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Since 1937, when Snow White first premiered, Disney films taught us to listen to our hearts, follow our dreams, and pursue our passions. As powerful as this message is, Disney’s Soul conveys a deeper and more significant message. At the start of the film, it seems as though it will follow the format of all the Disney films that came before it. Soul‘s main character, Joe Gardner, is devoted to music and his desire to become a musician drives him throughout the film. Yet, by the end of the film, he realizes all the moments he has been disregarding as unimportant are actually what life is truly about.
What Is Disney’s Soul About?
Disney’s Soul follows Joe Gardner, an aspiring jazz musician who spends his time chasing his dream career. Joe must come to terms with the fact that even though his dreams are valid and capable of bringing them to fruition, there is more to life than chasing after a jazz career. Joe works as a part-time middle school music teacher, but his true passion lies in being a jazz musician. Despite his multiple failed auditions, he is positive that his purpose in life is to make a career out of his hobby. Joe, unphased by his failures, is determined to make his dreams come true.
At the start of Disney’s Soul, Joe is offered a full-time position as a music teacher, but when he receives a call from a former student inviting him to audition to perform with the jazz performer Dorothea Williams, he’s ecstatic. He rushes to the jazz club and books the audition. But on his way back home from the jazz club, Joe takes a fatal fall through a manhole, landing him on a conveyor belt leading to The Great Beyond. The Great Beyond is where souls go when they’re ready to pass on, but Joe refuses to go as he believes he still has a purpose to fulfill on Earth.
He manages to go undercover as a mentor to get himself into The Great Before to avoid death. The Great Before is where souls exist prior to coming to Earth. Joe is assigned soul #22. His mission is to help 22 find her spark so she can get her to pass to Earth and he can get back to his life. In his desperation, he prematurely enters the portal, knocking 22 in with him. When he arrives back on Earth, he is now in the body of a cat, while 22 is in his body. Joe is now driven to get back into his own body so he can play his gig with Dorothea.
What Can We Learn From 22?
When Joe disguises himself as a mentor in order to avoid The Great Beyond, 22 is assigned to him as his soul mate. He must help 22 find her spark so she can go to Earth. However, 22 is extremely stubborn. She doesn’t want to go to Earth because she thinks it’s scary. However, once she gets there, she finds out Earth isn’t as bad as she thought it was.
Along her adventure, she finds joy in the little things such as eating pizza, riding the subway, and watching subway performers. At the end of the film, we find out the real reason 22 was so afraid was that she felt she wasn’t good enough. Many mentors had told her that she had no purpose that she had begun to feel like she didn’t belong on Earth.
“You can’t crush a soul here, that’s what life on Earth is for.”
-22, Soul
22’s fears are representative of those of us here on Earth. So many of us live in fear, the fear that we’re not enough and fear of what could happen to us if we take risks. Instead, we stay in our comfort zone, and we remain the people we’ve always been. For 22, this meant living in The Great Before as the negative soul that no one could help. However, when she opened herself up to something new, something she previously feared, she found joy that she had never felt before, proving that sometimes the thing that scares you the most is the very thing that needs to happen for you to find fulfillment.
22 also represents the childlike essence that lives inside of everyone. She is curious, she’s mesmerized by the simplest things, and she’s interested in listening to what other people have to say. As we grow older, we become so preoccupied that we forget to appreciate the people and things around us. 22 reminds us of how important it is to stay curious and stay excited by the simple things in life.
Dez The Barber
When Joe and 22 accidentally shaves a spot down the middle of Joe’s hair, Joe rushes them both to the barber shop to get his hair fixed in time for his gig that night. Joe explains to 22 that Dez was born to be a barber. However, when 22 indulges in a conversation with Dez, something Joe never took the time to do, they both learned this isn’t the case.
“That’s why I love this job, I get to meet interesting folks like you, make them happy and make them handsome.”
-Dez, Soul
Dez explains that he had once dreamed of being a veterinarian. This was his initial plan when he got out of the navy; unfortunately, his daughter got sick, and he could no longer afford school. When 22 expresses pity, suggesting Dez is unhappy because he never achieved his dreams, he promptly corrects her. He explains that just because his plan didn’t work out doesn’t mean he’s unhappy with the life he has.
As Joe and 22 leave the barbershop, Dez tells Joe it was nice to talk about something other than jazz for once. 22 asks why they never spoke about Dez’s life before, and Dez says it’s because Joe never asked. Joe was so focused on his own career that he never took a minute to ask someone else about their life. At the barbershop, not only did 22 get to know Dez better than Joe ever did, but she also spoke a lot about her fears and experiences in The Great Before. Because she was so open and vulnerable, everyone in the barbershop was able to relate to her.
This scene is a prime example of why enjoying the little moments in life is so crucial. When you take time to connect with other people, you learn things you’ve never known before. However, when you’re only focused on yourself and your own path, you overlook these small lessons and experiences.
Joe’s Gig With Dorothea
When Joe finally makes it back into his body and to his gig with Dorothea, his dreams come true. It feels for a moment as if his purpose has been fulfilled. After the show, he stands outside the venue with Dorothea. He realizes he has spent his entire life waiting for this moment and now that it was over he felt lost. He had been working towards this moment his whole life, now what?
Dorothea tells him a story about a fish who spends all its time looking for the ocean. He swims to an older fish and asks him for help. The older fish tells him he’s already in the ocean. The fish replies, “this is water; what I want is the ocean.”
“I’ve been waiting on this day for my entire life, I thought I’d feel different.”
-Joe Gardner, Soul
The point of this story is to show us that so many of us spend our whole lives waiting for some grand event to occur so that we can start living our lives. Instead, we need to understand that every minute that we are alive, we are already living and have every opportunity to make a beautiful life no matter where we are in our journey.
Spiritual Messages
From the mentions of quantum reality and meditation, Disney’s Soul is flooded with spiritual messages. Have you ever wondered where you existed before coming down to Earth? Disney’s Soul answers this question or at least offers their own perspective. The Great Before is a spiritual realm where souls exist before entering the portal to Earth. Souls must be assigned personalities and must find their spark before starting their life on Earth. The Great Before also includes “The Hall Of Everything.” This is an area where souls can participate in different activities and hobbies in order to find their passion.
“This is all an illusion, this whole place is a hypothetical.”
-22, Soul
When 22 leads Joe deeper into The Great Before, we are shown “The Zone.” This is where people who live on Earth end up becoming immersed in their passion, such as acting or playing an instrument. Physically, their bodies are on Earth, but mentally and spiritually, they are in The Zone. Anyone who actively practices their passion can relate to the feeling of being so connected with their art that they lose themselves in the zone.
22 also introduces Joe to Moonwind. Moonwind refers to Joe and 22 as “Astro-travelers,” who rides around on a large ship with tie-dye sails and teaches Joe how to meditate his way back to Earth. Basically, Moonwind is the stereotypically hippie-spiritual guy. Moonwind’s job is to help “the lost souls of Earth find their way.” Moonwind helps the lost souls meditate their way back to themselves so they can reenter their lives. When Moonwind helps a lost soul back to Earth, we see a man jump up from his office job after questioning what he’s doing with his life. This seems to represent how many people are working tirelessly at jobs they’re not passionate about just because it’s what society has made them feel like they need to do.
“Some people just can’t let go of their own anxieties and obsessions, leaving them lost and disconnected from life and this is the result.”
-Moonwind, Soul
Disney’s Soul offers its own interpretation of what a lost soul is. One of the darker areas of The Great Before is where the lost souls live. Lost souls are large, dark, and angry entities wander around The Great Beyond in a dark space where no one else is around. The movie seems to hint that Joe is a lost soul or at least is headed in that direction if he doesn’t stop obsessing over his need to be a jazz musician and start living his life.
At the end of Disney’s Soul, after 22 returns back to The Great Before, she becomes a lost soul. She finally experiences Earth and had a great time being there. However, Joe is so determined to get back in his body he will say anything to get 22 to leave. Joe reinforces 22’s old beliefs that she doesn’t belong on Earth. When Joe finds 22, deep inside the lost soul, she is playing all the mean things that have been said to her over in her head. However, Joe reminds her that she is good enough and she is ready to go to Earth. 22 is then saved from being a lost soul and is ready to return to Earth.
Your Spark VS Your Purpose
In Disney’s Soul, before souls are allowed to travel to Earth, they must find their spark. This is what Joe helps 22 do. Joe initially believes his purpose is to play jazz music; however, he learns that music is only his spark, not his soul’s purpose on Earth. A spark is different than a purpose because a spark is something that inspires someone or excites them. A purpose is a reason someone is on Earth. Purposes are not assigned; purposes are the meanings that people make out of life.
“A spark isn’t a soul’s purpose. Your purpose is your meanings of life, so basic.”
-Counselor Jerry, Soul
So many people go through life believing their purpose is one thing, they spend their lives chasing this one thing, and they feel incomplete without it. Disney’s Soul teaches us that it’s great to follow your dreams, but you shouldn’t get so caught up in it that you feel incomplete on your own.
What Is Joe’s Real Purpose?
By the end of Disney’s Soul, Joe realizes his purpose was never to be a musician. He still loves jazz music, and he still wants to play it; however, he realizes that every day is a gift and there is joy and excitement all around him; he wasn’t paying enough attention. When Joe realizes his real purpose is to enjoy every moment of his life, the message of Soul becomes clear–dreams are important, but so are the little, everyday moments we experience on Earth.
Most of us go through life with all of our focus aimed at one destination. Whether it’s a dream job, a dream house, a dream relationship, or a large stack of money, we are so focused on our desire that we forget to enjoy what’s already around us. We all have the endless potential to make our dreams come true. We aren’t here just to achieve greatness. We are here to experience life and to make the most of every single moment.