Renee (2024)

Renee is a thirteen-year-old girl who is nonverbally autistic. She appears in the Pixar SparkShorts film, Loop. Renne enjoys playing ringtones on her phone and touching interesting textures (like reeds). She communicates by vocalizing, gesturing, and showing people things on her phone.

Appearances

Loop

Renee, a nonverbal autistic girl, is attending a canoeing camp. Normally, she is with a camp counselor, but during this short, she is paired with a boy named Marcus.

Renee likes to keep her phone nearby, both for communication and to play her favorite ringtone.

She initially doesn't connect with Marcus, and isn't interested in his attempts at explaining different rowing techniques. When he asks what she wants to do, she shows him a poop emoji and points to the restrooms.

As they approach the restrooms, Renee reaches out to run her hands through the reeds. Marcus realizes that she didn't need to use the bathroom and actually wanted to touch the reeds instead. They go back and forth a few times, and Marcus tries touching the reeds too, beginning to understand her better. Then she goes back to replaying the ringtone on her phone.

Marcus offers to take her into a tunnel so she can hear her ringtone echo against the walls. At first, she enjoys it. However, a speedboat zooms by, and the tunnel amplifies the loud noise. Renee panics and grabs the paddle to try to escape. Marcus, worried about colliding with the speedboat, tries to steer them away from it. They fall onto the shore.

Overwhelmed, Renee has a meltdown. Wailing, she throws her phone and it falls into the water. Then she hides under the canoe, sobbing. Marcus watches, worried and confused.

Marcus gives her time to calm down. Eventually, he offers her a reed to comfort her. His empathetic gesture cheers her up, and once she's ready, she comes out. Renee plays with the reed and mimics her ringtone, where she says her only line in the short: "Woof woof woof". Marcus mimics the ringtone with her.

She and Marcus then get their canoe back in the water and go back to camp.

In a post-credits scene, she is heard moaning happily when her smartphone is recovered and repaired.

Trivia

• Renee is Pixar's first nonspeaking autistic character.
• Her voice actress, Madison Bandy, is also autistic and non-verbal.
• Renee is hypersensitive to sound. She covers her ears and becomes overwhelmed by loud noises.
• When she is hiding under the canoe, she is seen stimming by wiggling her fingers.
• Some specialists group autism into 3 levels, and Renee appears to fit level 3. She has major differences in verbal and nonverbal social communication skills, and great distress/difficulty changing actions or focus.
• The writers consulted autistic people to help make sure the writing was realistic and respectful. Autistic viewers responded positively to the film and the portrayal of Renee.

Gallery