Soul

Soul

2020 | 101 min | K-7 | comedy, musical

Have you ever wondered where your passions, dreams and interests come from? What makes you… YOU? Disney/Pixar takes you on a journey from the streets of New York City to cosmic dimensions in search of answers to life’s most important questions.

Directed by Pete Docter and Kemp Powers. As original voice actors, e.g. Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey and Graham Norton

Discuss these questions after watching the movie:

Did the movie have a message or lesson? What was it?
What different emotions did the movie evoke? Did any scene stand out in particular?
What did the main characters learn from each other?
What sets an individual apart from another? What makes you uniquely you?
Do some things stay the same even as you grow or change?
Do you know of any other movies that explore the afterlife or the “before-life”? (For example, Coco, The Boss Baby, Storks, Life and Nothing But, If I Stay, Ghost, The Invisible Man of Palermo, Waiting for Heaven, Life Is Beautiful.)

Arts:

Why is Soul an animated movie? Would the story work as a live-action film?
How can abstract concepts be visually represented? (e.g., colors, shapes, textures, symbols, objects, themes.)
How have abstract topics been depicted in the history of art? (e.g., cave paintings, the Renaissance, Romanticism, Symbolism, Surrealism.)

Activity 1.

Choose one of the following topics and create a visual work using mixed media:
1. Love 2. Music 3. Myself 4. Life

Music:

What is music? Define music. What is not music?
What explanations do different scientific disciplines provide for music? (e.g., psychology, sociology, mathematics, anthropology, theology.)
What role does music play in the story of Soul? Why is jazz the chosen genre in the movie? Would anything have changed in the movie with a different genre of music?
What is the role of sound and music in cinematic storytelling? Is music necessary in a film?
How does music affect the mood and interpretation of a movie?

Finnish Language and Literature:

What sets an individual apart from another? What makes you uniquely you? Do some things stay the same even as you grow or change?

Activity 1.

Write an essay or a piece titled “Myself” or “Who Am I?” This assignment can also be done in video format.
As shown in Soul, people have very different life paths. Interview your grandparents or another adult about their life. What career, relationships, and leisure choices has the interviewee made throughout their life? What challenges have they faced? What do they believe is the purpose of life?

Religion, Ethics, Philosophy:

Activity 1.

Research the following terms. How do they relate to the movie Soul? This assignment can also be given as a pre-watching task. It can also be expanded into a presentation.
1. Essentialism 2. Nihilism 3. Existentialism 4. Dualism

Activity 2.

What beliefs do different religions and worldviews have about the following topics? How does Soul depict these topics? This assignment can be done as a research task or a presentation.
1. Soul 2. Pre-birth time 3. The purpose of life 4. Death 5. The life after death