Pixar's 'Soul' theologically wrong on many levels

Published: March 6, 2021

By Katie Karp
Ozark Catholic Academy

Pixar’s latest release, “Soul,” tells the story of an aspiring jazz musician, Joe, who falls down a manhole on his way to his “big break.” When he finds himself as a soul disassociated from his body, he is frantic to return to earth and have his shot at being a real jazz musician.

The premise itself is not offensive, but there are several things that this movie gets drastically wrong about the human soul. As a theology teacher, I feel somewhat responsible for pointing these things out, so young and impressionable viewers will not think their soul could accidentally end up in the body of a cat.

Joe’s wandering soul discovers a place in the spiritual realm where unborn souls dwell while earning their passage to earth. The idea that souls exist in a holding place of sorts negates the unity of body and soul, but the idea that life has to be earned is more problematic.

Life in all forms is a pure gift from God; there is no possible way to earn or deserve existence. A painting cannot earn the right to be painted, nor can we earn the right to be created. We are here simply because God loves us. No earning necessary. These animated souls earn life through discovering their passions.

Joe’s passion is obvious, jazz, but other souls struggle their way through a warehouse of every object imaginable (cookware, sports equipment, art supplies, instruments and so on) waiting for material objects to “spark” their passion and gain them entrance to the physical world. It is apparent how Pixar leads the viewer on a journey with Joe — Joe loves jazz, so that must be his purpose, right?

His desperation to return increases with every mishap along the way. Eventually he gets the chance to be a jazz musician and is filled with an echoing emptiness. From a secular perspective, passion and purpose can often seem synonymous, but Joe discovers that his passion alone does not fulfill him. It turns out that having a passion, even a noble one, is not the only way one can earn passage to earth.

On his second go-round, Joe discovers that he previously neglected all the little things that make life so magical. The message of appreciating the little things is not a harmful one, but in this context becomes problematic. Life is about more than material happiness or appreciation in the same way that it is about more than discovering your passions.

Being grateful does not make one person deserve life any more than another. No amount of gratitude for crisp leaves and a New York slice could be enough for us to earn or deserve life. The film sets up the premise that passions alone are not enough to fulfill us, but its answer for the “purpose” of life is but an iota of what we believe as Catholics.

The creation of the soul, its relationship to the body and its transfer — ability into cats are miscommunicated by the film, but they can also be understood as artistic license taken for a children’s film. The true misstep occurs when life is depicted as something that has to be earned and the purpose of life is demeaned to finding material happiness in the small things.

As Catholics, we know there is much more to life. You might even say, we know it in our souls.

Katie Karp holds a master’s degree in education from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. She teaches Humane Letters and theology at Ozark Catholic Academy in Tontitown.