Joe Gardner teaches music at a middle school in New York and hopes to become a jazz pianist. After he gets a chance to play with a famous band, he falls into a manhole and his soul leaves his body. Joe enters the Great Before, where new souls prepare for life, and meets 22, a stubborn soul who does not want to be born. They search for a way back to Earth, and their trip turns into a funny, strange story about what makes a life worth living. The New York scenes show Joe’s black family, students, barber, and jazz friends as part of his everyday world. Music connects Joe to his community, and the movie gives jazz a clear place in black American culture. Joe first treats his dream job as proof that his life matters, while 22 learns to enjoy food, sights, and time with other people. Their friendship helps Joe see that a full life includes small moments around his music, not only the big performance he has chased.
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Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Soul.
Woke representation / casting
Pixar made Joe Gardner its first black lead character. The film shows several black characters in Joe’s New York world, including his mother, barber, students, and jazz players. Director Pete Docter said the team chose a black lead because jazz has Black roots. Disney promoted the film as its first black-led Pixar story and said this visibility mattered for black children.
46%
Woke political dialogue
Not present. Joe and 22 talk about music, work, friends, and everyday life.
0%
Identity-driven story themes
Not present. Joe’s main change is learning that music matters without making one career dream his whole life.
0%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Not present. Joe’s struggle centers on his own career dream and the life around him.
0%
Woke character or canon changes
Not present in this title.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Several small X accounts called Soul a woke Pixar movie. A French post grouped it with Wall-E and Turning Red under the same label. One small account repeated a claim that conservatives saw a gay agenda, but presented it only as something others had said. The complaints stayed among small accounts with little observed reach.
18%
Creator track record context
Director Kemp Powers has called for more black stories onscreen and used his life to help shape Joe. Script supervisor Jessica Heidt has worked to track gender balance across Pixar scripts. Producer Dan Scanlon has said Onward should reflect real-world diversity and wished its lesbian officer had a larger role. Casting directors Kevin Reher and Natalie Lyon have led culturally specific voice casts, while their profiles emphasize craft. Director Pete Docter has backed universal stories, and writer Mike Jones has no clear personal activist profile.
42%
Production
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