Elemental

Diverse voice cast includes Chinese American actor Leah Lewis; Mamoudou Athie, who's Black; Filipino actor Ronnie del Carmen; Iranian-born actor Shila Ommi. Both director Peter Sohn and writer Brenda Hsueh are Asian American. The elements (fire, water, earth, air) are essentially stand-ins for human racial/ethnic immigrant and refugee groups in a caste system (with fire, whose cultural markers seem meant to suggest those of Middle Eastern countries, seemingly the outcasts). Characters use unwelcoming phrases that have parallels with racist/classist statements -- e.g., "elements don't mix," "go back to Fireland," "Fire doesn't belong here," etc. Ember's parents are given new names by officials who can't pronounce their real names when they first arrive in Element City, and a water character says "you speak so well and clearly" to Ember, who clearly considers it a microaggression, since she grew up speaking the same language as the water family. (The water character looks embarrassed by his comment.) Wade has a queer relative whose girlfriend is introduced to Ember at a family dinner.

Many explosive bursts of fire, especially when Ember loses her temper. A couple of upsetting scenes show how a natural disaster involving water destroyed a lot of Fireland's homes and endangered its people. Rushing water/large waves also put characters in danger, nearly destroy the fire community in Element City, and seem to kill one character (spoiler alert: they aren't dead!). In general, fire characters can cause damage to other elements if they get too close, and water characters can snuff out (usually temporarily, but occasionally for good) fire characters. A dying grandmother's wish is recalled (she seems to disintegrate into ash when her time is up). Yelling, arguments.

A married couple hold hands and embrace. Lots of romantic moments between main characters Ember and Wade. They spend a lot of time together; a few pivotal scenes of them trying to touch and then successfully touching, dancing, embracing. They kiss briefly. Two trees who are spotted plucking fruit from each other realize they've been caught and say it's "just a little pruning," which is repeated later in a jokey way. A few other couples are spotted on dates holding hands, hugging and even kissing (including in the end-credit sequence). A character says "you're so hot" and "you're smoking," but he means it literally, not in the suggestive way the fire character initially believes. A young tree character flirts with Ember and later another girl.

"Dang," "what the...," and a couple of curse-word stand-ins, like "ash" ("lazy ash") and "fluffing," etc. Also "stupid," "crazy," "jerk," "dang," "oh gosh," "holy dewdrop," "God" (as an exclamation), "hanky panky," and element-based insults like "fireball" and "cloudpuffs." Language that makes it clear that other elements discriminate against fire people -- like "you don't have an accent," "go back to Fireland," and "you don't belong here."