3

I've been looking for a corollary tag and I can't find one (i.e. we don't have a [miramax] or [paramount] tag), meaning it's probably a meta tag. Pixar is an animation(production) studio. That's it. Their movies each have their own tags/universes and usage of the tag is inconsistent (22 questions using it but there's far more Pixar related on SFF than that).

So should we keep it?

  • 4
    There is a fandom surrounding Pixar, much like there is a fandom surrounding Disney. It may not be a particular franchise or universe, but it's still a unit of organization. I even organized my movies with one list for Pixar, another for Laika, another for Ghibli... I would say keep. – Radhil Jun 20 '18 at 20:41
  • It's my opinion (given that they're all in the "same universe") it should be used as a universe tag. Disney on the other hand, is a different question. – Edlothiad Jun 20 '18 at 20:45
  • For what it's worth SFF appears to really love meta tags, I personally don't, but until that changes saying it is a meta tag is unlikely to help your case. – TheLethalCarrot Jun 21 '18 at 7:57
  • 2
    @Edlothiad: What makes you think Pixar movies are all in the same universe? In quite a few of them there are humans, while there's also one where the dinosaurs failed to die, and another with anthropomorphic cars and no humans in sight. Those seem pretty mutually exclusive to me. AFAIK Pixar never actually told anyone that their movies are all in the same continuity. – Kevin Jun 21 '18 at 17:01
  • 1
    Well the fact that the same shops, pizza vans and such keeping popping up in their films, it seemed to me that they may be in the same universe, @Kevin. But you're dead right, I was forgetting about certain films and leaving others out, hence the quotation marks. I'd never intended to suggest it was a strict universe, however that there are certainly features that suggest similarity. (Outside of being produced by the same animation studio) – Edlothiad Jun 21 '18 at 17:44
  • @Edlothiad Pixar does easter eggs between series but I don't think we've ever seen (in-movie) any indication they're in the same universe. Closest thing I can remember was in-credit cameos by the A Bug's Life characters at the end of Toy Story 2. Considering they broke the fourth wall, I don't think it counts. – Machavity Jun 21 '18 at 17:53
  • 1
    Of course there is the Pixar theory but I'd hardly call that canon. – Kevin Jun 21 '18 at 18:04
  • 1
    One man’s theory is another man’s truth. I like to believe it’s interconnected, although that’s why I didn’t make it an answer because I doubt many share it. Although back to being on-topic, I have thought about this a lot, and I feel it’s only use is a universe tag, as one person my have an interest in all things Pixar. However one may have an interest in all things Disney or just the princess films, or all things dreamworks and catering for everyone’s individual taste is difficult, so no, I would say we don’t need Pixar and like other tags it’s a remnant from a darker time. – Edlothiad Jun 21 '18 at 18:15
5

Yes.

Other tags that are just "production studios" are:

Obviously some of those tags have exponentially more questions than the others, but the theme with the tags seems to be when there are a lot of works being produced that share some sort of continuity, shared universe, or general themes that a tag is warranted.

Pixar falls nicely into this category. They only release computer animated films which some suggest are actually all set in the same universe. More than that, there are also many short films released by Pixar which while they have titles, many not warrant a tag of their own.

Overall, the tag fits within our tagging structure.

  • 1
    We still need to figure out how to use it, because if you're going to claim it's place in our tagging structure is equal in the hierarchy to disney, then we shouldn't be adding them both to questions – Edlothiad Jun 25 '18 at 17:05
  • 2
    I'd argue that it can replace Disney on all relevant questions. The reason being that you'd call it Pixar's Toy Story, not Disney's Toy Story. Same reason we don't prepend Disney to Marvel or Star Wars questions. It is distinctive enough to work on its own. – amflare Jun 27 '18 at 3:00
  • 1
    The only one of those that is a production studio is studio-ghibli the rest are publishers and/or media houses who have works that are part of a distinct canon or sets of canon. – user31178 Jun 29 '18 at 2:43
0

We don't do production studio tags ordinarily, because they don't serve a strong purpose.

Tags pointed out in @Skooba's answer are not tags because they're "production studios".

The 4 that belong are (and also and some others), because they're specifying a distinct set or sets of canon and/or shared universes. They're franchise tags.

As you can see, this means that the tags aren't being used just because of who created the content. Similarly to how we don't use author tags unless the question is about the author.

So, should only be used on questions about Pixar, not Pixar films. On the same note, needs to be heavily cleaned up (it's not used very well or consistently at all right now), and only really belongs on one question.

To make it clearer, here's a list of major production and publishing houses that make plenty of SFF works but we don't have tags for:

  • 20th Century Fox
  • Buena Vista
  • Warner Bros.
  • Sony / Columbia
  • Paramount
  • New Line Cinema
  • Tor
  • Random House

There may be arguments that Disney and Pixar movies have enough hidden references to other films they make, that they're in the same universe, as many fan theories speculate, but there's not really any shared story in those examples, while the franchise tags above have great number of works that often interact with one another.

  • I disagree, while they may not have interlinking canon or stories, I don't see why pixar and disney can't be used as franchise tags. It would 1. Benefit those who want to see all of disney's classical content (I'm speaking of the princess films etc.), 2. Provide a clean way of sorting all that content and 3. Group what is already commonly grouped under one franchise tag. I think these work perfectly fine as franchise tags and see no reason that they shouldn't. As for the other prod/pub houses, one never seems to see their films commonly grouped together. – Edlothiad Jun 29 '18 at 5:31
  • @Edlothiad Because they're not shared-universe franchises, and to use them as such is basically getting back to arguing for author tags. I'd sure love to just find all questions about Brandon Sanderson or Arthur C. Clarke, instead of of trying to watch a million different tags, but we don't do it that way. We shouldn't be finding ways to circumvent that decision just because it's nice here, especially since it's (arguably) nicer in some of the other circumstances. – user31178 Jun 29 '18 at 14:33
  • TL;DR: "Because I like it" isn't a good enough reason – user31178 Jun 29 '18 at 14:42

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .