Soul – It seems like a normal cartoon for kids to watch, but it’s not. We adults should definitely watch it because there are many aspects that we adults can use to change our perspective on life.
Soul – The Amazing Soul is an animated film from Disney Pixar that was released in late 2020. At first glance, this movie may seem like an ordinary cartoon. But if it were made by another studio, it might be seen that way. But this is made by Disney Pixar. This movie must have something good for us to watch for sure. And if this movie is not really cool, it definitely would not be released during this period. Let’s try to prove whether this movie is as good as the others that have been made or not?
Did you know that Pixar is a film studio that is considered the god of animation films? Many of the past films have created phenomena and inspired viewers, such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Up, and the latest Inside Out. Each film has an interesting perspective. It is a film that can be watched by all ages and genders, and can be applied to everyday life.
Soul Synopsis – The Miracle of the Spirit
The story follows the life of the main character, Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a middle-aged man who teaches music at a school.
The beginning of this story is Joe’s life as a music teacher. His life is rather smooth, rather boring. Even when teaching music, it is boring. Joe has no success in anything that is significant. Joe only has hope. He wants a turning point in his life. He wants to be successful. But he has never done anything differently. He can only wait for that dream to continue.
In the story, Joe loves jazz music because he was inspired by his father who took him to listen to jazz music, which made him interested in this. He is good at playing the piano and has a dream of having a famous career as a musician like his father. But then, there is no place that gives Joe a chance, so he has to become just a music teacher for children.
Then one day, Joe got a call from one of his former students, who was now the drummer for a famous jazz band, who was coming to play in town. (The student later said that Joe’s music class was the only class he ever wanted to take, and because of what Joe taught, he was able to become a professional musician.) Since the band was looking for a great pianist, the student invited Joe to come and try out with jazz saxophonist Dorathy Williams, in case Joe got the chance to play on the actual show.
Jo was very happy and agreed. She went to try out (practice or you can call it an audition) with this band and let the band leader, a woman who played the saxophone very well. At first, before playing, Jo seemed to be looked down on by the band leader, saying that she was just a music teacher. How could she play with the band? But after playing and practicing with the band, Dorathy Williams even said, “Joe, where have you been? What are you doing?” These words indicated Joe’s many abilities, but he did not use them or did not have the opportunity to use them to their fullest. Dorathy Williams accepted to let Jo play on the actual performance.
Joe is overjoyed to have been given the opportunity of a lifetime when he is selected to perform at the city’s best jazz club. On his way back from the audition, Joe falls into a drain, which kills him and sends him into the spirit world.
Joe doesn’t want to die yet because he still has things he wants to do (but hasn’t done yet) waiting for him. The opportunity he has been waiting for his whole life is about to come, but he has to die first. Joe believes that there must be a way to solve this problem, so he sets out to find a way to return to the human world again.
Until Joe meets Number 22 (voiced by Tina Fey), a child spirit who doesn’t want to be born as a human. Number 22 has always avoided being born, and this is the beginning of Joe and Number 22’s journey to find the most important thing in life.
Both Joe and Number 22 learn about each other’s identities. There are many stages of learning, especially during Joe’s return to the human world and Number 22’s first real glimpse of life in the human world. Their old perspectives on life in the past have completely changed.
Both Joe and Number 22 felt a greater understanding of their true humanity. But before long, Joe and Number 22 were captured and brought back to the spirit world. This time, what will happen to his and Number 22’s lives? Will Joe be able to return to the human world? And will Number 22 be reborn?
How will the lives of these two end? We’ll have to find the answer in this movie.
“Watching a drama is like watching yourself again.”
In this article, the admin will present what the admin has learned from watching Soul, which can be summarized as follows:
“You can’t eat dreams for a breakfast.”
“Dreams don’t replace breakfast.” If we keep dreaming and waiting, nothing we want will happen. It’s like Joe’s story. He actually likes and has the ability to play the piano and dreams of becoming a professional musician. However, he didn’t succeed and gave up, continuing his boring life, even though he still secretly dreams about the same old things.
“Between creating opportunities and waiting for opportunities, which is better?”
If Joe had chosen to stand up and fight, pursue his dream by actually doing it, he might have become a professional musician long ago, not having to wait until middle age and have his former students present him with opportunities. This is another issue, many of us sometimes choose to wait for opportunities, but many are not as lucky as Joe. They can only wait and never have good opportunities come their way again.
“Don’t judge someone until you have walked a mile in his shoes.”
“We shouldn’t judge others from our own perspective or experience.” If we don’t understand or have never been like them before, there are many parts in this story that talk about this issue, such as when Joe goes to get a haircut. Number 22, who is in Joe’s body (they switch bodies. How did they switch? You’ll have to find the answer yourself.) asks the barber what he wants to be. The barber says that he used to want to be a veterinarian, but because of financial problems, he ended up becoming a barber. Upon hearing that, Number 22, who is in Joe’s body, quickly judges the barber, saying that he probably doesn’t like and isn’t happy being a barber.
The barber tells Joe and Number 22 that he is happy in his job. His happiness comes from making the customers look better. He also listens to the stories of everyone who comes to tell him. This point shows that happiness is different for each person, even ourselves, and we cannot compare or judge who is happier.
“Follow your own passion—not your parents’, not your teachers’—yours.”
“Believe in our Passion, believe in yourself, and follow the path that we want.” Like in some parts of this movie, Joe’s student came to tell Joe that he would quit playing music because other people thought that the more he played, the more he looked like a freak in other people’s eyes. But when this student tried playing music for Joe to hear, Joe could see right away that this student was very happy with it. It was just that he lacked confidence in his own interests. Coupled with the words or actions of people around him, it created discomfort, making this student hesitate to continue playing the music that he liked.
Joe is the same. Joe’s mother is worried about Joe because Joe is old. She wants Joe to have a good job, a permanent job with a stable income and benefits. Joe’s mother is afraid and concerned that if Joe continues to dream of becoming a musician, and if she dies, it may cause Joe trouble. Because of his mother’s concern, Joe may not dare to follow his passion many times. Partly, he does not want his mother to worry. Another part may be because of Joe himself, who often keeps insulting and derogatory words to undermine his own morale.
This point does not mean that you should not listen to everything people around you say, but rather, choose which ones you can do or improve on after they say them. However, do not listen to and think about everything until you have no space left for yourself.
“Happiness is not a destination, it is a byproduct of enjoying the journey”
“Happiness is not found when we reach our destination, but throughout the journey.” If we keep creating an equation of happiness that must be tied to reaching the goal, and neglecting the good things that happen along the way, that will make us even more miserable.
For example, Joe’s story, he said that his happiness was being a professional musician, which made him live a boring life, going through life without any happiness because what he wanted never came true. So he didn’t allow himself to be happy with the little things or the good things that happened each day. And as a funny story, on the day that Joe became a musician, he found that he was not happy in the way he wanted.
What we ourselves need to understand again is that happiness does not always have to come from success. Happiness can always come from simple things, from small things, from ourselves, from people around us, or from the environment around us.
“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.”
“The reason for each person’s existence is to find something that is truly our own and makes us truly happy.” The goal may not be the reason for living. For example, in Joe’s case, after he became a musician, he did not feel as happy as he thought.
Dreams or goals are just a part of what motivates us to move forward and continue living. But if we want to continue living happily, what we need to find is “the reason for living.”
Number 22 After entering Joe’s body, Joe has seen what it’s like to live happily in a way he’s never had or seen before.
Similarly, Joe, even though his life was not going smoothly and he did not achieve anything, he was able to use his stories, his experiences as examples to show Number 22, until finally Number 22 understood the meaning and reason for living and made him want to be born as a human being.
Sometimes, when we meet new friends, friends of different ages or from different industries, they may make us see things that we have overlooked before. Or they may make us change our attitudes to be better than before. Because if we are still in the same world with the same group of people, it may be difficult for us to see the good things around us or the good opportunities that we are overlooking.
Conclusion
The story of Joe Gardner from Soul has many lessons for us, especially for those who work or those who are facing problems in terms of goals, happiness, and still can’t find the answer to what is the reason for living?
“We should start by being satisfied with what we have, then look for what we lack.”
Instead of running after what you don’t have, trying so hard to get what may not be for you at all. That is the reason why you never reach your goal. There is only suffering, causing you to enter a cycle of negative thinking. If we choose to start with what we have, using what we have to the maximum benefit first, it will be easier to find what is missing, which is suitable for us. (This is considered an extension.)
“When someone comes along, it makes us realize how beautiful life is?”
We may think that our life is not good at all because we have not achieved anything yet. But from the perspective or eyes of others, our life may be happy or there may already be good things around us. Many good things we tend to overlook because we attach happiness to success too much, causing us to have nothing but suffering and see the good things around us as worthless.
The important question that everyone should try to find the answer to is “What is the reason for our existence?” If we can answer clearly, we will be able to live every second meaningfully and happily forever.
Source:
Soul – The Amazing Soul : https://www.disney.co.th/
Thanks to Pixar for the illustrations in this article
