Initially founded by George Lucas’s Lucasfilm, then bought out by Steve Jobs in 1986 and purchased by Walt Disney in 2006, Pixar is an ideal example of what is called “creative industries”. It has succeeded in establishing a global quality brand that displays a meticulous worldview, as well as a solid, well-built collective imagination for children and adults alike. Films like “Toy Story”, “In Search of Nemo”, “The Incredibles”, “Cars” and “Inside Out” are the end result of an industrial, narrative, aesthetic and ideological system that has been revitalizing animated movies for the last twenty years. The studio has combined technophilia and nostalgia and developed a sophisticated reflection on the way of life in contemporary America and, in particular, the challenges facing the United States’ national identity.

Christian Uva teaches History of Cinema and Cinema and Audio-Visual Technologies at the Third University of Rome.