The Psychology Behind Soul Explained
⚠️Warning — Spoilers Ahead!
Compared to the recent animated films Pixar has released, Soul appeals to an older demographic with mature themes like the importance of living and tackling the profound question of the meaning of life.
How the Narrative Structure contributes to the theme — Want vs. Need
Soul utilizes a “Want vs. Need” structure wherein the conflict lies in the internal struggle of what the protagonist wants and what he actually needs.
The First Act — Establishing the “Want”
At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), an aspiring Jazz musician working as middle-school music teacher. What he truly desires is to perform live in a band. He constantly reiterates how Jazz is his life, his dream and his one reason for living. He almost gets what he wants when he’s offered the opportunity to perform with Dorothea Williams. Unfortunately his dream hits a snag when he accidentally falls into a manhole and dies. Thus begin his life-changing journey. He meets 22, a cynical new soul (voiced by Tina Fey) at the Great Before — aka You Seminar (they are rebranding ) — and they both find a way to get Joe back in his body and into The Half Note club just in time to perform. Throughout this act, we, the audience are rooting for Joe. We want him to succeed because the idea of following one’s dream or ambition is a popular and widely accepted notion in society. Most typical inspiring stories often includes an encouraging message to chase our dreams. We believe that achieving them leads to happiness, fulfilment and success. So, when Joe finally makes it to his debut performance, there’s a momentary sense of victory.
Hinting Joe’s Need
The film hints Joe’s need several times in the middle of his journey. These clues are only made clear when we think of the film in retrospect. However. Joe either ignores them or misinterprets them. For instance, in the Hall of You, where highlights of Joe’s entire life is laid out for him to see, Joe’s life is filled with rejections and loneliness. He eats alone in a diner, and there’s a monument dedicated to him at laundry alone. Upon seeing his life before his eyes, Joe remarks, “My life is meaningless.” At this point, he mistakenly believes his life is worthless because he hasn’t realised his dream. When in reality, his life seems empty because he has yet to appreciate “regular old living” and treasure human relationships.
Another instance is when he finally confronts him mom about performing with Dorothea Williams, something his mom disapproves. His mom reprimands him, “You can’t eat dreams for breakfast.” A simple phrase that speaks volumes. What she’s really saying is: Joe needs to be realistic and consider other aspects of his life and not solely focus on his ambitions. Having breakfast may be an everyday aspect of life that can be taken for granted. So, when Joe responds with “I don’t want to eat,” it shows his disregard for his mom’s warnings and solidifying his misconception that fulfilling our purpose in life is what gives it meaning.
Additionally, Joe undervalues the mundane aspect of living. In contrast, 22 appreciates the simple and basic parts of living like walking, eating and feeling the wind. When she asks Joe, “maybe sky-watching can be my spark, or walking. I’m really good at walking.” Joe merely dismisses them as “regular old living.” In his eyes, they aren’t “purposes” and therefore they can’t add meaning to life.
The Second Act — Revealing the “Need”
According to an article by Narrative First, in this part of the narrative strucutre, “The Hero … discovers that what he wants doesn’t match up with what he needs. He ditches his original motivation for this new one, and marches into the 3rd act with a new purpose.” In Soul, the story takes a turn when Joe is given exactly what he wants — to perform with Dorothea. Though it was an enjoyable and succesful performance, Joe finds him self feeling empty and unfulfilled by the end of the night. Defying his expectations, he falls back into the same everyday routine, taking the train back home as though nothing special happened. This moment of disappointment forces Joe to reflect, in which he realizes what he actually needs — to enjoy life and live instead of only focusing on his ambitions. His spark in life comes from being excited by living and appreciating the everyday things and his relationship with his family and friend. Dumbledore once said, “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live” which perfectly summarises the film’s message. Equipped his newfound realisation, Joe’s motivation changes in the final act to trying to help 22 start her new life.
Theme: Ambition vs. Living
The film debunks the misconceived notion that we are all driven by a purpose in life and that our life revolves around our passions. Joe’s biggest flaw is his obsession with his ambition. While in his body, 22 gets a glimpse into his head and she remarks, “Oh there’s not much here. Jazz, jazz, more Jazz.” This has caused him to be self-centered and ignorant. For instance, he didn’t help 22 find her spark like he promised. He only wanted to get back in his body in time to perform. When 22 is on the verge of finding her spark, Joe takes credit for it, “22, you’re only loving this stuff because you’re in my body.” And when 22 gets her earth pass, Joe takes the credit again. “I’ll tell you what filled it in. I did!”
Additionally, being self-absorbed prevents him from interacting with other people around him. For instance, Dev remarks how it was nice to be able to finally talk about his life with Joe
His ambition distracted him. He caused his own death because he was ignorant of the world around him. While he was on the phone explaining the the great news about playing in Dorothea Williams’ Jazz quartet. He has several near death misses. Bricks nearly falls on him at a construction site. He nearly gets hit by incoming traffic and he almost slips on several banana. If only he took notice of his surroundings and these near-death moments he would’ve been more careful but unfortunately, he remains distracted, falls into the manhole and dies.
Nevertheless, having an ambition and “regular old living” are not necessarily contradictory. Joe ultimately learns, with little help from Jerry’s explanation, that a spark isn’t a soul’s purpose and that the notion of life’s purposes and meaning of life is a complex one. In fact, assuming that that your purpose of life gives meaning to it is a basic conception. The film doesn’t discourage us to be ambitious rather Soul teaches us that it’s important to have a balance of both ambition and living your life.
Embracing the Unexpected
While at the barbershop, 22 raises an important question: “They say you’re born to do something, but how do you figure out what that thing is? I mean, what if you pick up the wrong thing? Or somebody else’s thing, you know?”
In response, Dev recounts his life story, how he wanted to be a veterinarian but due to his daughter being sick, he could only afford barber school. The important takeaway in his story is that life can throw unexpected curveballs disrupting your plan. You don’t always know what your purpose in life is and it changes depending on your life experiences. Dez embraces the unexpected and found a new purpose. He loves being a barber, “I get to meet interesting folks like you, make them happy, and make them handsome.” Living means change is often inevitable and sometimes necessary. And living consist of embracing the unforeseeable and going with the flow.
Life doesn’t always go according to plan. As Dez’s life experience tells us, you have to improvise. You have to JAzzzzing. The unexpected things in life. Embrace the unexpected because you might learn something out of it. Dez idn’t knoe he loved being a barber, “I get to meet interesting folks like you, make them happy, and make them handsome.”
Joe’s Purpose — Being a mentor
Joe’s journey is also about embracing the unexpected and changes. Originally, he believed that his purpose in life was becoming a Jazz pianist. Yet he found that unfulfilling. But perhaps a more fulfilling purpose for Joe is being a mentor to others. From our first glimpse of Joe, he is already identified as a teacher and a good one. Eventhough his students were playing discordantly and weren’t talented. He perseveres and inspires them. He inspired Curley and Connie, both of whom are his students. Even Dorothea gives him the nickname “Teach” marking his identity. His most significant role is being a mentor to 22.
In the brief moments where Joe stops being selfish, his true abilities as a mentor shines. He recognises people’s potential and guides knows how to guide and inspire them. This is reflected in his comment about Connie, “She loves to play. She might say she hates everything, but trombone is her thing. She’s good at it.”
Joe truly shines in the film when he embraces becoming a mentor. Without his help, 22 would’ve been stuck as a lost soul. it’s undeniable that he is a great mentor when even the universe embodied by the Jerrys are inspired by him. What makes Joe better and stand out from other mentors is that she doesn’t use hypothesis and theories to explain life rather in his own words, “I just let her walk a mile in my shoes.” Joe is aware that personal experience is a better teacher.
Perhaps his best moment as a mentor is when he takes a nervous 22’s hand and jumps into Earth with her. A true mentor will guide you to where you have to go and to who you need to be. And although it didn’t started out that way, he eventually realizes his through mentor self. And guided 22 through her self-discovery journey from the beginning til the end (when she goes to Earth).
Experience to Live
22 faces an existential crisis that many have questioned. What are we meant to do? What’s the purpose of living?
She struggles to find answers these questions because of one big obstacles. Her entire expistence prior to meeting Joe has been hypothetical.
“I was existing as a theoretical construct in a hypothetical way station between life and death…And by the time I got to mentor number 266, I was seriously asking, like, what is all the fuss about? …Like, is all this living really worth dying for?
She doesn’t get any first-person experience in life. Her previous mentors, despite being icnonic historical figures on tell her of their life, hoping ot inspire. The Hall of Everything is also a hypothetical experience bcause you can’t eat or taste anything in the You Seminar. For instance, when Joe suggests perhaps baking is 22’s spark. She responds, “I don’t get it” because she can’t smell or taste or touch. It doesn’t make her feel anything as it’s just a theory.
It’s not until she goes into the real world experience everything with her 5 senses that she finally appreciate living. In fact, Joe discovered his passion after HEARING a man play jazz in a jazz club. Sometimes, you have to live and gain real-life experiences to find that spark to live. Only after spending time in the living did 22 finds the spark to live.
“Jazzing”
Recently, Pixar and Disney have incorporated a diverse ethnic communities into their storytelling. In Soul, African American culture is represented, particular Jazz music. Apart from representing the African amercan culture. Jazz Is also used as a metaphor for Carpe Diem.
Joe’s dad explain that Jazz is a black improvisational music. The key word being “improvise”. When Jazz musicians improvise, they use what they feel at the present and go with the flow. 22 coins the term “jazzing” When asked how she knew how to deal with Paul. She claims she didn’t and was just being herself, doing what she felt right. She was improvising. She was jazzing. In a way, jazzing has the same meaning as “Carpe Diem.” Just like how you improvise in Jazz, you can improvise in life by living presently and doing whatever feels right.
The moments when 22 is Jazzing is when she impulsively runs her hands through the fence, shouting“I made music. I’m jazzing”
Even Joe experiences “jazzing” in the honest confrontation with his mom. “It felt like Jazz” he exclaims, because it wasn’t a premeditated moment.
Id, Ego, Superego
Sigmund Freud’s personality theory states that the human psyche is structured into three parts: Id, Superego and Ego. These concepts develop at different stages in our lives, and Soul illustrates this through different scenes:
Id — Unconscious Level
The Id is the part of the mind that responds to basic urges, needs and desires. The new souls from the Great Before (aka You Seminar) symbolizes the Id of a person. For instance, while 22 is in Joe’s physical body, she acts directly upon her own desires. At Dez’s barbershop, she asks for a lollipop despite the bowl being labelled as “Kids Only”. Another example of her acting on her instinctive urges is when she lies down on the gutter as the wind blows from under her. Her actions are instinctive, and she has little regard for whether its publicly appropriate or not.
Ego — Preconscious level
The Ego operates as the moral conscience of the Id. It is often influenced by the external world. When 22 repeats what Joe honest criticisms about his mom, that being she doesn’t understand him, Joe’s superego tells him that he should try to stop her as it would be rude and disrespectful to speak bluntly to his mother.
Superego — Conscious Level
The Superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from others. Superego is illustrated through the mentors’ soul.
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Photo Source: Soul. Pete Docter. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2020. Film.
Disclaimer: Any views and opinions expressed are personal and solely belong to the authors. They are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club organisation, company, individual or anyone or anything.
