Soul: Pixar continues to age with its audience
Pixar’s first feature film was Toy Story in 1995. Since then they have managed to output another 22 movies on top of that and don’t seem to be stopping any time soon. They have no reason to. They haven’t made a truly bad movie, with the exception of Cars 2, which wasn’t really planned for theaters.
With their newest release, Soul, I continue to be reminded why I’m always eager to see whatever they put out.
I didn’t see Toy Story when it was originally released. I wasn’t even walking at the time but when I did I remember being terrified of Sid and his makeshift toys. I never missed a single Pixar movie release after though, from A Bug’s Life on. They were the ones my parents even found enjoyment from.
When I started to get older, I still found myself running to see Pixar’s newest release. Monster’s University came out the summer I was headed to college. It felt like they timed it up perfectly. It gave me an idea of what to expect and they were very spot on with welcome week, to a tee.
In the summer of 2015, I had finished my second year of college and was working at a summer camp. My spiritual and political viewpoints began shifting. I had been debating if I should break up with my long-term girlfriend. Several feelings were going on all at once. Cue the release of Inside Out in June of that year and I spent one of the off weekends going to see it. It was funny, sad, and heartwarming. It was the exact tug I needed to help me deal with everything I felt knowing it was okay to feel those emotions.
Their latest release, Soul, is once again a reminder that they are keeping up with the child audience they had when Toy Story and A Bug’s Life were released. Of all the releases delayed by Covid, this was the movie I wanted the most so I was relieved when it was announced to be coming to Disney+ on Christmas day.
Surely enough, that night I sat down and watched it. It was a movie I needed in 2020. It spoke to me during a year where I faced fewer ups than downs and felt like I wasn’t living up to my potential.
I’d moved to Nashville in 2018 with hopes of starting a career but ended up in the coffee industry. I hopped from shop to shop and after a little less than two years I was hired by the shop I set my sights on when I moved. But due to Covid slowing down that industry, they pushed my start date back indefinitely. What followed was constant worry if I’d land a job, be able to pay rent in my new lease, if my unemployment would be accepted, or if I’d be able to avoid getting the virus. All the stress exhausted my motivation. I lost sight of my purpose and passions.
Soul, at its core, was a lesson about finding joy in the small mundane ounces of everyday life. It told me there’s no issue with being ordinary. Even in our average-ness, we can still enjoy petting a street cat you meet on a walk, listening to rain fall outside your window, or wrapping yourself in a towel freshly pulled from the dryer.
There’s so much weight on us as individuals to be this perfect version of ourselves, but sometimes the only way there is through a lot of luck. Even in the film, Joe’s big break is from an old student calling him out of the blue. It’s a message I’ve probably heard before, but I listen better when Pixar tells me through some animated characters.
Joe and 22’s adventure lead them all over New York while Joe tries to help 22 find her spark so she can finally drop down to Earth after all these years of spending time in the Great Before. The two end up getting to Earth via a hole in space between “the physical and spiritual”, but 22 lands in Joe’s body, and Joe lands in a cat’s body.
After the cat version of Joe scares 22, in Joe’s body, she regrets coming and wants the body to die so she can abruptly leave. He realizes he needs something to invoke her to keep going so he can get his stomach-aching body ready for the concert that evening. This is when he steals a slice of pepperoni pizza and brings it to her. As he walks back, she begins complaining about Earth being even worse than she imagined but the aroma of the slice hits her nose, and she pauses. Joe gives it to her and she loses it, it’s the best and only thing she’s ever tasted.
Joe tried showing her pizza in the Great Before but taste and smell don’t exist there. Now, she’s finally able to understand why pizza is loved so much. After she demolishes the slice, she notes that she isn’t angry anymore. In the next scene, she’s already scarfing down a gyro.
Another moment 22 experiences in Joe’s body happens while she’s sitting on a stoop. A leaf helicopters down from a tree above into her palm. Her mind recounts the day's events as she stares at it and realizes the beauty life has to offer. It’s a reminder to the audience to slow down and not let life, no matter how heavy or tough, disrupt us from acknowledging the beauty of the present.
As I watched, it reminded me of those stressful months at the start of quarantine, where I’d sit on the back porch with my wife drinking our morning coffee. We started taking long walks around our neighborhood after she got off work to enjoy the daylight while we had it. I thought about all the good food and drinks we ate while locked up at home. Life was hectic but it was still good.
Not only is 22’s worldview changing through the movie, Joe begins to see his life in a different way too. He and Twenty-Two are preparing his body for the show that night when they stop in a barbershop due to a haircut mishap earlier. Other people have appointments before him, but once everyone sees the accident, they immediately let him cut to the front.
As Joe’s body is getting the haircut, it’s 22 still in the body speaking to the barber, Dez. 22 is talking from her point of view of being a “hypothetical construct in between life and death”. Some time passes and everyone’s attention is on her. She says “Everyone is supposed to find what they want to do in life, but what if they choose the wrong thing.” She’s conflicted about living life because she’s only been told she needs a singular spark. This is when we find out the barber didn’t want to cut hair at first, he wanted to be a veterinarian but his daughter got sick and barbershop school was the cheaper alternative.
Twenty-Two is shocked and says “well that’s a bummer, now you’re just a barber and you’re unhappy.” Dez rejects that take immediately and tells her he’s “as happy as a clam”. Just because he wasn’t able to fulfill his original dream doesn’t mean he isn’t helping people.
22 realizes, as well as Joe, and even the audience that even if we don’t get to live our dream or our idea of success, it doesn’t mean happiness is unachievable. Life can still be meaningful in other ways outside of what we do for a living.
Joe makes it back to his body after 22 finds her spark, but she doesn’t want to leave. Joe takes her Earth pass and ends up being able to play with Dorothea Williams and the rest of the band that evening. After it ends, he walks outside and Dorothea says “same time tomorrow”. Joe’s smile fades as he realizes his dream wasn’t what he expected. It might be different than being a school teacher but he is still doing something repetitious every day, just in a new setting.
He eventually goes back and convinces 22 to come to Earth and experience life. She finally accepts and as he flies down with her he’s pulled away, ending up on the conveyor belt heading toward the Great Beyond. After all the events, Joe closes his eyes and finally accepts his fate, but he’s given a second chance on Earth.
He’s asked “how will you spend your life?” and he isn’t sure but he says “I’m going to live every moment of it.”
It’s an ending telling us to do the same, to be happy with where we are and where we end up. We can work to get somewhere else, but we shouldn’t forget to slow down and appreciate all the little triumphs along the way.
