Take note of these two messages in Pixar’s ‘Soul’ and 2021 won’t be so bad after all

They say that “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry” and rarely has a year been better summed up. Many of us had resolutions in December 2019 and plans for how we would spend the 12 months that followed – all of which quickly unravelled with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting lockdowns.  

Countless ambitions for the year turned to mere wishes, or Zoom conferences. Which is quite the thing. Especially given that, if you had asked us what “Zoom” was before 2020, there would have been descriptions of frenetic motion – whereas now, many of us are much slower and more sedentary than we ever were before.

For many, it’s like the control over our lives has been taken away. Although, with news of a vaccine on the horizon, there is hope that there might come a time in 2021 when we’re all allowed outside again and can bid adieu to the never-ending tiers. Waiting is all we have currently.

Yet Soul, the new Pixar film, released on Disney+ on Christmas Day, gives us another message about our ability to live, regardless of the circumstances.

In the beautiful animated film, we follow Joe Gardner, a middle-aged school music teacher, who feels like he has missed his shot at “life”. But one day that all changes when he bags an audition to be in a famed jazz quartet, succeeds, and gets the opportunity to play with them later that same night. He feels like he has finally made it. Alas, after he books the gig, he suddenly dies and finds himself having to mentor an unborn soul, soul number 22, in order to get back to living.

The film, the first Pixar production to have a black lead and the first to have a black co-director, is gorgeous in so many respects. From the attention paid to black skin tones, to the importance placed on the black cultural landmark that is the Barbershop.

Yet few reviewers have talked about two of the important life lessons this film teaches us. So here goes.

1. Life Is What You Make It

In the film, unborn souls are given pre-determined personality traits. There is a soul who is an “irritable wallflower who is dangerously curious”, and another who is a “manipulative megalomaniac who’s intensely opportunistic”. Yet, in order to enter the body of a newborn baby down on earth, these souls have to find their “spark”.

Your “spark” is something you gain when you’ve created a reason for yourself to experience life on earth. This reflects a philosophical theory known as source-voluntarism, where we don’t have to wait for something else to give us reasons for doing things, rather we have the power to create our own reasons. We have the power to shape our own future.

This is the perfect lesson for life in a pandemic, when a lot about our lives is outside of our control. It’s important for us to remember that we still have the power to decide what we’re going to wear, what we’re going to eat, whether we’re going to go out for a walk or listen to music. We have the power to decide whether we’re going to journal or Skype with friends or even just nap. Soul reminds us that we can still shape our own lives.

2. Life Is For Living

In the film, Joe thinks that after performing with the jazz quartet he will finally start living. But as he learns later on in the film, he was already living. As one character says: “I heard this story about a fish. He swims up to this older fish and says, ‘I’m trying to find this thing they call the ocean.’ ‘The ocean?’ says the older fish, ‘that’s what you’re in right now’. ‘This?’ says the younger fish, ‘this is water. What I want is the ocean’.”

Soul reminds us that life is not just about rushing from thing to thing but taking time for enjoyment where you’re at. Breathing in the air, letting water brush over your feet at the beach, laughing with friends. Those brilliant and vibrant parts of life that are just as worthy of celebration as accomplishing our big goals.

We should remember that. And we should remember that, despite the ongoing pandemic and the uncertainties surrounding it, life is not passing us by but rather we are lucky to be living it. We should embrace every single second and know that we still have the power to shape our own destinies.