Complicated Mixtures: Repurposing the Chthulucene’s Troublesome Trash in Toy Story 4

Abstract

In a world plagued by plastic pollution (among other environmental threats), children’s stories dedicated to the positive role of plastic toys in children’s lives ought to be categorized as out of touch at best and immoral at worst. Disney’s Toy Story franchise, however, remains as popular as ever, with the fourth installment released in 2019 netting a slew of nominations and awards, including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. This paper examines the merits of Toy Story 4 as a posthumanist text that productively co-exists alongside and enters into dialogue with environmental critiques of plastic trash. I draw on Karen Barad’s new materialist theory of agential realism to reframe what is inherently a pro-plastic narrative into one that exemplifies the necessity of becoming comfortable with trash, with being lost, and with different approaches to reproduction, if, as Donna Haraway suggests, we are to stay with the trouble of irreversible plastic pollution that defines our Anthropocenic era.