Are Pete Docter’s Characters the Saving Grace for Disney+?

In the age of streaming services, like Netflix, Stan and Amazon Prime, it was only a matter of time until The Walt Disney Company joined the scene. In November 2020, they launched the much-anticipated Disney+ which broke several streaming service records. In only a matter of 24 hours, Disney+ had over 10 million subscribers. The streaming site has it all �" Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, you name it! I admit I am a sucker for a good streaming service, but Disney+ really does take the cake. 

 

Before Disney+, I didn’t think of Disney as anything more than its age-old, tired damsel characters. Yes, I am talking about Aurora, Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella, Belle… you get the gist. And before you say it, I know! How basic white girl of me? But as you can probably tell, in the late nineties and early noughties, that was as good as it gets. All Disney had to offer were pretty, thin girls strapped in corsets and tight ballgown dresses awaiting a kiss from their Prince Charming. (Cue eyeroll now). 

 

But that was nearly twenty years ago! Man, do I feel old. Now we have Disney+ and I have to give credit where credit is due. Disney (and its many franchises) have come a long way since then, and with Pete Docter in their back pocket I am guessing I know why. After he swept fans off their feet with his debut movie Monsters Inc. in 2001, he was definitely a director worth keeping your eye out for. His later movies �" The Incredibles (2004), Wall-E (2008), Up (2009), Inside Out (2015), and Soul (2020) �" did not disappoint, either. Each one easily racked in over $150 million dollars at the box office; some even grossed as high as $633 million dollars in just a mere eight weeks in movie theatres. Cha-ching! 

 

These turn of the 21^st century movies, whilst obviously successful, also nurture a far greater abstract and psychological prompt �" yes, even for children. Especially, Pete Docter’s latest masterpiece, Soul which is a catapult into the theoretical realm of the afterlife. It brings to the table the much-needed conversation about purpose on Earth and the enjoyment of being human. The movie premiered on Disney+, skipping theatres entirely. A smart decision by The Walt Disney Company seeing as the world was heavily shaken by a pandemic which practically locked us inside, with nothing but a bag of buttery popcorn and our Disney+ accounts. 

 

Nevertheless, the success of the 2020 family comedy derives from the revolutionary standards of the Disney-Pixar character arcs as it follows the journey of Joe Gardner and 22 through the ups and downs of living corporally and hypothetically. Joe Gardner �" voiced by none other than the hilarious Jamie Fox, academy award winning best actor �" is a fedora wearing middle school band teacher whose dream is to play jazz. Having spent most of his life chasing down gig after gig and never getting so much as a lick, he finally gets his chance. But before he does, he takes the wrong step and winds up caught between Earth and the afterlife. 

 

Joe is a slumpy, unfashionable, middle aged hermit with a severe case of tunnel vision. When his soul is first separated from his body, he says, “this can’t happen, I am not dying today, not when my life just got started”. The irony in this scene really packs a punch for the audience. As much as we hate to admit it, Joe is an excruciatingly relatable character. How many of us have thought, ‘only if I get that promotion, then I’ll be happy’, or ‘a new car is exactly what is missing from my life’? Because I know I have. 

 

But it’s almost always that once we finally get that promotion or new car, it doesn’t quite the hit the spot like we dreamed it would. And ultimately, we are still left with a little bit of dissatisfaction with our lives. Joe learns this the hard way and he realises his life had “amounted to nothing”. Joe’s naivety and wistful thinking conceals this dark complexity to his character beautifully, and only as we follow him further along his spiritual journey back to his body is it revealed to us piece by piece. 

 

Joe unleashes his anxieties, constantly reassuring himself that his purpose on Earth is to play jazz �" it’s his only reason for living. This becomes a sticking point for his and 22’s friendship. 22, voiced by the queen of comedy, Tina Fey, is a cynical, closed minded, comical infant soul that has been stuck in The Great Before for thousands of years. Docter suggests in his lore, that to start living on Earth, you have to have a reason to live, and 22 hasn’t found hers. And it’s not a lack of trying either! 22 has been mentored by a hilarious cast of past souls, such as Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Marie Antoinette, Abraham Lincoln, Muhammad Ali, and George Orwell. And that’s just to name a few… Yet, she has struggled to find her ‘spark’. 

 

When we first meet 22, she is completely opposed to the idea of living, she claims she “knows everything about Earth, and it’s not worth the trouble”. She is comfortable in The Great Before; she has her routine; she floats in mist and she does her sudoku puzzles. But 22’s true complexity lies in her self-destructive, self-critical, and sarcastic nature. With that, we deduct that the reason she hasn’t found her ‘spark’ is because she is scared to live and honestly believes that Earth is where souls are crushed. After being given up on by countless mentors, it has been engraved in her fragile mind that she is “not good enough for living”. 

 

Much like Joe, 22 has her own spiritual awakening, freeing her from her inner turmoil and self-struggle. Her character serves as a reminder that living is about appreciating the small things, and to not overlook the beauty and wonder of being human. The two characters act as a form of clever contrast to successfully open our eyes to the idea that life isn’t about knuckling down and fulfilling your ‘purpose’ but instead for living. 

 

This gentle reminder is what makes Soul such a fantastically smart and important Disney-Pixar movie. With Docter as their secret weapon, I am sure Disney will be staying far away from their once-upon-a-time Disney princesses who are saved by a kiss from their Prince Charming. And for that, I believe they deserve a round of applause. Who’s with me?