Re-Porter Blog: The Porter Report #3

Life and Purpose

A Deeper Look At The Layered Nuance of Pixar's Soul

By: Brandon Porter

    In the midst of this unprecedented global pandemic, a lot of people have been pondering what truly matters in the life that they live. What is my purpose? Does my life have meaning?, Am I living my life to the fullest? These questions seem to be cropping up more and more when you have had plenty of time to isolate, quarantine, and reflect while also protecting yourself from the dangers of COVID-19. It also is the emotional backbone of Disney & Pixar's latest cinematic outing Soul. Watching this wonderfully crafted film and reflecting on its after-effects of its messaging caused me to seriously consider how I look at the idea of purpose and how it can be both beneficial and detrimental to life and how someone lives it. We can evaluate this by looking at Joe Gardner, played by Jaime Foxx, and how he is living his life. 

Joe is one passionate guy. He loves music especially jazz and believes it is the reason he's been put on this earth. It's what drives him, it's what wakes him up every morning, it's the thing he "believes" gives his life meaning. It's always awesome when someone finds something that makes them happy and inspires them to move forward in life. But what happens when passion and purpose become a potentially poisonous and even destructive tool that keeps us chained down and not getting the most out of life. Now to clarify, Joe's passion is his greatest strength and it's the thing that makes him a character that you genuinely root for. It can be found in how he interacts with the people around him. Despite him not having an interest in teaching full time due to his ambitions, you can feel his excitement when one of his students starts to really feel and get lost in the music. He goes out of his way to share his passion with his students whether they are motivated or not. When he plays and he gets in the zone, his students start to perk up, they start listening more intently, they ingest his devotion and love for the arts. It's a quality that true teachers possess and separates them from those just coasting to get a paycheck. 

Despite him having a terrific ability to inspire his students, he is still fixated on his dream of becoming a world-famous jazz musician. There is nothing wrong with that at all. But once we get deeper into the film, the problematic elements start to come to the surface. When he dies and goes to the great before, we get a clearer picture of how he is living his life or rather how little he's actually living his life. He is so fixated on the endgame ahead that he hasn't made time to truly enjoy little things that balance out disappointment, failure, or even mediocrity. No romantic relationships, no life outside of music, a constant obsession with his passion. It's hard to establish deep relationships with people when you always seem to talk so much about what you know most about as shown with his visit to the barbershop. It's good to talk about what you love with people who share the same interest. But sometimes, nuance in conversations strengthen relationships and make you more layered and complex.

But the real question comes when Joe finally gets the gig of his dreams and knocks it out of the park. He is excited about the future now that he believes his life has officially begun. Then reality hits him when he realizes that his future in this new career endeavor is...doing the same thing over again. It's a real turning point for Joe as he comes to the realization that even his passion for jazz was his life, he wasn't truly living his life. This brings up my ultimate question. What happens when the passion that we want to make a living out of keeps us from actually living? What happens when the things we love take over our overall being to where there isn't much room for anything else? What happens to us? It's the questions that I continue to contemplate even after seeing the film. It's the overall message of the movie and why the film has stuck with me after the credits roll.

Look at some of the most famous people in the world. You may look at them excel at an activity and the word that you say is: "He was born to do this." That is an encouraging statement to make about someone who genuinely loves what they do. But what if the thing that you claim they were born to do is all they want to do or believe they should. Think about any professional athlete or, in Joe's case, musician. They live and breathe their craft and don't leave room for anything else. This can be problematic especially when they reach the peak of their careers and gathered up all the accolades possible for their genre or profession. For example, an NBA player lives and breathes basketball. He is so good at it and it's the thing he thinks about when he wakes up and when he falls asleep. He's locked in and focused on just improving his game and doesn't leave room for much else. No family, no relationships, no social interactions, no sense of purpose besides basketball. He gathers up all the accolades possible. All the rings, all the trophies, all the records. Once he gets to the end of his career, he looks around and realizes...his life had no meaning besides playing with that little orange ball. He has little to no connection with his family, he can't hold a conversation without bringing up basketball, he can't maintain a relationship, he doesn't really have friends, and he just stays in the gym, works, plays, goes home, and does it all again the next morning. Now for some, this could work to keep them out of trouble because things like family and friends can impede your progression especially if they aren't bringing value to the relationship. But life needs to be more than the passion you want to turn into a living. As Joe learns, it's the little things that give life meaning. Spending time with his father, passionately teaching his students, enjoying a nice piece of pie or pizza, loving his mother, enjoying a nice cool breeze. His journey with 22 makes him realize the things that give life meaning are the little things we take for granted. Actually living every day to the fullest and being content with outcomes. You'll have good days and bad days. But tomorrow is a fresh start and an opportunity to do be. 

By the end of Soul, Joe gets a second chance to live life but this time he'll do it without letting his passion overtake his life. It's a message that couldn't be more timely as we continue to navigate the uncharted waters of this pandemic for the remaining days of 2020 and into 2021. So many people could be questioning what their purpose is and making adjustments to be sure they get the most out of the time on earth they have left. It could be career changes, disconnecting from people who don't bring value to your life, or simply devoting more time to family and personal health. Your dreams are valid & your passion should be fed, celebrated, and shared. But make sure you balance it out with the beauty of the little things to truly transform your life into something it was always meant to be...worth living.