MISSING GEMINI by Christine Rosenblatt-Pointing Out Pixar’s Dark Side

By Gini Chang

Gini Chang

No matter what age you and I may be, no one can resist a Pixar animated film. They are made for families after all, not just children, and were always meant to appeal to audiences of every age. As an (sort of, kind of) adult, enjoying Pixar films means catching all of the subtle things that Pixar slips in for the audience members who can’t be satisfied by mere colorful images. Something that I’ve noticed is that Pixar movies often deal with some pretty serious situations. For example in one of Pixar’s most popular movies, Toy Story, Woody literally pushes Buzz out of a window in a fit of jealousy.

We’re talking about attempted toy murder here.  But the darkeraspects of the story are quickly masked by the fun, innocent premise that all of these characters are toys and therefore practically immortal.

In another more recent film, Inside Out, the main character Riley has extremely adverse negative emotional responses to the sudden move from her childhood home to a completely new and different environment. The beauty of that movie was that, somewhere in between the lines of laughter and excitement, the story was also teaching children how to cope with and understand huge changes that may happen in their lives.

Christine Rosenblatt’s musical, Missing Gemini, is the story of a family coping with loss, but each family member has conflicting methods of dealing with their emotions. Similar to how children’s movies are made so that broad concepts of emotion and communication can be discussed in an entertaining way, Missing Gemini uses music to tell the tale of 17-year-old
Erin O’Brien, who is still mourning the loss of her twin brother, and how her actions affect the rest of her family. 

Does your favorite Pixar movie come with a dark, unexpected aspect? What do you like best about animated films? Comment below or tweet us @RiantTheatre.  Interested in seeing more of the O’Brien family? Come see Christine Rosenblatt’s Missing Gemini at the Strawberry One Act Festival on Friday, July 22nd 8:30pm; Sunday, July 24th 2:00pm; and Tuesday, July 26th at 8:30pm in the Theatre at St. Clement’s, 423 West 46th St, NYC.