Much like the actual elements, relationships - whether they be platonic,
romantic or familial - can certainly be tricky at times. But in many cases,
they can be incredibly sweet and wholesome. With this in mind,
let’s see where exactly the relationships in Pixar’s latest film land on that spectrum.
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge, and this is Pixar’s Elemental Relationships: Healthy to Healthiest.
Naturally, MAJOR spoilers ahead for all of Elemental. As we said in a prior video,
there aren’t really any villains or even antagonists in the film,
and as such most of the relationships in the film are pretty solid ones. So, we’re going
to be starting with the weaker relationships before working our way up to the healthiest.
Starting things off is easily the weakest relationship in the film - Clod and Ember.
To sum it up, this so-called ‘relationship’ is more done for comedy than anything else,
taking on the typical trope of a kid having a crush on an older woman. As such, this
relationship is a bit annoying to sit through, given that Clod doesn’t have
any other purpose in the movie. Clod is also somewhat pushy with his crush,
leading to Ember needing to be firm and just a bit harsh in her rejections,
as we see her burn the flowers he tries to give her. A bit mean, maybe, but definitely necessary.
What keeps this relationship from being truly toxic is just the fact that Clod is able to
move on from his crush in the end, falling for another fire girl who is the same age as him.
For a relationship that is a bit healthier but still fairly shallow,
next is Fern and Gale. Despite both of them working for the city, the two don’t really
interact with each other until the very end of the movie, where we see them both hanging out
in the newly restored Fireplace. While there, Gale not only gets to see Fern’s new style,
but she also learns that he’s also a fan of the Windbreakers, which just so happens to
be her favorite team. In the film’s credits, we see the two of them get a positive love
reading from Cinder and go to an air ball game together, where they end up on the Kiss Cam.
But Fern isn’t the only one that Gale showed her softer side to,
as we saw with the relationship between her, Wade and Ember. During the big air ball game between
the Windbreakers and the Cropdusters, Wade and Ember have to convince Gale to tear up all the
Fireplace’s citations. Because she’s already frustrated by how the game is turning out,
Gale ends up being pretty rude towards Ember, leading to the two briefly fighting. Thankfully,
Wade is able to help turn the game around with his cheering, and after she’s cooled down some
Gale is able to bond with Ember over their relationships with their dads. While she may
not be super close with Wade or Ember, Gale still likes them both enough that she wants
to support their efforts to save the Fireplace. Not only does she give the couple time to find
the leak that’s causing all the trouble, but Gale also helps Wade out with his big romantic
gesture. Using her air powers, she creates an air bubble that allows Ember to go down into
the flooded museum to see the flowers. Clearly, Gale is a big supporter of their relationship,
making it all the nicer when she pops up again at the end of the film.
Another relationship we saw go from tension-filled to a bit more positive
was with Wade and Bernie. Given his history with water folks looking down on him and his family,
you can’t necessarily blame Bernie for being a bit hostile with Wade - especially after Ember
lies and claims that it was Wade who caused the shop’s pipes to start leaking. Wade,
however, seems to understand why Bernie wouldn’t really care for him and takes it all in stride.
Even when he accidentally offends Bernie by watering down the food he gives him,
resulting in Bernie banning Wade from the shop, Wade is never angry with Bernie. This may be more
out of his love for Ember than anything else, but it still shows that any sort of resentment
between them is one-sided. Later, when Bernie learns that Wade saved both his daughter and
their family’s blue flame, he un-bans Wade from the shop and shows his support for his
and Ember’s relationship, only ever feeling a bit awkward about it at worst afterwards.
Sticking to the familial side of things, Wade and his family seemed to be a pretty positive
example. In the scenes we see with them, Wade’s family is nothing but welcoming and supportive.
Wade’s mother especially comes off as this, given that she bought him his apartment. The
entire Ripple family also just seems incredibly close with each other, even if they may sometimes
tease each other - as we saw Wade’s brother do when he brought up Wade’s history with sponges.
The family also enjoy playing games with each other, such as the Crying Game, able to keep the
competition between each other friendly instead of intense - which is actually similar to what
we see with Ember and Bernie when Ember tries to beat his delivery record. All of this just
gives us a great impression of this close-knit and perhaps just a tad overly-emotional family.
While she was shown being supportive of her son, Wade’s mother was also almost immediately
supportive of Ember as well, starting their relationship off well. Their first meeting was a
bit awkward, with Wade’s mother not quite knowing how to properly greet a fire person, but even with
that the two were able to get along extremely well. This only compounded after Ember was
able to fix the family’s water pitcher after it shattered. Wade’s mother was so impressed with her
glassmaking talents that she not only encouraged Ember, reminding her how important glass was in
Element City, but also called up a friend of hers to try and get Ember an internship. Now to be
fair, this was perhaps a bit presumptuous of her, but it was still a kind gesture. Additionally,
she only presented the option to Ember and wasn’t all that forceful about it. Overall,
while Ember was perhaps a bit caught off guard by just how supportive Wade’s mother was,
we could see them still getting along very well as future mother and daughter-in-law.
As for the film’s actual mother-daughter relationship, we’d say that Ember and her mother
manage to land near the top of our list. With how stern she seemed in the trailer, some fans
might have been expecting another relationship similar to Mei and Ming Lee or Merida and Queen
Eleanor. Thankfully, this film took a different approach, although things perhaps started off a
bit cliche at first. For Cinder, her talents as a matchmaker just made her all the more interested
in her daughter’s love life, not wanting her to be ‘sad and alone’. Naturally, she’s thrilled when
she eventually starts to sense that Ember is in love, and even if the reveal of Wade being Ember’s
date is one that makes Cinder upset at first, it doesn’t take too long for her to support them once
it becomes evident to her that it’s true love. Although Ember may not be as close to her mother
as she is with her father, Ember still seems to appreciate her mother’s support - as well as her
willingness to hide Wade from Bernie. Though Ember may roll her eyes at all her mother’s love talk,
there’s never a moment where it seems like the two have a ton of tension between each other
or struggle to understand each other, which earns them a spot near the top of our list.
Thankfully Ember and Bernie are shown to have an incredibly positive relationship as well - so much
so that they earn the Bronze Medal of Healthiness. From the very beginning, Ember and Bernie had a
close bond. They’d run the shop together, have fun with each other and look after one another
whenever there was cause for concern - like Ember with her temper or Bernie with his bad cough. When
it came to being a father, Bernie was incredibly patient with his daughter’s struggles, and it
could be argued that he only pushed running the store onto her because Ember never made it seem
like she wanted to do anything else. As for Ember, for as much as things may change for her over the
course of the film, her love for and loyalty to her father never falters, and she’s willing
to sacrifice her own passions for his sake, not wanting to see him work himself to death.
While this does lead to Ember telling quite a few lies and Bernie, naturally, being upset when he
finds out she lied, there’s never that big blow-up moment between them. Bernie remains understanding
even through his own prejudices, not hesitating to give Ember his blessing once he truly sees
how happy her own path - one that includes glassmaking as well as Wade - will make her.
For our Silver Medal of Healthiness, we’ve finally arrived at the film’s main couple - Wade and
Ember. In terms of rom-coms, they admittedly lean on the typical side of things. You could
compare them to something like Jack and Rose from ‘Titanic’, where the female character is the one
with all the struggles and her own arc while the male just exists to be supportive, endearing, and
a bit quirky, all while doing his best to push the female lead not just out of her norm but perhaps
into a relationship as well. Yeahhh, Wade seems to fall for Ember HARD only a day or so after
meeting her, admiring both her beauty as well as her talents and passions. He’ll do whatever
it takes to help her, and his empathy towards her struggles allows Ember to open up to him.
She feels safe around him and even finds her own things to admire about him. One thing that keeps
this couple from the very top however is that while Wade cares deeply about Ember’s happiness,
he can sometimes be very pushy when it comes to encouraging her to find that happiness and to an
extent let herself be with him. There’s even a point where he all but calls Ember a coward
when she refuses to tell her dad the truth, not fully understanding her loyalty to her family.
This could be seen as crossing a line, even if Wade was only trying to help. Ultimately though,
the two not only declare their love for each other but are even willing to
sacrifice themselves for each other’s safety. Even if it’s a bit cliche, their love still feels
genuine enough to feel like a mostly positive aspect of the film rather than a negative one.
Finally, our Gold Medal of Healthiness is going to Bernie and Cinder. They may not be the main
focus of the film, but that doesn’t stop them from being an incredibly healthy and loving couple. At
the beginning of the movie, we see that they only really have each other in Element City,
leaning on each other for support as they try to find their footing in a place not made for fire
people. They’re protective of each other as they travel along, and their love remains incredibly
strong as they grow their new home and community. Outside of briefly lying to Bernie about Ember’s
relationship with Wade, Cinder is nothing but a supportive and honest wife. Bernie, meanwhile,
is a husband who only wants to support his family, putting his wife and daughter above all else. The
two are also shown working together well as they tackle the flooding issues that end up plaguing
the store. Bernie is shown still protective of his wife whenever water is near while Cinder is
shown sympathizing with Bernie and with how much he misses his family back in Fire Land,
understanding and appreciating all the sacrifices that he has made for
their family. The care they have for each other is just incredibly sweet,
and once Bernie is finally able to retire, the two of them are more than eager to spend
more time with each other and add in a few extra sparks to their already strong romance.