Deep Dive Pixar: Wes Looks at Soul

Welcome back my friends, to Deep Dive Pixar, the accompanying pianist of Deep Dive Disney. Today, we’re looking at Soul, the first film released as a Disney+ exclusive during the pandemic. I remember watching it when it came out and rather enjoying it. While it’s definitely not perfect, I do feel that it is a fascinating and beautiful film that has an interesting message about the meaning of life. Our story this time around concerns Joe Gardener, a middle school band teacher living in New York City with a deep passion for music. While his job pays the bills, Joe has bigger dreams of being a full-time professional jazz musician like his father before him, despite objections from his mother. It looks like Joe is about to get the chance of a lifetime when a former student gets him an audition to play with jazz legend Dorothea Williams. Joe aces the audition and is granted his dream gig but in twist that’s as tragic as it is ironic, Joe dies shortly after by falling into an open manhole. Joe wakes up as a disembodied soul headed for the afterlife. Not ready to accept that he’s dead just as he’s about to get his big break, Joe runs for it and accidentally ends up in a place called “The Great Before,” a place where unborn souls are prepared for life with the help of the counselors, metaphysical constructs that manage the functions of the universe, prepare unborn souls for life with the aid of mentor souls, accomplished individuals who have passed on and are now sharing their knowledge to help others prepare for life on earth. To buy himself some time to figure out how to get back in his body, Joe decides to pose as a mentor and ends up getting paired with 22, a soul that seems to have no interest in living. Joe and 22 strike a deal and she agrees to help Joe find a way back to earth. However, things go awry and 22 ends up getting pulled to Earth with Joe, ending up in his body while Joe is stuck in the body of a cat. While Joe is desperate to get back in his own body before his gig, 22 is overwhelmed at experience what life really is for the first time. It’s a fun movie with some astoundingly deep themes, so let’s dive deep into, Soul.

Main Character:

Joe Gardner, played by Jamie Foxx, is an interesting character. You can tell right away that his passion for music and performing is one of the defining aspects of his life. The way he talks about it, you can tell that his love for what he does is deep and genuine. It’s clear that music is his spark, the thing that gave him his passion for live. Joe cares a lot about becoming a full-time musician even though many in his life, particularly his mother, feel that he’d have a more stable life if he stays as a teacher. Because of that, we find ourselves rooting for Joe, at least to the point where we want to see him get what he wants. Even with that in mind though, Joe can be very selfish. Once he gets his big break, he tries to break the rules of the Universe to get it back. By the way, no way in hell is Joe the first dead person ever not to quietly accept their fate with dignity. He only helps 22 because of how it can benefit him. However, during his time with 22, he gains a new appreciation for what it really means to live, hence once he gets to perform on stage with Dorothea Williams, he feels strangely melancholy afterwards. Still, in the end, Joe does the right thing and helps 22 willingly go to earth and then later accept his fate. There’s not too much else to say about Joe, at least nothing that isn’t better left to another section.

Villain:

The only character in soul who could be considered an antagonist is Terry, a soul counter in the afterlife. Sure Terry is relentless in their pursuit of Joe, but it’s not out of malice. Terry is just extremely anal retentive and refuses to let the count be off, even by a single soul. I appreciate that the Jerry’s find Terry more annoying than anything else, but other than that, there’s not a whole lot too Terry.

Side Characters:

I just want to give a brief shoutout to the character of Paul, a jerk who hangs out in Dez’s barber shop, only because he’s played by the always awesome Daveed Diggs of Hamilton fame. Dez the barber himself we’ll be saving for another section.

The Jerry’s are fun and I enjoyed their nonchalant reactions to everything. Also, one of them is voiced by Richard Ayoade, better known as Moss from The IT Crowd, and that’s awesome.

I liked Joe’s mother. While at first she seems unsupportive of her son, it’s coming from a good place. The life of a musician is a tough one and it took a toll on Joe’s father and her late husband who was always struggling for gigs. She just doesn’t want to see her son go down that same path. However, once Joe pours his heart about about what this all means to him, she does come around and even fixes him up a sweet outfit for his gig and is in the front row cheering him on.

Irish talk show host Graham Norton plays Moonwind, the leader of a group of spiritual hippie types who can enter “The Zone”, a place where a soul goes when they are truly in a deep and meditative state whilst indulging in their passion. I like Moonwind, and I appreciate how his meditative state is brought about by him twirling a sign outside a store. Guess it’s important to love what you do.

Last but not least, there’s 22, voiced by Tina Fey. 22 is an unborn soul who has seemingly been in the great before for hundreds if not thousands of years but hasn’t been able to earn her spark. She seemingly has no interest in life, taking a very cynical approach to the whole thing. However, that cynicism is actually masking a great fear. 22 is afraid to live because she worries that she won’t be any good at it, especially since some of the greatest people in history have told her she’s no good her entire existence. Once Joe, the one person she ever truly grew to like, rejects her, she retreats into existential despair and it’s only with the help of Joe’s encouragement and sacrifice that she decides she’s ready to live.

Soul is not a Musical, but we are treated to plenty of smooth jazz in the film, and that's pretty cool.

Memorable Scenes:

It’s made clear early on that some of the most noteworthy individuals in history have tried and failed to mentor 22 and throughout the film we get clips of this and it’s always funny. It’s hilarious to see such greats as Mother Theresa, Carl Jung, Muhammed Ali, Abraham Lincoln and more. It’s pretty good for a laugh, particularly the bit where 22 manages to get a spiteful reaction out of the eternally patient Mother Theresa.

However, my favorite scene is the one in Dez’s barbershop. While 22 is in Joe’s body, she goes to Dez to get Joe a haircut for his upcoming gig. Now normally, Dez and Joe only talk about Jazz, but with the now curious 22 in Joe’s body, she inquires about his personal life and Dez is all too happy to share. Turns out Dez didn’t set out to be a barber. He wanted to be a veterinarian and had planned on going to school for it once he got out of the Navy, but his daughter got sick and barber school was less expensive that veterinary school so here he is. 22 assumes that Dez is unhappy with how things turned out but nothing could be further from the truth. Dez is more than happy with the path his life has taken even if it wasn’t what he initially planned. This is actually a very nice message. It’s a fact of reality that not everyone gets to be what they wanted to be when they grew up, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find fulfillment and happiness elsewhere. Take me for example. I wanted to be a writer/producer in the professional wrestling business and even got to work with WWE for a number of years. However, that dream didn’t exactly pan out, so I had to take a job delivering auto-parts. Is it glamorous? Not really, but I certainly enjoy it and could see myself doing it for a while to come. Great stuff.

Story:

Soul is a movie about the meaning of life, and I don’t know if I have the talent to sum up such a heavy topic in this article. However, I will still do my best to express what I feel that this movie is trying to say about the nature of living. Philosophers have searched for the meaning of life for centuries, and I do not wish to make light of their work, but I personally believe that life is not as complicated as one may think. The meaning of life is simply to make the most of the time we have and find fulfillment in whatever way is meaningful to us. It seems all too simple, but I think that’s what this movie is trying to convey. Joe mistakenly believes that the spark is one’s purpose in life, but it’s not. One’s purpose is not set in stone and can only be determined by the individual through life experience. The spark is simply passion for life, and that can come from anywhere, even something as simple as watching the leaves fall from the sky. And yes, life can be scary and overwhelming, but it also be incredibly beautiful if we look for the beauty that speaks to us.

But anyway, let’s talk about one of the more controversial aspects of the film, the ending. Many feel the fact that Joe is granted his life back is a bit of a copout and the movie would have been more poignant if Joe had accepted his fate and went willingly into the great beyond. However, I think the ending works, and the reason for that is because we never learn what Joe does with his second chance. Does he continue his budding music career with Dorothea Williams? Does he take the more stable teaching job? Does he do something else entirely? We don’t know because it doesn’t matter what he does as long as he is able to find joy and fulfillment in it.

The Dark Disney Factor:

It’s established early on that when one becomes consumed with anxiety and despair, their soul becomes detached and exists as what is called a lost soul, a monstrous entity of pure darkness and fear. After Joe tells off 22 towards the end, she becomes a lost soul herself, Joe taking it upon himself to save her. Inside of the lost soul, Joe finds visions of all the people who ever told 22 she isn’t good enough, including himself, attacking him. A nice touch is how all of these monstrous apparitions speak with 22’s voice, emphasizing that this is her own anxieties given form.

Final Thoughts:

Soul is a surprisingly powerful film. It's one that challenges the viewer to think about what life truly is. Aside from that, it's a lot of fun with Tina Fey and Jamie Foxx delivering as their respective characters. Well, the next movie on the schedule is Luca, a film that came out after I had already started Deep Dive Disney, but before we get there, it's time for our first ever Patreon sponsored article. Join me next time as Deep Dive Disney looks at Enchanted.