How Pixar ’s “Soul” met the Science of Awe

Five years ago, I (Dacher) received a call from Pixar writer and director Pete Docter to talk about his new film. The last time I said yes to such a request, I served as a scientific consultant for his film Inside Out. So, I was intrigued. Before my visit, Pete offered a brief sketch of the film. The main character, Joe, is a middle-aged jazz pianist in a rut as a middle school band teacher in Queens. Just before his breakthrough show with a famous quartet, he falls into a manhole and dies, entering into another realm of consciousness. There he encounters “The Great Beyond”—but escapes to a pre-life realm, the “Great Before,” where he befriends a cynical “new soul” named 22. The story is about their respective quests: for 22 to find her reason for living, and for Joe to get back to life in his body for a once-in-a-lifetime gig. Pete asked that I talk with Soul’s core creative team about the science of awe, which has preoccupied my lab at Berkeley for 15 years. Awe is the feeling we experience when encountering vast things that we don’t understand. Around the world and in culturally varying ways, studies show, we experience awe in response to others’ kindness and courage, nature, music, religious or spiritual practice, the visual and dramatic arts, and epiphany. We sense awe in our bodies in the chills, tears, and the chest-warming sense of being part of something larger than our egos. It leads us to share, collaborate, and wonder. In experiences of awe, pe...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Education & Lifelong Learning art awe connection creativity mental states Pixar purpose science soul Source Type: blogs