is unable to understand why she doesn’t want to follow her own dreams. Ember knows her parents sacrificed everything for her. They left their home, went to a foreign place, and began a new life through hard work. She believes its her duty to continue her father’s dream because of all the sacrifices he made.
This movie is meant to be an allegory for the immigrant experience, particularly second-generation immigrants. Ember has immense gratitude to her parents and knows they have expectations for her. Just like Ember, my parents also left their home country and started a new life in America, sacrificing a lot on the road. Just like her, I want to follow in my mother’s footsteps and become a doctor. I want to live up to my parent’s dream and through my hard work, somehow repay them for what they have done for me. To me and many others, she is very relatable character. Immigrant or not, we all feel some pressure to fulfill our parent’s expectations whether it's to not disappoint them, because we understand the struggles they went through, or because of how much we love them. Yet, it is always important to address our own goals and pursue them as well. We are not our parents, but their children.
Overall, the movie wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I judged it too harshly before even watching it. The animation was very good and the storyline was interesting. There were some plots that weren’t well developed like the prejudice the elements had against each other or classist aspect between them. It wasn’t anywhere near top tier, but I did enjoy it. There were a lot of relatable themes and her relationship with her parents really hit home with me. Despite the premise, I think you all should give it a shot.
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