Now, I know that people aren't as excited about pixar as they used to be, but for myself, I genuinely enjoyed Elemental and am looking forward to Elio next year. And I think there's gonna be a fair amount of symbolism in the upcoming movie, and I am a major sucker for symbolism.
As the synopsis says, the titular character, Elio, is going to be a kid that has trouble fitting in. As shown in the teaser, Elio is a quiet, kind of nervous kid, polite to a fault when the worst thing he can say while being abducted is "no thank you."
Now, taking a look at the concept art:
We can see in the portal behind Elio are tents and a flagpole, and judging by his clothes (minus the cape), he was sent to a summer camp, possibly as a way to help him connect with other kids and form friendships. (Also, a few of these alien designs survived to the teaser lol)
But in the teaser trailer, we see that Elio is alone outside, next to some body of water, which could suggest that he ran out there to be alone or he was chased through the woods by bullies (which could come about as a combination of his quiet nature and his eyepatch. I assumed it was a bandage after he got bit by mosquitos and his eye swelled up, but people have speculated that it's a lazy eye correction. Either way, it furthers the illusion that he's a leader of a world, like he lost an eye in a battle or something). So he calls his mom to tell her the situation, but unfortunately, that was The Worst Possible Time, and is promptly abducted. And, as we all know, is mistaken for Earth's ambassador and has to keep up the facade to avoid brutal memory wipe and possible destruction of Earth.
This will force Elio to interact with not only other people, but people of a vast range of species, and cause him to develop the proper skills in communication and socialization. (There are better ways to develop those skills, but aliens work too). That doesn't even cover how the trial of Earth will appear-- could be a battle royale, could be Elio answering questions beauty pageant style.
Not only that, but I've seen talk of Elio being a metaphor for neurodivergent kids navigating social interaction and/or having to mask while in neurotypical areas. I find that to be a fantastic metaphor and hope that it's true, because it does feel like that. Elio could see himself as the only "normal" one and has to learn how to understand these people and how to talk to them. By the end of the teaser, you see an example of this when Ambassador Grigon tells Elio that he ate his mom at birth. Elio is understandably taken aback but further engages by asking if that's normal for Grigon's species. (It's not, Grigon just did that for some reason, but hey, knowing is half the battle).
(I hope that Grigon remains a friend. A scary friend, yes, but friend nonetheless.)
My major fear for this movie, however, is that the plot is in danger of becoming a "liar revealed" thing, which few people like. I'm hoping that Elio will continue the facade of him being Earth's leader throughout the entire movie and end with him returning to Earth, forever recognized as Earth's ambassador. Which is really funny to think about like if he's a teenager about to go to prom and is abducted again for some emergency counsel haha. But, who knows, maybe the movie will be able to pull off the liar revealed plot. We'll have to see.
However the wind blows, I'll be seeing this in theaters if Disney allows it and doesn't send it straight to streaming ugh.
