Black History Month: Disney-Pixar s Soul a celebration of African-American culture
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Share: Disney-Pixar s Soul, currently streaming on Disney+, taps into a rich vein of African-American culture to tell the story of a Queens music teacher who dreams of becoming a great jazz musician.
This week, the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association honored Soul with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature, and the movie has won wide praise for its authenticity.
As we mark Black History Month, it s worth looking back at what many are calling an instant classic.
Jamie Foxx is the voice behind the teacher, Joe Gardner, and Soul is a celebration of jazz, a uniquely American art form. But it was also a chance to make history, a fact not lost on Foxx.
Sandy Kenyon has more on the new Disney Pixar film Soul, which is both a celebration of African American culture and a reflection on the meaning of life.
He taught at Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School 74 in Bayside for decades, inspiring generations of students, but he was surprised to get an e-mail from Pete Docter, the director of Soul, inviting him to the Pixar campus in Northern California. Pete repeatedly asked us, Did I get this right? Is this correct? he said.
Members of Docter s team traveled to Dr. Archer s classroom to take photos and measurements, and the result is a real-life depiction.
EMERYVILLE, Calif. Premiering with Pixar s Christmas release of Soul will be a new SparkShorts film called Burrow.
It tells the story of a bunny who ends up digging herself too deep, so to speak, in her attempt to build a burrow as beautiful as her neighbors, and who humbly seeks help from those around her.
For first-time Pixar director Madeline Sharafian, the inspiration for Burrow didn t have to come from afar. In fact, it came from within Pixar s walls. I noticed I would see my teammates showing each other their drawings and sequences, and I would hide in my office. Like, you can t look, not until I m totally done, Sharafian explains. I was pulling all of these late nights and working weekends, and I was just making this lonely lifestyle for myself. So this short is really about seeing how much more beautiful your life can be if you have that little bit of courage to ask your peers and neighbors for help when you need it.
One word has many meanings in the new Disney Pixar film "Soul," which is both a celebration of African American culture and a reflection on the meaning of life.
This holiday season, everybody is finding new ways to safely connect with friends and family. In this exclusive clip, hear from Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey and others in the cast of Pixar s Soul about the role community plays in the film and in their lives.
There are a lot of similarities between Powers and the main character, however, the character is not solely based on him. Joe definitely reflects a lot of elements of who I am. But to say I m Joe, no, because there are elements of a lot of different peoples lives on the creative team that are reflected in Joe. I think some of my elements are the most obvious. Of course, being middle-aged Black man from New York City, who goes on the artist journey of Joe is incredibly familiar, says Powers.