WEBVTT 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 00:00:05.720 --> 00:00:10.600 movie Soul proves the theory that all the studio's films take place in an interconnected 00:00:10.600 --> 00:00:11.600 universe. 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 00:00:16.590 --> 00:00:20.980 powers, and the origins of the magical doorways in Monsters Inc and Brave. 00:00:20.980 --> 00:00:24.460 Plus I'll explain how the new film fits in with Inside Out and Coco. 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:27.720 Of course, there'll be some spoilers, so take care. 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 00:00:32.930 --> 00:00:38.570 The Hall of Everything where we can find especially compelling evidence to confirm Negroni's theory. 00:00:38.570 --> 00:00:43.680 The hall is overflowing with specific objects and locations which often recur in Pixar's 00:00:43.680 --> 00:00:48.579 films, from the iconic Pizza Planet truck to the blimp from Up, and even the weirdly 00:00:48.579 --> 00:00:52.100 shaped rock, called Wille's Butte from the Cars movies. 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:55.550 And that's a huge pointer that the films exist in the same universe. 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 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 00:01:04.030 --> 00:01:07.530 Joe uses, the Hall of Everything even has objects from 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 00:01:12.730 --> 00:01:18.460 used until 2105 when Buy N Large arranged for the evacuation of Earth. 00:01:18.460 --> 00:01:23.290 This implies that The Hall of Everything may even contain blueprints or at least the inspiration 00:01:23.290 --> 00:01:27.790 for events that are still to come in the future of the Pixar universe. 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, 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:34.970 that humans are batteries. 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 00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:43.300 toys in Toy Story which is why they crave the love of their owners; 00:01:43.300 --> 00:01:47.690 otherwise, it's suggested that if the toys end up stored away they lose their life. 00:01:47.690 --> 00:01:52.330 And in Monsters Inc, we know that technology exists that can harvest energy from human 00:01:52.330 --> 00:01:54.420 emotions such as fear or joy. 00:01:54.420 --> 00:01:59.290 And there are several moments in Soul that strongly support this idea of humans as an 00:01:59.290 --> 00:02:00.570 energy source. 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 00:02:05.140 --> 00:02:09.550 of the recently deceased float up into the big bright light, they fizzle and crackle 00:02:09.550 --> 00:02:11.860 like an electrical charge. 00:02:11.860 --> 00:02:18.011 [electrical crackling sounds] As if to reinforce this idea that a soul is 00:02:18.011 --> 00:02:22.780 a form of energy, there's also an electrical crackle sound effect whenever we see Terry 00:02:22.780 --> 00:02:25.140 counting souls on her abacus. 00:02:25.140 --> 00:02:29.060 [electrical crackling sounds] Joe also discovers in the Great Before that 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, 00:02:34.830 --> 00:02:39.990 but they also need what the movie calls a "spark" to complete that personality. 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. 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 00:02:49.980 --> 00:02:53.920 needed to complete the Earth Pass which a soul needs to live a life. 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 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 00:03:04.350 --> 00:03:07.200 of energy or batteries even. 00:03:07.200 --> 00:03:11.720 Another crucial element of Negroni's Pixar theory is the idea that Boo from Monsters 00:03:11.720 --> 00:03:14.930 Inc travels back in time to become the Witch in Brave. 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 00:03:20.380 --> 00:03:22.100 says about time travel. 00:03:22.100 --> 00:03:27.150 Brave is set in 10th-century Scotland whereas, given the monsters' advanced technology, Monsters 00:03:27.150 --> 00:03:29.010 Inc takes place in the future. 00:03:29.010 --> 00:03:33.030 The clearest evidence which suggests time travel is the wood carving of Sulley that 00:03:33.030 --> 00:03:35.000 the Witch has in her cottage. 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.600 She's also obsessed with bears which could be her way of expressing the strong friendship 00:03:39.600 --> 00:03:42.030 she made with Sulley in Monsters Inc. 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 00:03:46.480 --> 00:03:51.590 given motorised vehicles most definitely did not exist in medieval Scotland 00:03:51.590 --> 00:03:57.290 and she has carved parodies of famous art by artists from the future like Michelangelo. 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 00:04:02.850 --> 00:04:06.489 version of her hut, and it can also make her disappear. 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 00:04:11.490 --> 00:04:15.230 worked, which is how she travelled through time and space. 00:04:15.230 --> 00:04:19.319 Crucially in Soul, we can see this same technology in the You Seminar. 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 00:04:24.099 --> 00:04:27.669 it, instantly transporting them to another location. 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 00:04:32.400 --> 00:04:36.639 Beyond through a door and emerges on Earth through another door. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:41.120 Given The Great Before existed at the beginning of time, it suggests that the technology for 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:45.680 magical portals in the Pixar Universe was originally born there. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:50.909 Soul also makes a sneaky possible reference to Boo's time-travel shenanigans in what initially 00:04:50.909 --> 00:04:54.189 appears to be a throwaway line by one of the Jerrys. 00:04:54.189 --> 00:04:58.590 When Terry turns up to complain that the count is out by one soul, Jerry replies: 00:04:58.590 --> 00:05:00.250 "I seriously doubt that. 00:05:00.250 --> 00:05:02.059 The count hasn't been off in centuries." 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 00:05:07.380 --> 00:05:12.650 to Joe escaping the elevator that was taking him to the Great Beyond has happened previously, 00:05:12.650 --> 00:05:14.610 several hundred years ago in fact. 00:05:14.610 --> 00:05:19.180 To understand what may have happened all those centuries ago, let's look at what happened 00:05:19.180 --> 00:05:23.160 when Joe's soul accidentally fell into the body of Mr Mittens. 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:25.300 "Why am I in a cat?" 00:05:25.300 --> 00:05:26.729 "I don't know!" 00:05:26.729 --> 00:05:27.729 "Meow." 00:05:27.729 --> 00:05:30.770 It seems that Mr Mittens' soul was sent off to The Great Beyond. 00:05:30.770 --> 00:05:36.089 So, what if Boo did a similar thing when she time-travelled to medieval Scotland? 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 00:05:40.509 --> 00:05:42.160 to the Great Beyond? 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:46.430 That would mean there'd be an extra soul in the afterlife without a corresponding dead 00:05:46.430 --> 00:05:51.330 body on Earth, which could be the reason for the count being off as Jerry said. 00:05:51.330 --> 00:05:55.830 Interestingly, when Joe returns to his old body in Soul, Mr Mittens appears to regain 00:05:55.830 --> 00:05:59.869 his original soul too as we see him reunite with his owner, 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 00:06:04.469 --> 00:06:08.889 Terry did anything about the anomaly that occurred in the soul count hundreds of years 00:06:08.889 --> 00:06:09.889 ago. 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 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 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:23.419 an arrow into the centre of one of three targets, referencing Merida's demonstration of archery 00:06:23.419 --> 00:06:26.949 skills when she fired arrows into three targets. 00:06:26.949 --> 00:06:31.300 And there are, of course, many more Pixar easter eggs in Soul including the Chinese 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. 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 00:06:44.039 --> 00:06:49.180 Soul and maybe pose a problem for how smoothly it fits into the interconnected universe of 00:06:49.180 --> 00:06:50.520 the Pixar Theory. 00:06:50.520 --> 00:06:53.240 The first issue is to do with personality. 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:57.979 In The Great Before, we discover that every soul acquires a set of personalities before 00:06:57.979 --> 00:06:58.979 they go to Earth. 00:06:58.979 --> 00:07:00.999 "This is where personalities come from?" 00:07:00.999 --> 00:07:01.999 "Of course! 00:07:01.999 --> 00:07:03.939 Do you think people are just born with them?" 00:07:03.939 --> 00:07:08.909 However, in Inside Out, personalities are formed whenever a new core memory is made. 00:07:08.909 --> 00:07:12.770 "Each Core Memory powers a different aspect of Riley's personality. 00:07:12.770 --> 00:07:15.659 The Islands of Personality are what make Riley... 00:07:15.659 --> 00:07:16.659 Riley!" 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 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, 00:07:27.090 --> 00:07:31.499 some of which adapts and changes as that person grows up and has different experiences. 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 00:07:37.999 --> 00:07:42.830 event, however, these are later restored and new ones are also added as she grows up; 00:07:42.830 --> 00:07:48.419 so an individual's personality is clearly not something static or unchanging. 00:07:48.419 --> 00:07:54.139 Likewise, Soul also shows us how Twenty Two's personality changes as she experiences life 00:07:54.139 --> 00:07:56.089 on earth. 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 00:08:00.719 --> 00:08:01.770 of The Great Beyond. 00:08:01.770 --> 00:08:07.409 In Soul, the afterlife is a relatively simple place with an escalator that leads souls to 00:08:07.409 --> 00:08:09.899 a giant white light in the sky. 00:08:09.899 --> 00:08:14.219 This representation may be alluding to the idea that many people who report near-death 00:08:14.219 --> 00:08:19.819 experiences describe a tunnel with a bright light at the end that draws them towards it. 00:08:19.819 --> 00:08:24.629 Coco's spirit world, on the other hand, is complex and bursting with colours, with the 00:08:24.629 --> 00:08:29.080 Marigold Bridge forming a connection between the Land of the Living and the elaborate and 00:08:29.080 --> 00:08:31.220 complex Land of the Dead. 00:08:31.220 --> 00:08:35.490 Fear not though, because we can resolve these differences by turning to Pixar's official 00:08:35.490 --> 00:08:38.460 The Art of Soul book, which describes The Great Beyond as 00:08:38.460 --> 00:08:43.020 "a place beyond all that can be known […] represented by a brilliant white light in 00:08:43.020 --> 00:08:47.519 a vast space […] What lies beyond the light is all up to interpretation." 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, 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 00:08:57.050 --> 00:09:01.069 the afterlife is unique to people of Mexican heritage. 00:09:01.069 --> 00:09:05.589 This would also explain how Coco can have its own specific rules for its spirit world, 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. 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 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 00:09:19.060 --> 00:09:23.920 look more or less similar, likely because they haven't yet taken a human form yet. 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 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:30.360 powers. 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:34.500 Could it be that the souls that ended up as superheroes were supercharged with extra powers 00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:36.940 by the spark they received in the Great Before? 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 00:09:41.970 --> 00:09:43.480 of Everything. 00:09:43.480 --> 00:09:48.029 Maybe that statue was responsible for sparking the unfortunate idea of caped superheroes. 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:49.029 "No capes!" 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 00:09:53.920 --> 00:09:57.519 You Seminar training video be the soul of Buddy Pine, aka Syndrome. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:03.360 "I'm a manipulative megalomaniac, who's intensely opportunistic." 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:04.360 "Oh ho! 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:07.330 This one might be a handful, but that's Earth's problem." 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 00:10:12.569 --> 00:10:14.160 to be his ultimate undoing. 00:10:14.160 --> 00:10:18.980 And yes, Syndrome wasn't born with powers, but that statue might have inspired him to 00:10:18.980 --> 00:10:20.840 seek glory in whatever way he could. 00:10:20.840 --> 00:10:26.830 Or could that soul be Evelyn Deavor, the master manipulator and evil tech genius from the 00:10:26.830 --> 00:10:28.709 second Incredibles movie? 00:10:28.709 --> 00:10:33.470 The soul's possibly female-sounding voice might also suggest this, although we know 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. 00:10:37.920 --> 00:10:40.420 "I can sound like this if I wanted to. 00:10:40.420 --> 00:10:41.779 Or sound like this instead. 00:10:41.779 --> 00:10:43.190 I can even sound like you." 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 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:51.050 Pixar character you think this troublemaking soul could be! 00:10:51.050 --> 00:10:55.750 Now I want to thank our sponsor NordVPN for helping make this video happen. 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 00:11:00.110 --> 00:11:04.610 like Terry from the Great Beyond, you'll need to get yourself a trustworthy virtual private 00:11:04.610 --> 00:11:05.610 network. 00:11:05.610 --> 00:11:10.040 A VPN protects your privacy by encrypting your internet connection and preventing your 00:11:10.040 --> 00:11:14.120 internet service provider, the government or hackers from knowing what websites you're 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:16.519 visiting or reading your private messages. 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 00:11:22.380 --> 00:11:26.529 content not available to view or censored in your country. 00:11:26.529 --> 00:11:31.550 Unlike many free VPNs, Nord works with Disney Plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime. 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, 00:11:36.860 --> 00:11:39.829 computers, phones, tablets and even home router. 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 00:11:45.300 --> 00:11:50.360 servers and how it uses new-generation VPN technologies like Wireguard. 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 00:11:55.860 --> 00:11:58.949 online activity when you're connected to its service. 00:11:58.949 --> 00:12:05.899 With our exclusive seasonal offer, you can get a full four bonus months completely free 00:12:05.899 --> 00:12:09.740 and 68% off whenever you sign up for a two-year plan. 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. 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 00:12:22.079 --> 00:12:23.079 offer! 00:12:23.079 --> 00:12:27.660 Now, do you have any more ideas on how Soul fits into the Pixar Theory? 00:12:27.660 --> 00:12:32.519 And if you enjoyed any of my Soul theories, a thumbs-up is hugely appreciated. 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 00:12:37.350 --> 00:12:39.980 or tap right for something else you're sure to like. 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:42.029 Thanks for watching and see ya next time. 00:12:42.029 --> 00:12:43.230 Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!