Pixar Studios is firmly known for its gift for intensely emotional storytelling, but we've only seen that in the movies thus far. Now, Disney+ subscribers get to experience that in episodic form as Win or Lose hits the streaming service today.
There's been a fair dose of controversy surrounding the show due to a certain cancelled storyline. However, Disney and Pixar just scored a major win with what many would consider a tremendously underrepresented audience.
Meet Laurie
Pixar's anthology series concerns the Pickles, a co-ed softball team made up of several colorful characters, the upcoming championship game, and the internal struggles represented by zany cartoon creatures. Everyone fights their own internal battles, but the first episode shows us something rarely seen in a Disney property: a crisis of faith.
The show's debut episode introduces Laurie, an ambitious young softball player who desperately wants to get a hit to impress her teammates and her coach/father. That's kid's sports movie 101, but the way the show introduces her internal struggle by incorporating her faith is a surprisingly mature move.
Laurie hits the scene in a time of prayer right before she steps up to the plate, and Pixar is not shy about the Christian imagery that surrounds her. She encounters heavenly light, there's an angel cut out in her bedroom, and she even begins her scene with the words "Heavenly Father." That's pretty direct.
Disney has incorporated elements and imagery from the Christian faith before, but we haven't seen something like this in the forefront since The Hunchback of Notre Dame. That means it's a big move for both Disney and Pixar.
Granted, this might also be a way to sway a more conservative audience due to recent social events, but this writer firmly believes it's a new representation effort. Not because we have an openly Christian character, but we have a Christian character struggling with her faith.
Laurie's obstacle in her episode is her own crippling self-doubt, represented by an anthropomorphic blob of sweat that ultimately consumes her. It's only when she learns to believe in herself and "drive the dark of doubt away," that she's able to get a hit (but not in the most conventional sense).
Pixar has given us a Christian character without relying on the holier-than-thou stereotype perpetuated by Hollywood. By having her struggle with her beliefs that she still ultimately clings to, we are given a much more respectable and intensely realistic representation.
Win or Lose is available now on Disney+