SOUL
- Nehir Sinemis ŞAHİN
- 17 May 2021
- 3 dakikada okunur
Pixar’s 2020 movie “Soul” tells the story of Joe Gardner, a middle school music teacher whose sole passion is music. He is a jazz mucisian and is stuck at his teaching job. However, when he finally gets his big break, Joe is taken to the Great Before because of an accident that seperates his soul from his body.
The Great Before is a cosmic place where infant souls get their personalities, quirks, interests before going to the Earth. The whole place is operated by abstract beings known as Jerrys. Their job is to assign traits to every soul through the Personality Pavillions. After their personalities are complete, all that is left is finding their spark. This job is made by mentors (souls of deceased peeople who alread had a life), they help new souls to get inspired by something from earth. It can be food, music, the arts… When it’s finished, the new soul gets an Earth Pass, which allow them to travel to earth and become the souls of newborn babies.
Due to the accident that Joe has experienced, he is now a soul going to the Great Beyond and his time on earth is about to come to an end. Not wanting to die just yet, he escapes the path and instead ends up in the Great Before. Joe pretends to be one of the mentors that train new souls and is given 22; a soul that has been in the Great Before for years. She finds earth pointless, she doesn’t seem to have found her spark. Joe reveals the true reason why he is here and realizes he hasn’t had a fulfilling life. 22 promises to give him her badge once it’s complete and she finds her spark. Joe tries to find something 22 can be passionate about, but nothing seems to work.
They agree with someone to help Joe go back to Earth, however, Joe accidentally takes 22 with him. 22 ends up in Joe’s body while Joe is in a cat’s body. Naturally, Joe has to go with 22 to make sure she is able to live Joe’s life in his body. This way, 22 experiences Earth without the pressure of the Great Before.
As they spend more time together, Joe finds out that 22’s cynical appearance and careless attitude actually hides her fear of going to Earth. 22 falls in love with life as days go by, runs away from Joe but they are taken back to the Great Before anyway. When 22 realizes that her badge now has her spark, Joe claims it doesn’t matter because she was effected by his experiences. At this point, 22 becomes a lost soul without a purpose. She then gets to go to Earth after som incidents, Joe is also given a second chance at life.
Despite being a movie mostly made for children, watching it as an older teen or an adult makes us realize how important it is to have a purpose in life. Along with the worry that our lives may not be as fulfilling and impactful as we wish them to be, “Soul” proves that having a purpose and a spark are not the same thing. We have our interests, our talents, ‘sparks’ but they are not the true purpose of life. Our sparks are the things that makes us want tol ive life to the fullest. Obviously, nothing as simple as a movie can tell us the true purpose of life, everything would be a lot easier then, but it can help us realize that we can be happy and successful even what we do isn’t what we’re born to do.
This is the great thing about Pixar movies; they make us feel like we’re not alone and things aren’t so bad after all. Even if we are at a low point, these movies never fail to help us get better.
And, arguably, the biggest message this incredibly aesthetically pleasing movie gives is:
Life is about feeling things and experiencing sparks of joy wherever we can.
Happy watching!
resources
images taken from Google.
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