1 00:00:01,050 --> 00:00:05,720 Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm explaining how Pixar's new 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:10,600 movie Soul proves the theory that all the studio's films take place in an interconnected 3 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:11,600 universe. 4 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:16,590 I'll also show you how Soul explains the Toy Story movies, where the Incredibles get their 5 00:00:16,590 --> 00:00:20,980 powers, and the origins of the magical doorways in Monsters Inc and Brave. 6 00:00:20,980 --> 00:00:24,460 Plus I'll explain how the new film fits in with Inside Out and Coco. 7 00:00:24,460 --> 00:00:27,720 Of course, there'll be some spoilers, so take care. 8 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:32,930 Jon Negroni first introduced the idea of a single Pixar timeline, and it's in Soul's 9 00:00:32,930 --> 00:00:38,570 The Hall of Everything where we can find especially compelling evidence to confirm Negroni's theory. 10 00:00:38,570 --> 00:00:43,680 The hall is overflowing with specific objects and locations which often recur in Pixar's 11 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:48,579 films, from the iconic Pizza Planet truck to the blimp from Up, and even the weirdly 12 00:00:48,579 --> 00:00:52,100 shaped rock, called Wille's Butte from the Cars movies. 13 00:00:52,100 --> 00:00:55,550 And that's a huge pointer that the films exist in the same universe. 14 00:00:55,550 --> 00:01:00,339 But Soul goes even further than this, because even though the film appears to be set roughly 15 00:01:00,339 --> 00:01:04,030 in the present day, which I'm basing on the look and feel of New York City and the cellphone 16 00:01:04,030 --> 00:01:07,530 Joe uses, the Hall of Everything even has objects from 17 00:01:07,530 --> 00:01:12,730 the future such as the Axiom from Wall-E, one of a fleet of giant starliners that wasn't 18 00:01:12,730 --> 00:01:18,460 used until 2105 when Buy N Large arranged for the evacuation of Earth. 19 00:01:18,460 --> 00:01:23,290 This implies that The Hall of Everything may even contain blueprints or at least the inspiration 20 00:01:23,290 --> 00:01:27,790 for events that are still to come in the future of the Pixar universe. 21 00:01:27,790 --> 00:01:33,000 Soul also demonstrates one of the most important concepts at the heart of Negroni's Pixar Theory, 22 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,970 that humans are batteries. 23 00:01:34,970 --> 00:01:39,060 The idea is that human beings are a source of energy to sentient objects such as the 24 00:01:39,060 --> 00:01:43,300 toys in Toy Story which is why they crave the love of their owners; 25 00:01:43,300 --> 00:01:47,690 otherwise, it's suggested that if the toys end up stored away they lose their life. 26 00:01:47,690 --> 00:01:52,330 And in Monsters Inc, we know that technology exists that can harvest energy from human 27 00:01:52,330 --> 00:01:54,420 emotions such as fear or joy. 28 00:01:54,420 --> 00:01:59,290 And there are several moments in Soul that strongly support this idea of humans as an 29 00:01:59,290 --> 00:02:00,570 energy source. 30 00:02:00,570 --> 00:02:05,140 When Joe is on the elevator that leads to the Great Beyond, he notices that as the souls 31 00:02:05,140 --> 00:02:09,550 of the recently deceased float up into the big bright light, they fizzle and crackle 32 00:02:09,550 --> 00:02:11,860 like an electrical charge. 33 00:02:11,860 --> 00:02:18,011 [electrical crackling sounds] As if to reinforce this idea that a soul is 34 00:02:18,011 --> 00:02:22,780 a form of energy, there's also an electrical crackle sound effect whenever we see Terry 35 00:02:22,780 --> 00:02:25,140 counting souls on her abacus. 36 00:02:25,140 --> 00:02:29,060 [electrical crackling sounds] Joe also discovers in the Great Before that 37 00:02:29,060 --> 00:02:34,830 before new souls can take their place on Earth, they not only have to acquire a set of personalities, 38 00:02:34,830 --> 00:02:39,990 but they also need what the movie calls a "spark" to complete that personality. 39 00:02:39,990 --> 00:02:45,350 Without this spark, theoretically a soul isn't allowed to go to Earth and live a human life. 40 00:02:45,350 --> 00:02:49,980 Twenty-two does end up on Earth by accident, but the general rule is that a "spark" is 41 00:02:49,980 --> 00:02:53,920 needed to complete the Earth Pass which a soul needs to live a life. 42 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:58,760 The word "spark" can, of course, mean a number of things such as a burst of electricity or 43 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:04,350 an intense feeling or emotion, which again points to this idea of human beings as a form 44 00:03:04,350 --> 00:03:07,200 of energy or batteries even. 45 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,720 Another crucial element of Negroni's Pixar theory is the idea that Boo from Monsters 46 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,930 Inc travels back in time to become the Witch in Brave. 47 00:03:14,930 --> 00:03:20,380 I'll get to how Soul supports this idea shortly, but first let's quickly recap what the theory 48 00:03:20,380 --> 00:03:22,100 says about time travel. 49 00:03:22,100 --> 00:03:27,150 Brave is set in 10th-century Scotland whereas, given the monsters' advanced technology, Monsters 50 00:03:27,150 --> 00:03:29,010 Inc takes place in the future. 51 00:03:29,010 --> 00:03:33,030 The clearest evidence which suggests time travel is the wood carving of Sulley that 52 00:03:33,030 --> 00:03:35,000 the Witch has in her cottage. 53 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:39,600 She's also obsessed with bears which could be her way of expressing the strong friendship 54 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,030 she made with Sulley in Monsters Inc. 55 00:03:42,030 --> 00:03:46,480 On top of that, the Witch has carvings of the Pizza Planet truck which should be impossible 56 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:51,590 given motorised vehicles most definitely did not exist in medieval Scotland 57 00:03:51,590 --> 00:03:57,290 and she has carved parodies of famous art by artists from the future like Michelangelo. 58 00:03:57,290 --> 00:04:02,850 The door to the Witch's cottage is also magical and can transport her into an alternate interior 59 00:04:02,850 --> 00:04:06,489 version of her hut, and it can also make her disappear. 60 00:04:06,489 --> 00:04:11,490 This is because Boo learned how the technology of the portal doors at the Monsters Inc factory 61 00:04:11,490 --> 00:04:15,230 worked, which is how she travelled through time and space. 62 00:04:15,230 --> 00:04:19,319 Crucially in Soul, we can see this same technology in the You Seminar. 63 00:04:19,319 --> 00:04:24,099 After souls are paired up with their mentor, Jerry conjures up a door and sends them through 64 00:04:24,099 --> 00:04:27,669 it, instantly transporting them to another location. 65 00:04:27,669 --> 00:04:32,400 And when Jerry gives Joe his second chance to return to Earth, he passes from The Great 66 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,639 Beyond through a door and emerges on Earth through another door. 67 00:04:36,639 --> 00:04:41,120 Given The Great Before existed at the beginning of time, it suggests that the technology for 68 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,680 magical portals in the Pixar Universe was originally born there. 69 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:50,909 Soul also makes a sneaky possible reference to Boo's time-travel shenanigans in what initially 70 00:04:50,909 --> 00:04:54,189 appears to be a throwaway line by one of the Jerrys. 71 00:04:54,189 --> 00:04:58,590 When Terry turns up to complain that the count is out by one soul, Jerry replies: 72 00:04:58,590 --> 00:05:00,250 "I seriously doubt that. 73 00:05:00,250 --> 00:05:02,059 The count hasn't been off in centuries." 74 00:05:02,059 --> 00:05:07,380 This is a vital piece of information for Pixar theorists because it tells us an anomaly similar 75 00:05:07,380 --> 00:05:12,650 to Joe escaping the elevator that was taking him to the Great Beyond has happened previously, 76 00:05:12,650 --> 00:05:14,610 several hundred years ago in fact. 77 00:05:14,610 --> 00:05:19,180 To understand what may have happened all those centuries ago, let's look at what happened 78 00:05:19,180 --> 00:05:23,160 when Joe's soul accidentally fell into the body of Mr Mittens. 79 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,300 "Why am I in a cat?" 80 00:05:25,300 --> 00:05:26,729 "I don't know!" 81 00:05:26,729 --> 00:05:27,729 "Meow." 82 00:05:27,729 --> 00:05:30,770 It seems that Mr Mittens' soul was sent off to The Great Beyond. 83 00:05:30,770 --> 00:05:36,089 So, what if Boo did a similar thing when she time-travelled to medieval Scotland? 84 00:05:36,089 --> 00:05:40,509 Could she have landed in the body of a Scottish woman and displaced her soul sending it up 85 00:05:40,509 --> 00:05:42,160 to the Great Beyond? 86 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,430 That would mean there'd be an extra soul in the afterlife without a corresponding dead 87 00:05:46,430 --> 00:05:51,330 body on Earth, which could be the reason for the count being off as Jerry said. 88 00:05:51,330 --> 00:05:55,830 Interestingly, when Joe returns to his old body in Soul, Mr Mittens appears to regain 89 00:05:55,830 --> 00:05:59,869 his original soul too as we see him reunite with his owner, 90 00:05:59,869 --> 00:06:04,469 so if my theory about Boo and the Witch's soul is correct, it makes me wonder whether 91 00:06:04,469 --> 00:06:08,889 Terry did anything about the anomaly that occurred in the soul count hundreds of years 92 00:06:08,889 --> 00:06:09,889 ago. 93 00:06:09,889 --> 00:06:13,710 By the way, it's worth pointing out that there's also a Brave easter egg in Soul during the 94 00:06:13,710 --> 00:06:18,360 video at the You Seminar when we see a soul find its spark after it successfully shoots 95 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:23,419 an arrow into the centre of one of three targets, referencing Merida's demonstration of archery 96 00:06:23,419 --> 00:06:26,949 skills when she fired arrows into three targets. 97 00:06:26,949 --> 00:06:31,300 And there are, of course, many more Pixar easter eggs in Soul including the Chinese 98 00:06:31,300 --> 00:06:37,669 takeout box, A113, and the Luxo Ball, all of which I reveal in my full easter eggs video. 99 00:06:37,669 --> 00:06:44,039 Now, there are two Pixar movies, Inside Out and Coco, which on the surface seem to contradict 100 00:06:44,039 --> 00:06:49,180 Soul and maybe pose a problem for how smoothly it fits into the interconnected universe of 101 00:06:49,180 --> 00:06:50,520 the Pixar Theory. 102 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:53,240 The first issue is to do with personality. 103 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:57,979 In The Great Before, we discover that every soul acquires a set of personalities before 104 00:06:57,979 --> 00:06:58,979 they go to Earth. 105 00:06:58,979 --> 00:07:00,999 "This is where personalities come from?" 106 00:07:00,999 --> 00:07:01,999 "Of course! 107 00:07:01,999 --> 00:07:03,939 Do you think people are just born with them?" 108 00:07:03,939 --> 00:07:08,909 However, in Inside Out, personalities are formed whenever a new core memory is made. 109 00:07:08,909 --> 00:07:12,770 "Each Core Memory powers a different aspect of Riley's personality. 110 00:07:12,770 --> 00:07:15,659 The Islands of Personality are what make Riley... 111 00:07:15,659 --> 00:07:16,659 Riley!" 112 00:07:16,659 --> 00:07:20,879 While these ideas about personality may appear to be at odds with one another, they can be 113 00:07:20,879 --> 00:07:27,090 easily reconciled if we think of a new born soul as having a baseline personality at birth, 114 00:07:27,090 --> 00:07:31,499 some of which adapts and changes as that person grows up and has different experiences. 115 00:07:31,499 --> 00:07:37,999 In fact, in Inside Out we see that Riley loses her personalities when she experiences a traumatic 116 00:07:37,999 --> 00:07:42,830 event, however, these are later restored and new ones are also added as she grows up; 117 00:07:42,830 --> 00:07:48,419 so an individual's personality is clearly not something static or unchanging. 118 00:07:48,419 --> 00:07:54,139 Likewise, Soul also shows us how Twenty Two's personality changes as she experiences life 119 00:07:54,139 --> 00:07:56,089 on earth. 120 00:07:56,089 --> 00:08:00,719 Something else we need to reconcile is how Coco's Land of the Dead fits with Soul's depiction 121 00:08:00,719 --> 00:08:01,770 of The Great Beyond. 122 00:08:01,770 --> 00:08:07,409 In Soul, the afterlife is a relatively simple place with an escalator that leads souls to 123 00:08:07,409 --> 00:08:09,899 a giant white light in the sky. 124 00:08:09,899 --> 00:08:14,219 This representation may be alluding to the idea that many people who report near-death 125 00:08:14,219 --> 00:08:19,819 experiences describe a tunnel with a bright light at the end that draws them towards it. 126 00:08:19,819 --> 00:08:24,629 Coco's spirit world, on the other hand, is complex and bursting with colours, with the 127 00:08:24,629 --> 00:08:29,080 Marigold Bridge forming a connection between the Land of the Living and the elaborate and 128 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:31,220 complex Land of the Dead. 129 00:08:31,220 --> 00:08:35,490 Fear not though, because we can resolve these differences by turning to Pixar's official 130 00:08:35,490 --> 00:08:38,460 The Art of Soul book, which describes The Great Beyond as 131 00:08:38,460 --> 00:08:43,020 "a place beyond all that can be known […] represented by a brilliant white light in 132 00:08:43,020 --> 00:08:47,519 a vast space […] What lies beyond the light is all up to interpretation." 133 00:08:47,519 --> 00:08:52,560 As the book suggests, we can interpret what is beyond the bright light in our own way, 134 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:57,050 and so we can see the Land of the Dead in Coco as a culturally-specific vision of what 135 00:08:57,050 --> 00:09:01,069 the afterlife is unique to people of Mexican heritage. 136 00:09:01,069 --> 00:09:05,589 This would also explain how Coco can have its own specific rules for its spirit world, 137 00:09:05,589 --> 00:09:09,990 such as allowing the dead to cross over to the Land of the Living one day each year. 138 00:09:09,990 --> 00:09:14,700 What's common to both Soul and Coco though is that the dead souls all retain the appearance 139 00:09:14,700 --> 00:09:19,060 and age they had at the time of their death, whereas in the Great Before, all the souls 140 00:09:19,060 --> 00:09:23,920 look more or less similar, likely because they haven't yet taken a human form yet. 141 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:29,360 The sparks that a soul acquires may even explain where the Supers in The Incredibles got their 142 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:30,360 powers. 143 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:34,500 Could it be that the souls that ended up as superheroes were supercharged with extra powers 144 00:09:34,500 --> 00:09:36,940 by the spark they received in the Great Before? 145 00:09:36,940 --> 00:09:41,970 There is, after all, a statue of what looks like a caped hero on a plinth in the Hall 146 00:09:41,970 --> 00:09:43,480 of Everything. 147 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:48,029 Maybe that statue was responsible for sparking the unfortunate idea of caped superheroes. 148 00:09:48,029 --> 00:09:49,029 "No capes!" 149 00:09:49,029 --> 00:09:53,920 And this is just a fun idea, but could the soul that's being interviewed here for the 150 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,519 You Seminar training video be the soul of Buddy Pine, aka Syndrome. 151 00:09:57,519 --> 00:10:03,360 "I'm a manipulative megalomaniac, who's intensely opportunistic." 152 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:04,360 "Oh ho! 153 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:07,330 This one might be a handful, but that's Earth's problem." 154 00:10:07,330 --> 00:10:12,569 Perhaps Syndrome got his spark from that statue, because after all it was his cape that proved 155 00:10:12,569 --> 00:10:14,160 to be his ultimate undoing. 156 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:18,980 And yes, Syndrome wasn't born with powers, but that statue might have inspired him to 157 00:10:18,980 --> 00:10:20,840 seek glory in whatever way he could. 158 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:26,830 Or could that soul be Evelyn Deavor, the master manipulator and evil tech genius from the 159 00:10:26,830 --> 00:10:28,709 second Incredibles movie? 160 00:10:28,709 --> 00:10:33,470 The soul's possibly female-sounding voice might also suggest this, although we know 161 00:10:33,470 --> 00:10:37,920 from Twenty Two that a soul can change their voice to sound like any type of person. 162 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:40,420 "I can sound like this if I wanted to. 163 00:10:40,420 --> 00:10:41,779 Or sound like this instead. 164 00:10:41,779 --> 00:10:43,190 I can even sound like you." 165 00:10:43,190 --> 00:10:47,399 If you like either of these ideas, leave a thumbs-up or comment below with which other 166 00:10:47,399 --> 00:10:51,050 Pixar character you think this troublemaking soul could be! 167 00:10:51,050 --> 00:10:55,750 Now I want to thank our sponsor NordVPN for helping make this video happen. 168 00:10:55,750 --> 00:11:00,110 If you want to keep yourself safe and secure whenever you're online from spies and snoopers 169 00:11:00,110 --> 00:11:04,610 like Terry from the Great Beyond, you'll need to get yourself a trustworthy virtual private 170 00:11:04,610 --> 00:11:05,610 network. 171 00:11:05,610 --> 00:11:10,040 A VPN protects your privacy by encrypting your internet connection and preventing your 172 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:14,120 internet service provider, the government or hackers from knowing what websites you're 173 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:16,519 visiting or reading your private messages. 174 00:11:16,519 --> 00:11:22,380 A VPN is also a powerful tool that helps you bypass geo-location blocks so you can access 175 00:11:22,380 --> 00:11:26,529 content not available to view or censored in your country. 176 00:11:26,529 --> 00:11:31,550 Unlike many free VPNs, Nord works with Disney Plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime. 177 00:11:31,550 --> 00:11:36,860 And you can connect up to six devices at any one time, so you can secure all of your laptops, 178 00:11:36,860 --> 00:11:39,829 computers, phones, tablets and even home router. 179 00:11:39,829 --> 00:11:45,300 Something we especially like about Nord are the super-fast download speeds on its 5,000-PLUS 180 00:11:45,300 --> 00:11:50,360 servers and how it uses new-generation VPN technologies like Wireguard. 181 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:55,860 On top of that Nord has a no-log policy meaning it doesn't record or retain details of your 182 00:11:55,860 --> 00:11:58,949 online activity when you're connected to its service. 183 00:11:58,949 --> 00:12:05,899 With our exclusive seasonal offer, you can get a full four bonus months completely free 184 00:12:05,899 --> 00:12:09,740 and 68% off whenever you sign up for a two-year plan. 185 00:12:09,740 --> 00:12:16,160 Just visit NordVPN.com/Flicks or tap the link in the video description to access the offer. 186 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:22,079 This is one of the biggest deals of the year, so go visit NordVPN.com/Flicks for this limited-time 187 00:12:22,079 --> 00:12:23,079 offer! 188 00:12:23,079 --> 00:12:27,660 Now, do you have any more ideas on how Soul fits into the Pixar Theory? 189 00:12:27,660 --> 00:12:32,519 And if you enjoyed any of my Soul theories, a thumbs-up is hugely appreciated. 190 00:12:32,519 --> 00:12:37,350 You can also tap left to discover where all the other Pixar easter eggs are in the movie 191 00:12:37,350 --> 00:12:39,980 or tap right for something else you're sure to like. 192 00:12:39,980 --> 00:12:42,029 Thanks for watching and see ya next time. 193 00:12:42,029 --> 00:12:43,230 Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!