Watch Pixar’s New Short Starring A Talking Ball Of Yarn Tackling Gender Discrimination
Yeah, it'll probably make you cry.
Disney Pixar has made its millions crafting meaningful, heartfelt stories out of the most unlikely ingredients. A movie about a rat chef delivered an earnest message about following your dreams. A trilogy about anthropomorphic toys doubled as a powerful exploration of mortality. And now their latest release, a short film titled Purl, explores gender discrimination in the workplace via a protagonist who is made entirely of yarn.
The eight-minute short, which was just released online, follows Purl, a cheery pink ball of thread who feels isolated in her new job at the male-dominated B.R.O Capital. Is it a bit weird? Yes. Will it also have you on the verge of tears by the end. Of course.
The short is actually the first in Pixar’s new SparkShorts initiative, in which Pixar employees create (relatively) low budget films in order to tell personal stories. Purl was written and directed by Kristen Lester, and was inspired by her work in the male-dominated field of animation.
“My first job I was like the only woman in the room,” she explains in a behind-the-scenes video. “And so in order to do the thing I loved, I sort of became one of the guys. Then I came to Pixar and started to work on teams with women for the first time, and that made me realise how much of the female aspect of myself I had buried and left behind.”
Check out Purl below.
More SparksShorts are expected to drop in 2019.