Houston Howard, Transmedia Author/Speaker: And that's fun right but that's not the big takeaway.
The big takeaway is what are they doing like think of that, think about what they're doing.
Film Courage: What can filmmakers learn from the Pixar theory?
Houston: I think what filmmakers can learn from the Pixar theory is just how fans think
and for people that don't know the Pixar theory it is the unofficial fan theory that all the
Pixar movies exist in one narrative universe and they're all connected in crazy ways. Where Pixar
the official line from Pixar is that all these things are disconnected right and they don't
have anything to do with each other but fans they've constructed their own crazy interconnected
universe and so what filmmakers can learn from that is that innately fans love connection,
they love things to cross over, they love the one story that they love to connect with the other
story that they love. They desire this and if they don't see a connection they will figure out
how there is a connection and if you look at fan theaters not just the Pixar theory but just like
any fan theories there are fun and interesting but it shows that the psychology and the mentality of
the modern fandom that they crave connection. You look at something like the fact that if you watch
episode one of Star Wars in the galactic senate scene there's a pod of aliens that are all ETs
which means wait a minute that's ET is in the Star Wars universe which and so now these things
are connected in a really interesting way which then if you then go watch ET that explains why ET
reacts to the kid in the Yoda mask not because he's an alien but the reason he reacts to the
Yoda mask is because he knows Yoda because he's from the Star Wars universe which means if when ET
makes the bicycle fly at the end of the movie he's not using weird alien magic, he's using the force
which means ET is a Jedi which is awesome and fans will work all that stuff out and and which
is ridiculous but it's fun but it's ridiculous but what it shows so we shouldn't discard that
as filmmakers say Oh that's just a crazy fan theory. No, look at why the fan is doing that
and figure out what's the mentality and what's the psychology behind that. They crave connection. You
think about this think about M. Night Shyamalan what you know people haven't been excited about
M. Night Shyamalan in 15 years right? But then when he made Split right which was a solid movie
and it was good but the best part of Split was at the end when they were revealed the connection to
Unbreakable and that's when people said Oh my goodness M. Night Shyamalan, he's back!
He imagined was great his filmmaking didn't necessarily improve he started connecting
his stories and the fans got excited about it so then you had Unbreakable then he connected it with
Split and then they converged those things into Glass and and he created his own little connected
universe out of those three films which fans loved and it really revived his career that one decision
to connect those films revived his whole career in a great way right? Kevin Smith you look back
Kevin Smith who broke in with with the glut of independent filmmakers that broke into the 90’s
the thing that separated him from all those other filmmakers is the fact that he started connecting
interconnecting all his movies. His Clerks connected the Mall Rats was connected
Chasing Amy which connected to Jay and Silent Bob and they all existed in this little town in Jersey
and referred to the plot points of the different movies in a really interesting way but still in
the way that they could still stand alone but there was obvious there was a connection that
separated him from all those other filmmakers and he created a community around his
IP [intellectual property] that other filmmakers weren't able to do because they didn't connect not
and listen. I think Kevin Smith would agree that he's not necessarily the best filmmaker of all
those filmmakers that broke in the 90’s right? But he was able to build just such a rabidly
devout community because the fans were excited about the connections between the stories and so
for me the Pixar theory is all about the fans and the way they think. It's not about I mean
it's interesting to think about of like well the witch you know the witch in Brave is actually the
little girl in Monsters Inc and because when you see the witch's cabin, tthere's an etching of Mike
Wazowski and Sully in the wood carving of the of the wall which then I think the theory says after
Sully leaves Boo at the end of Monsters Inc she spends the rest of her life searching for him
and uses the magic of the doors to ultimately like get trapped in ancient Scotland and but
she understands how to use the magic of the doors to then turn people into bears and the
reason she turns them into bears is she's trying to recreate Sully in her own life will always
without with tragic results and it's like however the story goes right or the fact that I think that
the Pixar series theory says that if you watch the end of Frozen Rapunzel and the dude that Rapunzel
Flynn that dude that Rapunzel marries they're at Elsa's coronation which means they're connected
which then the theory said that Elsa's parents died in a ship sinking accident
but they actually didn't die, the ship sank. They actually made it to a deserted island,
restarted their lives had a son on the island who was Tarzan and then the ship that sank was
the ship that the Little Mermaid explores at the beginning of the Little Mermaid when she finds
the fork and all that stuff and they create all this connection and that's fun right but that's
not the big takeaway. The big takeaway is what are they doing. Think about what they're doing,
they're working hard to create connection. That's what they want. They love it,
that excites them right? Connection excites, it's why people…this is the brilliance of the MCU,
this is the burnings of what's going on with the Mandalorian. This is even in video games
with things like Kingdom Hearts and when you know a crossover character into a Mortal Kombat game,
we love crossover and connection. Look at Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago PD,
all the biggest ratings events in TV are those crossover events right? As a kid I loved it when
Scooby-Doo crossed over with Batman and Robin and the The Globetrotters and there was the connection
like we the fans always loved that stuff and it's always played out which makes me wonder why would
a filmmaker ever make things without connections to other things. If you do, you're going against
the psychology of the audience because the Pixar theory first and foremost shows the mindset of the
modern fan which means when you create something and you're not connecting anything you're going
against the expectation the audience and you know ultimately that's I think if you if you create
things understanding your audience and understand how they think and what motivates them and what
they like if you read up on this philosophy called phenomenology. Phenomenology the philosophy of the
highest, the greatest artistic achievement of the artist is not the art itself, it's the experience
that you create between the audience and the art. The experience is the achievement,
not the art. But the only way to get the experience is to understand what the audience
wants and how to create that experience with the art and it's the combination that creates the
experience. You have to understand the psychology of the audience if you want to create that magical
experience and the Pixar theory gives us a very clear window into how the audience thinks.
Film Courage: So is that why people love crime podcasts or puzzles
because we're connecting, we're trying to connect?
Houston: Of course I think it's just how we…that's how we operate. That's how we work,
how our brains work and so we're always trying to connect pieces and
our brain does it for us sometimes subconsciously. Just how we like these interesting connections
and it plays out in entertainment whether it's superhero stuff, whether it's what The Walking
Dead has been doing with crossing over all their shows whether what Hanna-Barbera did
way back in the day, whatever NBC does crossover events has been a staple of modern entertainment
for decades so this isn't a new thing, it's always worked right? It's working even more now in
a sort of a modern multi-platform transmedia market but this isn't sort of a new development.
It's always worked right so I think understanding as a filmmaker understanding the psychology of the
audience and creating content that connects with other content it's gonna going to
just increase your chances for your entertainment to really succeed in today's market.
Question For The Viewers: Do
you believe in The Pixar Theory? Any other fan theories you believe?