Abstract: The
popularity and ubiquity of digital animation has radically altered contemporary animated filmmaking/viewing practices. Pixar is a crucial nodal point in this reimaging of the animated film. Yet inasmuch as it represents a technological optimization of digital animation, Pixar simultaneously inscribes within its narratives a critique of the technological retooling of labour and production. This paper will discuss how Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995) and Monsters Inc. (Pete Docter, 2001) illustrate this duality, articulating both a fear of the technological assimilation of individual labour and a nostalgia for archaic/obsolete technologies. Biographical statement: Colleen Montgomery is an MA candidate at the University of British Columbia currently completing her thesis on Pixar, vocal performance and intertextuality: “Pixarticulation: The Voice in Contemporary Animation.” Her primary research interests lie in Disney, Pixar and animation studies, as well as in translation studies. Recent publications include “Post Soviet Freakonomics: Balabanov’s Dead Men and Heritage Porn” in Cinephile 5.1, with forthcoming work to appear in Paradoxa 22.