I’ve read good things about Pixar’s movie Soul, which won an Oscar for best animated feature and is highly rated. I finally got the chance to watch it today, and I loved it, too!
The story: a jazz musician, stuck in a mediocre job, finally gets his big break. However, when a wrong step takes him to the Great Before, he tries to help an infant soul in order to return to Earth.
I would say that this movie is perfect for people who have questions about life and existentialism – people like me. I was actually moved to tears; it opened my eyes so much.
I think that’s all I can say without spoiling the movie, so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want to be spoiled, it’s time to leave.
SPOILER ZONE
If you’ve seen the movie and want to read my realizations, here we go.
I’ve had cases of existentialism in my life, like a lot of times. And by that I mean I get questions about what my purpose is in life, is there even a point to my existence?
During these moments I get so fixated on this unknown “purpose” that I get depressed. Apparently I’m not the only one because when I checked out the Reddit thread about the movie, I saw a couple posts that resonated:
Maybe our way of thinking was influenced by books or movies that focused way too much on finding your purpose or passion in life or else it’s not worth living. So it was incredibly refreshing to find a movie that flipped that message on its head. I expected the “spark” to be the usual suspects but actually it’s something that most humans take for granted – the little things that make life worth living, like a delicious dessert, moments with loved ones, even watching beautiful movies like this one.
Just like Joe, I also get this feeling about how my life hasn’t really began yet because I haven’t yet achieved my big dream.
So it hit me when after he finally got the thing he had waited for all his life, he didn’t feel different.
I’ve been there with little dreams. It does feel different… for like all of 2 minutes. Then after that the buzz fades, and I’m back to being a lost soul.
I’ve been chasing my purpose my whole life. This past decade it has all been about moving outside of Asia and finding the love of my life.
Then I read these comments:
I need to find joy in the present, even in the mundane. My life is great as it is. I’ve actually already achieved a lot of dreams in and there is no reason to feel like my life hasn’t begun yet just because I haven’t achieved what I think are my biggest dreams.
And besides, when it comes to purpose, my friend already told me what she thinks it is:
Thanks for this, Pixar. Thanks for giving me back my spark for life.
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