Blog Prompt #3 - Steven Scherer

2009 Award-Winning Disney/Pixar Production: Up

It’s interesting to consider Disney/Pixar’s Up through the lens of gender and sexuality because of the broad range of related matters it encompasses: father/son relationships, being an old man, a love story, and many others. I find most interesting to consider how the film portrays masculinity (and even femininity) because the story is so centered on the grandfather/grandson relationship as well as adventure.

Right at the beginning of the film, the love story between aspiring adventurers Ellie and Carl both contrasts femininity and masculinity and sets the background for the rest of the movie. Carl’s commitment to Ellie is the driving force behind his every action in the film. It is interesting how the young Carl has feminine characteristics such as excessive shyness and young Ellie is an eccentric, agressive tomboy.

When Carl is much older, he has masculine “grumpy old man” traits. He is quite stubborn, critical of new development, and not very friendly to those who are not in line with his interests, much like a stereotypical elderly male.

Carl meets Russell while Russell is trying to earn his final merit badge (assisting the elderly) for Wilderness Explorers, an organization that appears to be analogous to the Boy Scouts of America. The situation is quite ironic because Russell is not depicted as a very masculine boy; he is quite heavy with no defined muscles. Russell unintentionally becomes part of Carl’s adventure when he is on the porch as Carl lifts off. Carl and Russell spend the rest of the show bonding and exploring the outdoor world together, a trait often associated with masculine relationships.

Dug, a dog that discovers Carl and Russell in the story, also adds to the masculine element. The common cliché “dog is a man’s best friend” is reinforced in Up; Russell quickly attaches to Dug and Dug quickly becomes obedient to Russell and Carl, despite his pack leader’s wishes.

At the end of the story, Russell tells Carl that his father will not be at the ceremony to watch Russell receive his final merit badge and become a Senior Explorer. Carl, continuing and fulfilling the grandfather/grandson relationship, attends the ceremony to present Russell his final merit badge as well as the “Ellie Badge.”

In my opinion, the story frames adventure as a trait of masculinity, even though Ellie was quite an adventurer herself. Carl and Russell build an instant grandfather/grandson type relationship over the common interest of adventure (although Carl was quite stubborn at first). Perhaps Carl sees someone like the younger version of himself in Russell and feels obliged to appeal to Russell’s sense of adventure.