Disenchantment and Father Figures in Pixar's Onward (2020)
By Mitch Wiley
When one goes to see a Pixar movie, there are three things you can expect—to laugh, to cry, and to experience a fun adventure or chase. All three are present in Pixar’s latest from Monsters University director Dan Scanlon. Many of Pixar’s greatest achievements come from oddball stories with lots of creative flair. Onward is no different.
The film follows two elf brothers, the younger shy Ian (voiced by Spider-Man’s Tom Holland) and the older loud Barley (voiced by Guardians of the Galaxy’s Chris Pratt). Barley’s greatest interests and hobbies come from fantasy boardgames about mythical creatures, while Ian shows no such interest in the fantastical stories of the past. The rumors are that the world on Onward formally was filled with magic and enchanted creatures. The world now is predicated upon technology, comfort, and ease. There are clear parallels to our own world. With modernity, screens, and technology, our current age is one of secularism rather than supernaturalism. Many have described our world as “disenchanted.” Charles Taylor’s influence book A Secular Age (2007) is one of the leading works of philosophy tackling this topic. In it, he writes, “Modern ‘secularization’ can be seen from one angle as the rejection of higher times, and the positing of time as purely profane. Events now exist only in this one dimension, in which they stand at greater and lesser temporal distance, and in relations of causality with other events of the same kind.” In other words, what matters now is only the material and the observable. With this comes the death of imagination and something greater than, other, or transcendent. Implicit in Onward’s desires is a desire for what Christianity promises and offers through the transcendent and immanent God of the Bible. There is magic left in this world in the sense of the spiritual movement of God among his people. This is a loss the film grapples with, but it is not the only loss.
In typical Disney fashion, the two boys lost their father. They are raised by a single mother, who is welcomely depicted as a strong and loving household leader. Ian is fixated on the void left by his father, fantasizing about conversations never had. The movie kicks off when Ian is given magical instructions and an enchanted staff from his father to be given on his 16th birthday. Their father can be with them for 24 hours if they get the spell correct. When they only get it half-right, they embark onward with their headless father on a quest to bring back the rest of him.
*Spoilers Ahead*
Part of the effectiveness of Onward is the execution of the final act. The film teases an emotional meeting between Ian and his father from the beginning of the film. In the end, he doesn’t get it because he doesn’t need it. Barley (who seemingly is not as fixated on the loss of his father) is the brother who needs closure and a reunion the most. Barley gets this reunion at the last second and relays an emotional message from his father to Ian. What Ian learns along the way is the presence of a father figure already in his life—Barley. Ian’s checklist of everything he wants to do with his dad is fulfilled in the person of Barley. A sad and common reality for many is the absence of a biological father. This, however, does not mean there cannot be father figures. In the end, Onward’s message is an encouragement to both embody and look for positive fatherly influences in one’s life. This certainly is a Biblical desire.
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. Psalm 68:5-6
He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. Deuteronomy 10:18
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27
Bonus: see if you can count all the Indiana Jones references in the film!