Pixar’s Latest Short Has a Powerful Message & We Are Loving It

This Pixar film weaves a powerful message—and we’re hooked.

By Shahrzad Warkentin February 12, 2019

If you thought Pixar’s Bao was moving, wait until you see the how the newest Pixar short, Purl, “weaves” an empowering message on feminism and women at work.

Any woman that’s ever felt out of place in a male-dominated workplace can relate to what short film’s star is going through. Purl is a pink ball of yarn and struggles to fit in at her new job where she is the only female—and yarn ball. Though she changes herself to get along with the “bros” in her office, she eventually discovers that she doesn’t have to set aside her femininity to be accepted.

“My first job, I was like the only woman in the room, and so in order to do the thing that I loved, I sort of became one of the guys,”director Kristen Lester told Polygon. “And then I came to Pixar, and I started to work on teams with women for the first time, and that actually made me realize how much of the female aspect of myself I had sort of buried and left behind.”

Purl is the first release to come out of Pixar’s new SparkShorts Program, which was created to highlight new storytellers and explore new storytelling techniques. The program has also produced another short, Smash & Grab (a robot love story). Kitbull, a short about a pitbull and a kitten, is launching soon. More SparkShorts will be available to watch on Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, when it launches later this year.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: Disney Pixar via YouTube

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