PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS AND DISABLED PERSONAGES. CASE STUDY: FINDING NEMO Jaume Duran UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA, Barcelona, Spain jaumeduran@ub.edu David Fonseca GTM / LA SALLE - UNIVERSITAT RAMON LLULL, Barcelona, Spain fonsi@salle.url.edu ABSTRACT Many of the different characters that appear in the computer animated movies of Pixar Animation Studios are personages. From a dramaturgical point of view, these can be linked with the concept of Archetype. The same types of personages appear in all times and in all cultures. The universal patterns make it possible for the experience to be shared in different histories. These patterns do not identify concrete idiosyncrasies, but they function as a temporary development in a story for the purpose of enriching of it. Another way of interpreting the personages of a narrative history is to consider them as complementary facets of the main character (the hero). As the history develops, the characteristics of these personages modify the personality of the future hero. The aim of this work is to analyze the influence of these complementary personages in the transformation of the main character and examine whether the presence of a disability is used to obtain this transformation. As we will see, not only do we find personages whose disability affects the development of the protagonist, but others that simply fulfill other secondary functions. The base of the presented study are the seven first full-length films produced by Pixar, but we will center on the particular case of Finding Nemo. Keywords: Computer Animation, Pixar Animation Studios, Dramaturgy 1 A METHODE: THE TRIP OF THE HERO Christopher Vogler [33] related the mythical structures and their mechanisms to the art of writing narrative works and scripts, after studying the proposals of Joseph Campbell [2], and Carl Gustav Jung [13, 14, 15]. To do so, he divided the theoretical trip of the fiction hero in twelve stages and enumerated up to seven archetypes. According to Vogler, most histories are composed of a few structural elements that we also find in universal myths, in stories, in movies, and even in sleep. In them, the hero, generally the protagonist, leaves their daily environment to embark on a journey that will lead them through a world full of challenges. It can be a real trip, with a clear destination and definite purpose, or it can be an interior trip, which can take place in the mind, heart or spirit. In any case, the hero ends up suffering changes, and growing throughout. There are twelve stages that compose this trip: • The Ordinary World: the first stage when the hero appears in their daily environment and their ordinary world. • The Call to Adventure: the second stage when the hero will generally face a problem and an adventure will appear before them. • The Rejection of the Adventure: the third stage when frequently the hero refuses the call to action. • The Meeting with the Mentor: the fourth stage when the personage of the mentor appears. • The Passage of the First Threshold: the fifth stage when the hero begins the adventure. • Tests, Allied Forces, Enemies: the sixth stage when new challenges are revealed