Soul (2020)
Directed by Pete Docter
Partly · Woke-Adjacent
How we score movies →Consciousness Markers
Pixar's first Black lead character with a diverse supporting cast. The film was made with specific consultation from Black cultural advisors and features authentic portrayals of African American life and experience without stereotyping.
The film celebrates African American culture and jazz heritage with authentic detail and respect. However, it avoids systemic critique or examination of structural racism, instead treating race as cultural identity rather than as a lens for social analysis.
The film maintains a philosophical rather than preachy tone, avoiding explicit moral lectures. However, certain sequences in the You Seminar and the film's existential themes carry a somewhat instructive quality about purpose and meaning.
The character 22 (voiced by Tina Fey) is a female soul, but the film does not center feminist themes or critique gender dynamics. Female characters exist in supporting roles without particular emphasis on gender-based social issues.
The film features characters of varying body types in its You Seminar sequences, but body diversity is not a thematic focus. No particular emphasis on challenging beauty standards or promoting body acceptance.
The film depicts Joe as a middle-class teacher and jazz musician pursuing his passion, but does not critique capitalism, wealth inequality, or economic systems. The narrative is individualistic rather than systemic in its concerns.
While the film honors jazz heritage and African American cultural history, it does not reframe or revise historical narratives. The film is set in contemporary times and does not engage with historical reinterpretation.
No LGBTQ+ themes, characters, or representation present in the film. The narrative does not engage with sexual orientation or gender identity.
No climate or environmental themes present in the film. The narrative does not engage with climate change, sustainability, or environmental consciousness.
No neurodivergent characters, representation, or themes present in the film. The narrative does not engage with autism, ADHD, mental disability, or other forms of neurodiversity.
Synopsis
Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.
Why it received this score
Soul occupies an interesting and somewhat contradictory position in the landscape of contemporary animated cinema. On one hand, it represents a genuine milestone: Pixar's first feature with a Black protagonist, co-directed by Kemp Powers and animated with the consultation of what the studio termed a "Black Culture Trust." The film's commitment to authenticity in its depiction of jazz culture, New York City's African American community, and the inner lives of its characters suggests a studio taking its responsibility seriously. Yet this very earnestness operates in service of a vision that is apolitical at its core, one that treats cultural representation as an end in itself rather than as a vehicle for social critique or consciousness-raising.
The film's philosophical core concerns itself with questions of purpose, passion, and mortality, rendered through a metaphysical framework that eschews any particular ideological posture. Joe Gardner's struggle is presented as universal rather than specifically rooted in the structural inequalities or historical traumas that shape the African American experience. The supporting characters exist primarily as reflections of Joe's own journey rather than as fully realized agents of their own narratives. While the film avoids the trap of reducing its characters to their identity markers, it also avoids using that identity as a lens through which to examine systemic injustice or cultural power dynamics.
What results is a celebration of cultural specificity without cultural critique. The jazz sequences are rendered with technical sophistication and genuine affection for the music itself, yet the film never asks difficult questions about access, economics, or artistic labor. It is, finally, a film about a Black middle-class professional navigating existential questions in a manner that would be recognizable to any audience member of any background. This represents a choice, and that choice places Soul in a curious position: genuinely progressive in its representation, yet conservative in its refusal to engage with the material conditions that structure the lives of its characters.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Critic Reviews
“This densely packed, exquisitely executed and just a teensy bit batshit film is peak Pixar. It's a vintage mix of the company's intricate storytelling, complex emotional intelligence, technical prowess and cerebral whimsy on dexamethasone.”
“Visually glorious, frequently very funny and genuinely profound, this is a picture which cries out to be seen on the big screen.”
“Moving ever-onward from the sequels years, Pixar gets right back in the zone with Soul. Deep, witty, and fast on its jazz-loving feet, it doesn’t miss a beat. ”
“If anything, Soul is guilty of over-ambition. The wizardry and wit is there, but it lacks Pixar’s usual deftness in making complex themes sing for youngsters. Mixing heart and existential angst, it’ll connect more with Joe’s generation than little ones. It’s smart and, yes, soulful but it never quite takes flight. ”