Soul, and why I loved its message
So I watched Soul yesterday and I really loved the way it handled the “live life to the fullest” message.
Usually, when I see a story with that message, the implication is that if you’re not doing something big or adventurous, you aren’t really living. But, for a variety of reasons, that’s not accessible or desirable to everyone. And in this day & age, especially with social media showing you only the most exciting parts of people’s lives, it’s easy to feel like you’re being left out or running behind. You get in caught in the mindset of “if I get this, that, or the other thing, my life will finally start.” But Soul’s message says that is a mistake.
The main character, Joe Gardener, has dreams of being a famous jazz musician and he feels like he’s just been biding his time until that happens. It’s not until he sees his life (literally) from the outside, and watches someone really appreciate the life he has, that he realizes that life is always happening. He sees you can live life to the fullest doing the most mundane things, like just walking down the street or enjoying food. He even takes opportunities that were always there, like connecting with a friend on a more personal level or having an honest conversation with his mother, that he might have otherwise missed.
Soul says that life is always there and you can always live it to the fullest, no matter what, and even the mundane has beauty and meaning to be appreciated. You can enjoy something simple that makes you happy, like eating pie at your favorite diner. Or you can do something big, like, in Joe’s case, playing in a quartet with one of your idols. Both things in life are equally worthy of appreciation. Life is always there. You just have to live it.
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