Jack Halberstam's Article 'Queer Art Failure'

Jack Halberstam's article “The Queer art Failure” asserts that childhood is fundamentally a queer experience. Animated films intended for children seem to express this assertion as reflected through the common recurring depictions of childhoods defined by restriction, humility and awkwardness. Halberstam refers to successful contemporary animated films as embodying the defiant child, who sees their parents and community as obstacles to the more fantastic worlds they wish to reach. Historically, children's literature often involved new worlds that would closely parallel the world left behind by its main character. More recent animated films evolve from this common trope by situating their plot and characters in a childish setting of insurrection.

These films usually involve the individualist struggle of a character, which is then used as a doorway in telling more complex narratives of community dynamics and anti-capitalist criticism. Additionally, Halberstam states that Pixarvolt films provide a space for imagining alternate realities or identities from heteronormative capitalist society. However, despite Marxist allegories in PixarVolt films, it can be argued that Halberstam's analysis omits the discussion of the political economics that drives the creation and distribution of Pixarvolt movies. The Pixar film Wall-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008) best exemplifies the ways that “revolutionary” films are often caught within a mode of production that prioritizes capital interest. While the medium of CGI may encourage themes of transformation on screen, the industrialized process caters to capitalistic ideals. Furthermore, their portrayal of alternates seems to often contradict their ethics as a

He cites CGI as being central to the success and emotional impact of the narrative. Halberstam states that most “CGI films that followed Toy Story map their dramatic territory in remarkably similar ways, and most retain certain key features…while changing the mise- en-scène—from bedroom to seabed or barnyard, from toys to chickens or rats or fish or penguins, from the cycle of toy production to another industrial setting. Most remain entranced by the plot of captivity followed by dramatic escape and culminating in a utopian dream of freedom ” (Halberstam 30). Wall-E aims to transform the viewer's understanding of societal change, morality, and relationships. The robot Wall-E is part of a social order which forces him to complete incredibly mundane, repetitive and gruelling labour. Though he and others like him contribute the most to providing an integral service, the rewards are largely reaped and monopolized by the “Buy and Large corporation”. The dynamic between Wall-E and the corporation mimics the relationship between a parent and child. Amidst the individual struggles faced by Wall-E, is the collaborative rebellion against this big brother entity. Though the medium of CGI visually complements this concept of metamorphosis, the highly industrial mode of CGI is pitted against the film's socialist