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Elemental director Peter Sohn explains how Element City differs from Zootopia. In Zootopia, the city is sectioned into different neighborhoods with vastly different biomes for each species. Elemental features Element City, which is inhabited by water, fire, earth, and air elementals. Ember, a fire elemental, and Wade, a water elemental, will soon learn they have much more in common than they expect.
Pixar Studios invited Screen Rant to attend an early press event to learn more about Elemental, their upcoming original film, which included a press conference with Sohn. During the press conference, Sohn explained how he built Element City based on hope for new immigrants. He also shared how it is different from Zootopia’s design.
Peter Sohn: It’s not like Zootopia in that world, where everything is disconnected from each other. I really wanted a hopeful city. When Bernie and Cinder come to the city for the first time, it’s meant to have this feeling of, “Oh, we can have a new life here; our dreams can come true here.” With a little bit of xenophobia. They walked through an air character that’s like, “Watch it!” But then I added, “Watch it, Sparky!” This little detail [is just to] talk about truths that I knew growing up, but understanding, what are the prejudices of this world?
I think everyone is trying to mix well in this Element City, but then this father, Bernie, having issues with the majority. That he would start to [develop] his own uncomfortable connection with water early on, and then that would become a force throughout the movie that obviously, when Ember connects more with water characters, would be an issue just like it was with my family. But that all supported what we needed the place to be for the story.
How Elemental Takes a Different Approach to World Building Than Zootopia
Zootopia was built to accommodate the different needs of various animals, with some living in cold climates while others need a desert or rainforest environment. Element City isn’t created with the same style; instead, the elements are meant to coexist in the city. Element City features water, fire, air, and earth elements, but not all the elements can mingle together. Water is dangerous to fire, while fire is often seen as a threat to the other elements and their homes. In Elemental, the elements are expected to stick with their own, especially when it comes to relationships.
Sohn was inspired by his own life when creating Elemental; from his parents immigrating to America from Korea, to growing up in his father’s grocery store in New York, to marrying a woman who isn’t Korean. Element City is very similar to New York in design, with the American Dream ideal baked into its conception. Sohn’s creation of a city meant to be hopeful and his introduction of xenophobia in a way that mirrors his own experience bring authenticity to what could be a very alien city.
Zootopia was built to separate the different animals, which culminates in a split between predators, the minority who are seen as dangerous, and prey, the majority. While Elemental will examine ideas of xenophobia, this isn’t an examination of prejudices through politics and crime, but instead of love in a city that is built on the idea of hope. This will likely be part of what spurs Wade and Ember’s romance in Elemental as they learn more about each other. While fire and water are opposites, they will discover they aren’t as different as they thought as they grow closer.
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