The real story behind ‘Elements’ that almost no one knew about

In “Elementos”, one of Pixar’s most recent releases, follows the story of the unlikely love of Spark and Gota, beings from the elements of fire and water, respectively, who end up getting closer after a series of events.

Unlike what many might imagine, the film’s plot didn’t just come from the director’s creative mind. Peter Sohn — she also had direct inspiration from her own life, especially her parents.

Real inspiration

The entire plot takes place in Cidade Elemento, which was inspired by New York City, the place where the filmmaker grew up after his parents emigrated from South Korea to the United States in the early 1960s.

In an article published by D23, Sohn explains that, like the main characters, he fell in love with someone who went against his parents’ expectations, and decided to adapt this part of his life to become the story of Gout and Spark.

“One part is that there have been fun times and difficult times in my family. The other part is that I fell in love with someone who isn’t Korean — and my parents really wanted me to marry someone who was Korean — so there was a bit of culture shock. These two pieces of my life formed what would later become Elementos”, describes the filmmaker.

Another point present in the animation that also came from the life of Peter is the plot of Brasa and Fagulha, Faísca’s parents, which was based on his parents. For The Official Disney Fan Club, the director says that “I tried to capture the idea of ​​people from other places coming together to create a life for themselves. That was the emotional hook for me, the fact that my parents came from somewhere else to create a better life for us.”

Furthermore, like the characters, their parents also opened a family business as soon as they arrived in the country. As reported by the ScreenRant portal, the father of Sohn, like Brasa, wanted his son to follow in his footsteps at the store, and was not very supportive of his artistic career. In the film, we see Faísca afraid of revealing to the patriarch her desire to work with the creation of glass.