Hurt Me Soul
Article and Illustration by Justin B. Jones
A Goofy Movie is Black. The Lion King is Black. The Backyardigans? Black. Hey Arnold! Almost. Samurai Champloo? Hell yeah. Black people love cartoons. We been ten toes down in this animation fandom since the Harlem Globetrotters were styling on Shaggy and Scooby in the 70s. I don’t know if you’ve met a Black child born in this millennium but they’re kind of into the anime. When it comes to Black cartoons the stakes is high, and rightfully so. It's not a game. So please hear me when I say that, as a Black animation fan, I wanted to love Pixar’s Soul with every fiber of my being. I mean that. I saw that single photo of the barbershop and knew that if only one good thing came out of 2020 it was going to be Soul. Was it? Nah, but that’s not why we’re here. We’re here because I believe Soul represents a dangerous level of complacency infecting the American zeitgeist that is furthering our gradual descent into fascism... and because it's fun to talk about ‘toons!
On the positive side Soul may be Disney/Pixar’s best looking movie. It's a breathtaking digital recreation of Black culture in New York City and the ways that they visualize the space that artists go to when in flow was just lovely. There’s a public school hallway in the opening scene that looks so real you can smell the asbestos in the walls. Most of the humor lands and it's cool that Pixar’s continuing to make films that educate children about their internal lives. Phylicia Rishad and Angela Bassett could’ve played these roles in their sleep, but they eat. The real MVP of the movie is Donnell Rawlings as Dez the barber. Started Ashy Larry now we here: the streets see you, son. On the negative side, I can’t get behind a movie that has a Black man give his life… for the spirit of Tina Faye.
From here on out we’re getting into have some heavy spoilers starting with the fact, and let’s be clear, this movie ends with a Black Man’s suicide. They say he “gave up his Earth pass” but last I checked that was called “dying”. The story behind Soul is offensively wild. I want to put the systemic educational issues to the side (there’s a reason that principal was so happy to offer Joe a job that he was literally in the act of already doing). I’ll even hold off on the fact that this is basically a magical negro story about a brother who can’t even rest in peace without having to help a white girl who hasn’t been born yet appreciate life. What truly breaks my heart about Soul is that this is the kind of movie that they would never make with white people.
I know this because they’ve tried: it's LaLa Land. When White people hold onto fascinations with Jazz and dreams of making music long past everyone believes in you its a romantic notion. The film becomes a fanciful farce all about pursuing your dreams and nurturing your talents. Hell, even Pixar’s already tried to make this movie with The Incredibles. There’s little difference between Joe and Mr. Incredible. Two gifted middle-aged men that feel stifled and frustrated by lives that won’t let them use their gifts in the ways they want. Joe, Mr. Incredible, and whatever Ryan Gosling’s name was in LaLa Land all want the same thing: to be free. The two White characters are encouraged to excel. The Incredibles is so Randian in its approach that Mr. Incredible feels morally obligated to break the law so he could prove he’s still strong. All Joe’s Black ass wanted to do was play the piano and the entire universe conspired to take him out once homeboy got a gig. Again, this film ends in a Black man’s suicide.
In essence, Soul is a film about a Black man who is shamed and punished at every turn for daring to hold on to the belief that he is free to live his life the way that he wants. It's a movie that encourages docile acceptance of the status quo during a time when the United States government has never been more negligent, insulting, and outright harmful to people that look and live just like Joe. People that love cartoons. That discomfort with his life that Joe felt, that motivation and spark to keep chasing his dreams and change things, that is the source of revolutionary thought. That is jazz. It’s rock and roll and hip-hop and the origin of every civilization. It is the irrational belief that life can be better. What Joe had was faith in himself, and instead of watching this king be great, Soul spends 2 hours letting Tina goddamn Faye run around in his body and learn that life is worth living because she got a haircut and a new fit. I need more than that for my people. At the end of the day Pixar still makes kid’s movies (I think) and Soul is a kid’s movie. Is it a Black movie? That’s up to the children and we need Black children dreaming as big and as powerfully as possible right now.