Here’s which iconic Pixar film each of the Russell Group universities would be

Life is a highway for Manny students

2 days ago

Everyone has that one Disney Pixar film they watch on repeat and can recite every line to whatever it is says a LOT about who you are as a person and, specifically, as a student. So much so in fact that we can work out all the Russell Group unis as Pixar films. OG Pixar movies have been with us since childhood, and the new ones just don’t hit the same, which in all fairness could be because we’re no longer the target audience, but I will still defend old Pixar with my life.

Much like Pixar movies, all of which have very unique vibes, the uni you go to also says a lot about you as a person. Even if you think you’re not the stereotype of every person at your uni, you very much are. Each uni has its own set of specific traits, and that includes what Pixar movie they’re most similar to.

The bleak landscape that is Warwick was actually the inspiration for Earth in Wall-E. The up-himself food critic in Ratatouille is modelled after posh Exeter students. And, Mr Incredible’s physique was designed after what Nottingham sports lads think they look like (but don’t). So, here’s all the Russell Group unis imagined as Pixar films.

York – Finding Dory

As one of the very few campus unis in the UK, York uni would be Finding Nemo for the pure reason that you have to work to find any sense of fun in that place. Also, Finding Nemo makes everyone sad, almost as sad as it makes York students when they remember that the most memorable thing about their uni is a dead duck.

Sheffield and Liverpool – A Bug’s Life

There’s not much to say about this comparison except that both Sheffield and Liverpool students and the film A Bug’s Life are slightly unconventional. Sheffield is known as the birthplace of indie music, Alex Turner being born and raised there, and like the Arctic Monkeys being ever so slightly alternative, A Big’s Life is a somewhat alternative Pixar film that not many would say is their number one.

Likewise, Liverpool’s student indie scene is recognised to be one of the best, so it just makes sense that it would be the indie Pixar film.

Manchester and Cardiff – Cars

Manchester and Cardiff have the same energy as Cars simply for the good vibes they both have. Manchester doesn’t take itself too seriously, and its recent resurge in trendiness as a city reminds me of how Radiator Springs gets a revival in tourism at the end of the film. Cardiff has also found its way back into relevance as a city as it’s become one of the more popular student cities in recent years.

Edinburgh and Bristol – Ratatouille

Edinburgh and Bristol students are so Ratatouille. Naturally, the film being set in Paris, it’s giving the second home in the South of France that half the students at these unis have, complete with flawless place pronunciation thanks to the private French tutor they had all throughout school.

The fine dining experience Remy dreams of providing is also a bit like how posh students do their weekly shops in Waitrose, and go for weekly brunch trips with the girlies every Saturday.

Leeds – Monsters Inc.

For starters, University of Leeds has to be Monsters Inc. purely for the uncanny resemblance the rugby boys rampant in Hyde Park have to Sully. Both think they’re big, but really aren’t all that.

A bit like how Mike and Sully think they’re really scary, Leeds students think they’re super edgy because of their half-arsed (and quite embarrassing) attempts at careers in DJing, crippling vape addictions and urgent need to tell everyone that their taste in music is underground.

UCL, LSE and KCL – Inside Out

All London students have serious Inside Out vibes. I feel like they’re normally putting on a front when they say being a student in London is actually fun. Having to pay an arm and a leg to get anywhere, eat anywhere or live anywhere is not the ideal student experience, and any time they tell you otherwise I just picture Joy holding Sadness in a headlock so she can’t say what they really feel: Absolute despair at the choice they made to go to uni in possibly the most inconvenient city to be on a budget.

Oxford and Cambridge – Toy Story

Priding themselves on being the OGs as some of the oldest universities in the world, Oxbridge have to be the first Pixar movie to come out. Aside from that, the unis both being small and spread into colleges means everyone knows everyone, so it’s kind of like a life-size Andy’s bedroom.

The slightly weird tradition of college husbands and wives sort of reminds me of how the Toy Story creators decided to make children’s toys date. There’s nothing explicitly wrong with either but something does feel a tad strange about it.

Glasgow – Brave

Being in Scotland, it’s no surprise that Glasgow has to be Brave. Not only do all the rowdy sports boys remind me of the clans, but the city is home to one of the funniest moments of pop culture history this year: The infamous Willy Wonka experience. The Unknown is as unsettling as the weird witch in the cave is, so it just adds up.

Durham and Exeter – Monsters University

Durham and Exeter were always going to be a sequels. Known mostly as the consolation prize for Oxbridge rejects, these two unis are the slightly disappointing alternatives. They do get some points for still being academically challenging unis, though, so it seems fitting to be the Monsters Inc. prequel set in an academic institution.

The college in Durham set-up very closely resembles all the frats and sororities in Monsters University too, each with their own stereotypes which morph every fresher into a clone of their college mates within the year.

Nottingham – The Incredibles

Uni of Nottingham screams The Incredibles mostly for its rep as a sporty uni. The hoardes of rugby boys definitely fancy themselves as Mr Incredibles, and back in the day when the scooters were still around, scooting down Derby Road was enough to make you drunkenly feel like you were flying – before you inevitably fell over and did some serious damage to your ankles or shins.

The way everyone magically shape shifts every week at Crisis depending on whatever horrifically embarrassing costume their society has made them wear this week, whether it’s babies or shit shirts, is an almost superhero quality in itself.

Warwick and Birmingham – Wall-E

Alliteration aside, Warwick would definitely be Wall-E. The wasteland Earth has become which Wall-E is trying to clean up bears a striking resemblance to the wastelands that are Coventry and Birmingham.

Devoid of any actual human life, just like Earth, Warwick students are stranded alone in a desolate dust bowl where the most exciting thing is Binley Mega Chippy.

Birmingham as a city gives off similarly dismal vibes to Coventry, but does have the benefit of students who actually act like they’ve been on planet Earth before, so Birmingham is definitely the later part of the film when the humans return. Still a shithole though.

Newcastle – Toy Story 2

Much like the newly freed animate children’s toys of Toy Story, Newcastle students run about the streets wreaking havoc wherever they go: Shagging flatmates, maxing out their overdraft on vapes, and decorating their mouldy student houses in the most unhinged ways they can think of. Not quite the same antics Woody and Buzz get up to in Toy Story, but you get the gist.

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