I remember seeing the trailer for Soul the last time I was in a movie theater, which now seems like a lifetime ago. I was “in” from the first frame. So, on Christmas Day, presents opened and all but my 15-year old son gathered ’round, we gratefully fired up Disney+. Wow. The production quality of Soul is sensational. Pixar continues to improve its digital rendering, shading, textures, and natural movement. With Soul, they not only beautifully reflect the natural world but brilliantly tackle the creative challenge of imagining life beyond living on multiple planes. Soul is also a diverse story, headlined by a black character (Joe, played by Jamie Foxx) who is surrounded by characters natural to the film’s contemporary urban setting. Story continues to drive Pixar’s work and they remain among the best (if not the best) at exercising the full range of the narrative power of animation.
Due to the terrain Pete Docter explores in his fourth Pixar film, Soul naturally plays to a more mature audience than their previous films. Reminiscent of Inside Out (also directed by Pete Docter), Soul sets out to explore nuanced existential questions in an accessible way. An unruly (normal?) class of middle school kids, 22 (Tina Fey), other characters going through You Seminar, and a therapy cat appeal to a younger audience, but the story centers on the ever-open question: What is the meaning of life?
As the film begins we are introduced to Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), a jazz pianist who teaches middle school band part-time and plays gigs in clubs while he awaits his big break. One of Joe’s former students (Curley, played by Questlove) offers him an opportunity to accompany a top-tier jazz artist, the fictional Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett). Joe knows this is his shot. He is so excited by the opportunity that he becomes unaware of his surroundings (a key to the “moral of the story”) as he walks the city and falls into an open manhole cover. The next thing Joe knows, he is one of many adorably animated souls on the conveyor belt to “The Great Beyond.” Refusing to accept the reality of his death when he was just on the verge of truly living, Joe evades his fate, breaking through to another dimension to find a way back to Earth.
During his journey, Joe is mistaken for a mentor of souls yet to be born and is matched with soul #22. 22 has avoided being embodied in a “meat suit” for thousands of years because she believes that human life has no value. In some of the funniest moments of the film for philosophy dorks like me, 22 has confounded the likes of Archimedes, Copernicus, Freud, Mother Theresa, and a host of others down the centuries in their attempt to help her find her “spark.” Joe and 22 make a deal that if Joe can help her find her spark and earn her Earth pass, she will give Joe the pass so that he can make it back to Earth in time for his performance. A win-win! But Joe can’t inspire her with his life, and honestly has trouble being inspired himself once he has the opportunity to look back.
Through a cross-dimensional loophole called “the zone” — a thin spot between Earth and the Beyond (a brilliant insight) — Joe and 22 end up accidentally coming to Earth together. However, Joe ends up embodying a therapy cat and 22 finds herself in Joe’s body. This classic comedic mixup allows Joe to see Joe from outside of himself while 22 has the opportunity to inhabit a developed human life. As they work together to find a way to swap bodies in time for Joe’s performance, Joe begins to see that his life and his purpose was too narrowly focused. 22 realizes that she was wrong for all these centuries about the value of human life. She experiences such beauty and goodness that she, at a critical juncture in the story, does not want to give Joe his body back.
Joe’s cheating of the cosmic system eventually catches up with him, and both he and 22 are taken back into the Beyond before he is able to realize his dream. Through what 22 experienced as Joe, she realizes the value of human life and earns her Earth pass. However, she begrudgingly gives it to Joe in honor of their deal. Joe returns to his body, makes it in time for the show, impresses Dorothea, and is welcomed to be part of her touring jazz quartet. Joe has arrived but doesn’t experience the meaning and purpose for his life that he imagined at this moment. As Dorothea counsels through a powerful parable about fish (Finding Nemo?), Joe realizes that he mistakes his musical talent for his spark.
Returning to “the zone,” Joe finds his way back to 22, confesses his misunderstanding about the value of living, and returns the Earth pass in full knowledge that he will have to move on to “The Great Beyond.” 22 leaps toward Earth to enjoy life in the world in all of its beauty and goodness, and Joe finds himself back on the conveyor belt. But, in a final twist, Joe is given a second chance. Because of his work with 22 and all that has happened, Joe is given another shot at life.
We do not know what happens with 22 or with Joe (sequel?), but we already know that the way they each value life has been transformed. The meaning of life, we see through the lens of Soul, is found in all of the most mundane, small, seemingly meaningless moments of life. It is the taste of pizza, a falling leaf, a cool breeze, friendships, family, sounds, and everything in our experience that gives color and texture and, finally, meaning and value to our being in the world. It is water, not the ocean. The film invites us all to join 22 on this journey and Joe in his second chance at life.
Soul speaks powerfully to ongoing conversations about life’s purpose. 22 haphazardly finds her spark. Initially, we understand “spark” to mean “purpose” in the film, but as the story continues the two ideas diverge. Joe believes his purpose is playing jazz piano so well that he becomes famous. Piano is his purpose and his eventual fame is the confirmation. Joe’s entire life has been on hold, in essence, waiting for the fulfillment of his purpose. This approach to life’s purpose resonates with conversations about vocation or calling. The common wisdom runs that our vocation is found where our talents meet the world’s greatest needs. Soul calls this idea into question with the notion of spark, which gets at something more foundational. Spark grasps the fundamental beauty, truth, and goodness that comes with simply being alive. It is the proto-purposeful, proto-vocational gift of being. Simply receiving ourselves as living beings awake to the world around us is the fulness of life. Skills, personal direction, purpose, and vocation are second-order concerns not to be confused with the basic meaning and purpose, and value of being human.
Soul carefully shines a light on a whole host of us (I imagine in our late-quarter or mid-life) who either forgot or haven’t yet come to this realization. It speaks to cultures that place a higher value on what people do rather than who they are. Apprehending spark before purpose is the heart of the film. And Soul, like Inside Out, serves as a mirror – one that some (many?) do not like looking into too intently.
One question I come away with is whether Soul would have been stronger if Joe didn’t get a second chance. I’m sure this was a topic of conversation in the writers’ room. Part of his realization about really living takes Joe on the journey back to rescue 22 to return the Earth pass. In an act of pure self-giving love, Joe seems to joyfully embrace the reality of going into “The Great Beyond” so that 22 can enjoy her rightful opportunity at life in the world. In this moment, the notion of love as fulfilled living moves to the heart of the story. As someone who admittedly brings the lens of Christian theology to film, this ending seems to drive home the “moral of the story” in a stronger way than Joe saying that he will “really live” as he embarks on his second chance. I often talk about writers and directors “blinking.” By blinking I mean settling for easy resolutions to complex narratives. In Soul, I feel that Pixar blinked. I still loved the film, but I think this narrative decision weakened what remains a great story.
Soul is another Pixar “must see” for everyone. A conversation starter for kids and an existential think piece for adults, Docter’s imaginative journey through one of life’s toughest questions is sure to shine a light back upon your life, raising (rightly) questions about how you see the fundamental value of living and also your purpose or vocation, understanding that they are not the same thing and that you and others may suffer for confusing the two.