Pixars short story

Pixars Short Story

It’s the time of the year as film studios release their major films for the Christmas festivities. The big prospect is Pixars ‘The Good Dinosaur’, an animated adventure about a dinosaur who finds himself lost in the wilderness, and must face his fears in order to find his way back home.

Accompanying the film is a short Pixar animation called Sanjay’s Super Team directed by Sanjay Patel. The animation is inspired by Patel’s own childhood when he felt conflicted by the modern world and Hindu traditions of his family. Sanjay's Super Team follows the daydream of a young Indian boy, bored with his father's religious meditation, who imagines Hindu gods as superheroes.

Patel grew up in San Bernardino, USA in the 1980s in a family of Indian immigrants. Like many American children of the era, he played with Transformers and read Supermen comics. On the other hand, he followed his own Hindu traditions with his father. He felt conflicted with the two lifestyles and found it challenging to openly embrace his Indian background at work.

The inspiration for the short film came from the Patel's own childhood, growing up in San Bernardino in the 1980s, in a family of Indian immigrants.[1] Like many American children of the era, he played with Transformers, watched Looney Tunes cartoons and read Superman comics.[1] On the other hand, he performed daily Hindu ritual of meditation and prayer with his father.[1] He felt conflicted by his parents' traditions, saying "Our worlds were diametrically apart. I just wanted my name to be Travis, not Sanjay."

Growing up, he became more confident with his identity, although he still found it challenging to openly embrace his Indian background at work.[1] As a child, he "felt deeply the absence of anyone who looked like him in films and television." To "bring a young brown boy's story to the pop culture zeitgeist," Patel first pitched the short to the Pixar executives in the summer of 2012.[1] Pixar's chief creative officer, John Lasseter, was very welcoming to the idea "about celebrating the personal side of the story."[1]

The film's setting was inspired by the Lido Motel, an old Route 66 motel which his parents bought and worked at when he was a child.[1]

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