Sunday, July 31, 2011

What Is Pixar Fandom?


Millions of people watch Pixar's films, know and love their characters, and adore the stories they bring to the world. Some have developed true interest in the animation giant, and follow the company's every move on the Internet, books, and just about anywhere else possible. In the present day, Pixar now has an ever-growing fanbase filled with people young and old who love Pixar and the movies they make. A couple of these superfans have even started blogs about Pixar and begun writing all about the studio, its films, and its people on the Internet. And a lucky few have unlocked the key to enter the animation studio itself.

"Welcome to the world of Pixar superfans." says The Bay Citizen.

An article all about Pixar's massive fanbase was recently published on TBC. It talks all about Pixar's many passionate fans, and many comments expressing the love for the story-telling studio have been rounded up from the Internet and put into this article. I can assure that if you are a passionate Pixar "superfan", you'll be able to relate to this article immensely, like I did. Believe me, I related to this article more than ever.

As I carried on reading, there came a part with some words from Pixar publicist Chris Wiggum regarding Pixar's fans. When I read Chris' name, I thought, "Hey! He gave me a tour of the studio back in May!"

Chris says, “It’s not just the films people are into, they treat our filmmakers and artists like total rockstars. I’m always amazed by the level of celebrity they have among fans,”

And that right there that he said, is SO true. I remember when visiting Pixar in May, I saw Bobby Podesta, supervising animator of Toy Story 3, walk right past me. I wanted to say hi, but I got a little starstruck and I didn't have the guts to walk up to him and introduce myself, so I ended up staying right where I was standing, speechless.

As I continued reading Chris Wiggum's comments, I couldn't believe my eyes. Why? Read the quote below:

One 11-year old blogger stuck out in Wiggum’s memory.

“He knew the names of people and would name them as they walked past him in the hallways. Not just animators, but lighters,” Wiggum said, “He had learned their names from watching the DVD extras for the films.”



"Gee, well that sounds familiar" I thought to myself. I couldn't believe that Chris had mentioned me in the interview. I'll have to thank him later on for the honor in being mentioned in The Bay Citizen.

Read the full article here, and see how you connect to other Pixar fans around the globe!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

HEY AL!
No way you got into that newspaper article. Congratulations.