Pixar's Soul

[UNIrd]

To be fair, I thought the same thing that when I saw the trailer. Like wow.. another Princess & the Frog in that regard.

Looking forward to it though (and I still loved Princess & the Frog anyway)..

 

[Andysol]

I think there’s a difference between complaining and opening a dialogue, which is what I was trying to highlight. I’ll have to find some of the comments when I have some time, but mostly what I read was a black audience really excited to see a beautiful and positive representation, but dismayed to see the same “bait and switch” of sorts that Princess and the Frog had.

Yes, Moana and Coco exist and are great, even if they have their faults. Hollywood has improved. But this transformation plot line has happened enough times you do start to wonder if it qualifies as a trend. But even if it’s not, Black people have just been wholly under-represented by Disney.

I mean, let’s just narrow it down to Disney/Pixar’s human black leads. Song of the South, Princess and the Frog, A Wrinkle in Time. These are truly the only movies I can think of right now, though I may very well be missing a few. On a whole, Disney has been reluctant to diversify, so yes Soul is exciting. But it’s also okay to ask these questions: why is the creative team all white and why has Disney not listened to the single long-standing critique of Princess and the Frog?

The bottom line is it’s art. They had a specific story to tell and this is how they chose to tell it.

If this is an all white creative team, as you said; and I were a producer on this, I would have pushed for a black writer, executive producer or more. Simply because the story is about a black man and that would allow a different perspective and experience to bleed over in the creative process.

That said- I want to make something very clear here, you do not judge the creative process of art prior to viewing the art. If the film is flawed, and you want to point back at the creative process after viewing, then that is perfectly acceptable.
But this judgement of the creative process prior to seeing the work of art is simply wrong. When you put quotas ahead of art, you potentially ruin the art. This is that.
Art can change the shape of the culture, which is the brilliant thing about art. As soon as you start changing the culture to shape art, the art is potentially ruined.

So let’s leave art to the artists and wait to see the final product before criticizing the process. It’s bad precedent.

 

[Nick]

I’m confused how anyone is thinking of PatF when watching this trailer.

 

[Disneyhead]

I’m confused how anyone is thinking of PatF when watching this trailer.

It's so obvious. There is a male POC>transformation plot twist.

It's basically the exact same movie...NOT!

 

[Andysol]

I’m confused how anyone is thinking of PatF when watching this trailer.

I’m not at all.

When you’re constantly looking for things to be offended by, you’re constantly offended.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I’m confused how anyone is thinking of PatF when watching this trailer.

They're thinking of it from the transformation from a PoC main character to something else. That's the comparison.

 

[ChristopherSE]

Not condemning this movie by any means, I’m actually very excited for it. Just bringing an outside dialogue here to the forums. Food for thought, not outrage over a trailer lol.

 

[TheGentTrent]

This looks reeealllyy deep for a family movie, even by Pixar standards.

 

[WaterToWade]

I already know i’m gonna love this film

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I think we really, really need for both this and Tenet to be great (and to do somewhat well at the box office). I'm seeing both, that's for sure--really want to support original movies.

 

[Nick]

I think we really, really need for both this and Tenet to be great (and to do somewhat well at the box office). I'm seeing both, that's for sure--really want to support original movies.

I don't mean to sound like i'm being dismissive of what you're saying because I totally get it, but you do realize that there's currently more original movies made right now than virtually any other time in history, right? Creativity is flowing - most of it just ends up on a streaming service these days (which isn't necessarily a bad thing!).

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I don't mean to sound like i'm being dismissive of what you're saying because I totally get it, but you do realize that there's currently more original movies made right now than virtually any other time in history, right? Creativity is flowing - most of it just ends up on a streaming service these days (which isn't necessarily a bad thing!).

You're not! You make a good point that original stuff is just harder to find because it's more hidden. But I do like seeing the rare occasions in which any of the major studios do something original as well.

 

[Nick]

You're not! You make a good point that original stuff is just harder to find because it's more hidden. But I do like seeing the rare occasions in which any of the major studios do something original as well.

We're getting off topic, but I agree. One original movie i'm highly looking forward to is Ryan Reynolds' Free Guy coming in December.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Soul has officially been pulled off of the theatrical release window--and will be hitting Disney+ on Christmas Day.

 

[Nick]

Soul has officially been pulled off of the theatrical release window--and will be hitting Disney+ on Christmas Day.

Pretty much as we expected, except they are taking the full loss on this instead of doing Premiere Access it would seem. I assume they are hoping this will lead to an increase in subscribers, but to me, i'd think the audience for this film is already subscribed.

 

[TheGentTrent]

And by at least releasing this in international theaters, Disney will still be allowed to submit it for Best Animated Feature at next year's Academy Awards.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

And by at least releasing this in international theaters, Disney will still be allowed to submit it for Best Animated Feature at next year's Academy Awards.

I'm surprised they still have that rule for Academy Awards.

Going to be a very strange year for awards indeed. Lots of January-February stuff or a bunch of films that came out in Europe that few in the States have seen yet.

 

[Nick]

And by at least releasing this in international theaters, Disney will still be allowed to submit it for Best Animated Feature at next year's Academy Awards.

It doesn't matter, they changed the rules this year so that if a film originally had a theatrical release date before being moved to streaming it would qualify for the Oscars. That's a rule only in place for this year.

 

[Jerroddragon]

And by at least releasing this in international theaters, Disney will still be allowed to submit it for Best Animated Feature at next year's Academy Awards.

If it doesn't win then I'd be very surprised.

 

[awhen]

Pretty much as we expected, except they are taking the full loss on this instead of doing Premiere Access it would seem. I assume they are hoping this will lead to an increase in subscribers, but to me, i'd think the audience for this film is already subscribed.

We’re coming up on a year, time to start thinking retention as well as new.