Soul
Life Is Full Of Possibilities. You Just Need To Know Where To Look
Welcome to Newsletter #17! Life has been busy lately, which is why I delayed the newsletter by a day. I'm working on switching my priorities around to make sure the things I'm most passionate about get done first, and I am incredibly passionate about Movie Mondays With Gina, which is why I get so excited every time I get a new subscriber. Knowing so many people care to read my weekly analyses is flattering!
This week I wanted to cover another inspiring movie, and my mind instantly went to the 2020 Disney Pixar film, Soul. I remember being blown away the first time I watched it because it was so well-aligned with where I was in late 2020. It was a dark time worldwide, and I, and so many others, were looking for hope and inspiration. I spent the quarantine delving into spirituality and the self-help industry.Â
I watched YouTube videos of Oprah, Jim Carrey, and a therapist named Marisa Peer. I read Think and Grow Rich, watched my favorite inspirational movies, and while the majority of the population was nervous about life as we knew it crumbling to the ground, I was enthusiastic about the new world we could create. Soul showed up just in time as it explored a new way of looking at life, and I needed to revisit it this week just as much as I needed to watch it when it was first released on Disney +.
Soul is an exploration of what life is really about. It encourages viewers to follow their dreams but remember that there are little moments to appreciate every day, and if you're so dead set on your end goal, you'll miss all the flashes of beauty around you. This message is conveyed through the main character, Joe Gardner. Joe is a middle school music teacher who has dreamed of being a jazz musician since his father introduced him to the music genre as a child.Â
Unfortunately, Joe's mother, Libba, doesn't support his dreams, and when he's offered a full-time position at the middle school, which includes all the coveted benefits like job security, medical insurance, and a pension, Libba thinks he'd be crazy not to accept the opportunity. I, and anyone who has ever had a dream they know is worth going after, can understand exactly how Joe feels.Â
People talk about pensions and insurance like it's the key to happiness, and their lives depend on finding a job that offers those things. In Soul, Joe understands there's more for him out there, and while continuing to pursue his dreams might seem to Libba like he's walking a tightrope over alligator-infested waters when he could just come back down where his job security is waiting for him, he knows fulfillment lies at the end of the road of danger and uncertainty.Â
"the tune is just an excuse to bring out the you,"-Joe, Soul.
Joe gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he books a gig playing piano for Jazz singer Dorothea Williams. Unfortunately, the opportunity slips through his fingers when he falls through a manhole, and his soul ends up online for the great beyond while his body remains unconscious in a hospital room. He sneaks off to the great before, where he meets a soul named 22 who is incapable of finding her spark and, therefore, can't make it to Earth. With her by his side, he makes it back to Earth but ends up in the body of a therapy cat, while 22 ends up in his body. The remainder of the film follows Joe's determination to get back in his body so he can play the Jazz gig with Dorothea.Â
Soul is inundated with spiritual messages about the purpose of life and the truths of reality. The character Moonwind emanates some of these messages as he uses meditation to access the spiritual realm and help lost souls return to their bodies. I meditate morning and night, and if anyone ever recommends it to you, listen to them. Meditation is crucial to my mental well-being as it helps me focus my thoughts and attain clarity on various life circumstances.Â
"I am the coming together of all quantized fields of the Universe appearing in a form your feeble human brain can comprehend."-Jerry, Soul.
Moonwind has accessed a level of meditation that I'm yet to achieve, which makes him so inspirational. Sure, his character is an animated stereotype of spiritual people, as are his friends in the film, but he has an important message to spread. He also uses his spiritual knowledge to help others, which is best showcased by one lost soul who disassociated from his body because of how bored he was with his office job. When Moonwind helps him return, he springs up from his nap and declares it's time for him to follow his passion instead of wasting away in a career that makes him miserable.Â
While Soul makes it clear following your dreams is not the key to happiness, it offers commentary on how simple it is to just decide that you're going to do what fulfills you in life, but we all make it so difficult by believing we have to be unhappy because there isn't anything better for us out there. Following your dreams is important because if you don't, you're settling, and a life full of settling will only lead to suffering.
A specific moment in the Moonwind lost souls scene that specifically stands out is when his hippie ship is floating through the darkness surrounded by lost souls. Most of them aren't given names or a story like the guy who quit his job, but they represent the number of people in this world who are dragging their feet through life, not a clue what their purpose is and no drive to figure it out.
"Some people just can't let go of their own anxieties and obsessions, leaving them lost and disconnected from life"-Moonwind, Soul.
Joe is somewhat of a lost soul himself, even though he doesn't see himself as one, and he isn't so down the rabbit hole of meaninglessness that he's turned into a giant dark blob like the lost souls appear as in the film. It's clear he's not truly appreciating life when he goes to the barbershop to get a haircut with 22 still in his body. Since 22 doesn't want to be on Earth and has no dream to chase, she's simply going through life, taking in the experience. At the barber shop, she talks to the barber Dez and learns that he once wanted to be a veterinarian until his daughter became sick and he could no longer pay for school.
However, Dez isn't disappointed in himself or resentful of his life. He loves his job as a barber, even if it wasn't his initial plan. He tells 22 how happy it makes him get to interact with people all day and make them feel good about their appearance. Joe is surprised to learn all of this about Dez and wonders why Dez never told him about his life, only to find out the reason is that Joe never asked as he was always talking about himself and his love for Jazz music.Â
This is where the moral of Soul really shifts. At first, it seems to be a film about a man who desperately wants to make his dreams come true, but it becomes a film about a man missing out on life because he thinks Jazz music and making it as a musician is all there is to life. Meanwhile, 22 is enjoying every moment, from talking to Dez at the barber shop to navigating the chaos of the New York City subway. 22, who initially didn't want to go to Earth, understands what living is all about.Â
It's about being present and appreciating even the smallest things. We are all here to find our sparks and to pursue the things that bring us joy, but we're also here to experience life, whether that's playing at a Jazz club with Dorothea Williams or picking up leaves on the sidewalk. Joe thought he knew everything when he met 22 in the great before, but it turns out she learned more in her short time on Earth than he had in his whole life.
Eventually, Joe does make it back to Earth for his show with Dorothea, but afterward, he realizes he's still unfulfilled, and Dorothea tells him a metaphorical story about a fish who spends all his time looking for the ocean, thinking he's only in the water. He learns he's been in the ocean the whole time, just like how Joe spent all his time looking for fulfillment in a Jazz career only to realize fulfillment has been around him the whole time.Â
"A spark isn't a soul's purpose. Your purpose is your meanings of life, so basic,"-Jerry, Soul.
Joe learns that being a Jazz musician was never his purpose but his spark, which are two drastically different things, even if they sound pretty similar. For me, writing is my spark, but my purpose lies in all the experiences life has to offer me. Lost souls aren't lost just because they've given up on their dreams or are stuck in jobs they hate but because they're depriving themselves of the life experiences that are sitting there waiting to be explored.Â
22 also has an epiphany where she realizes she was so afraid of going to Earth because she felt she wasn't good enough or there was something wrong with her. This feeling of shame is ubiquitous in society, and as 22 learns, as soon as we drop the fear and step out of our own way, we open the floodgates for all of life's miracles to come through.
Joe ends the film with a fresh perspective on life. His love for Jazz music is still valid, but when he walks out of his front door in the film's final scene, he breathes in the air, grateful for the world around him. He's finally present and thinking about how he's going to soak up every magical moment in his day instead of focusing in on just one aspect of life.Â
Soul is abundant in so many messages, but they all work together to transmit its main moral; Don't blind yourself to your true purpose by obsessing over what you think is the key to happiness and fulfillment. As Joe found at the end of the film, what truly sets the soul on fire is indulging in every moment that we are so grateful to experience on Earth.