How Pixar Tells a StoryBy Rachel Slivnick 2018(1)Have you seen the movie Coco? Do you love music like Miguel? Did you watch The Incredibles, a movie about a family of superheroes, with your own family? Which of their superpowers would you want to have? (2)How can one studio make movies that everyone loves? The secret: Pixar tells stories that audiences of all ages and backgrounds can connect with. Pixar movies aren’t just about silly characters, like Crush the sea turtle. They’re more than just amazing action scenes, like in The Incredibles, and beautiful animation, like in Coco. The most important part of any Pixar movie is the story itself. Great Storytelling Is Hard Work(3)Storytelling is an art and a skill. Pixar creators know this. They have put a lot of time and thought into what makes a great story. One Pixar storyboard artist named Emma Coates created a list called “The 22 Rules of Storytelling According to Pixar.” These are the rules that all Pixar stories must follow in order to be called a good story. (4)One rule is that “You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.” In Finding Dory, Dory isn’t a perfect character. She finds it hard to remember things. She makes goofy mistakes, like waking up a giant squid! But Dory never stops trying to find her parents. This makes her the hero of her story. If you have ever tried hard for something, you can relate to Dory. Her feelings remind you of your own experiences, even though you aren’t a fish! (5)Here’s another rule that Pixar creators think about: “What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?” In the movie Toy Story, Woody is very good at being in charge of the other toys. But he isn’t good at sharing attention with Andy’s new toy, Buzz Lightyear. Woody feels like Buzz is the polar opposite of him. He feels jealous and lonely when Buzz begins to replace him as Andy’s favorite toy. This conflict is the heart of Toy Story. If you’ve ever felt jealous or left out, you can understand what Woody goes through! (6)Why are the stories that Pixar tells important? The director of Up and Monsters, Inc., Pete Docter, has this to say: “What you’re trying to do, when you tell a story, is to write about an event in your life that made you feel some particular way. And what you’re trying to do, when you tell a story, is to get the audience to have that same feeling.” (7)Feelings of anger, fear, sadness, joy, and love are universal. Everybody — no matter how old, how young, where they grew up, if they are a girl or a boy — feels emotion. Because we can connect with the characters’ emotions, we can connect with each other. (8)The stories that Pixar tells are very creative. They tell stories about friendly monsters, space‐traveling robots, talking cars, and balloon‐propelled houses. No two movies are the same! But the stories and, more importantly, the feelings in each are universal. Even though we’ve never traveled the ocean with Dory, fought evil villains with the Incredibles, or played guitar with Miguel, the power of these stories inspires us. They push us to better understand each other and to seekout our own adventures.

Prompt: In the text, the author discusses the “art and skill” of storytelling. Write an essay analyzing Pixar’s rules of storytelling and how they capture the attention of an audiences. Use evidence from the passage to support your response. 14