How Pixar ensured authentic depiction of the Black experience in their Christmas release Soul Soul is only the fourth American animated feature to make Black characters the leads, following Bebe’s Kids (1992), The Princess and the Frog (2009), and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Jamie Foxx voices Joe Gardener in Pixar s Soul | YouTube
All Pixar features arrive with technical innovations, but
Soul, opening Friday on Disney+, breaks important new ground: The movie centers on the studio’s first Black protagonist, Joe Gardner, a jazz pianist on what might be the biggest day of his life, and the creative team includes the company’s first Black co-director, Kemp Powers.
âSoulâ Features Pixarâs First Black Lead Character. Hereâs How It Happened.
Mindful of animationâs history of racist imagery, the studio aimed to make the jazz pianist at the center of the film as specific as possible.
The movie centers on Joe Gardner, a jazz pianist with a day job as a middle-school music teacher.Credit.Disney/Pixar
By Charles Solomon
Published Dec. 22, 2020Updated Dec. 28, 2020
All Pixar features arrive with technical innovations, but âSoul,â opening Dec. 25 on Disney+, breaks important new ground: The movie centers on the studioâs first Black protagonist, Joe Gardner, a jazz pianist on what might be the biggest day of his life, and the creative team includes the companyâs first Black co-director, Kemp Powers.