The Mind-Blowing Population Detail You Probably Missed In Soul
Even with all the incredible adventures that Pixar has sent us on (two involving a literally incredible family), a consistent effort has always been made in sticking to the facts, no matter how wildly fictional the story they're linked to could be. "Finding Nemo" gave us an insight into the world beneath our shores, and even "Inside Out" provided us with an extravagant way of displaying just how core memories are made and can impact our lives. Sure, this impressive animation studio may have spent years bringing us to tears, but they've done an excellent job at educating us.
It makes it all the more surprising then that in one of the company's most recent films about life, death, and its meaning, a conscious effort was made to ensure that everything added up. It might be a minor issue for some, but in the case of a music teacher trying to find his place in the world in the 2020 film "Soul," the numbers had to be just right, give or take a few billion.
Soul made the tricky calculations for the world's current population
In 2020, we were sent on the ethereal journey with Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx) after he made a major misstep and ended up on a highway to the afterlife. While it was yet another incredibly serious subject matter to tackle for a family film, there were vital details factored in to ensure there was some truth to the great beyond, mainly in the count that Gardner coincidentally screwed up. During the roll call of the first soul being assigned out, they're given the count of 108,210,121,415. Now while this combination looks like it belongs on a credit card and could've easily been one plucked from the mind of the film's creators, Pete Docter, Mike Jones, and Kemp Powers, it was a number that wasn't as far off as one that had been legitimately calculated.
According to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), there has been an estimated population of 116 billion on the planet since the dawn of our existence as of 2020. Well done to us. Admittedly, the number given in "Soul" is actually closer to what the planet was estimated to be around in 1950 — around 107 billion people. It's still an impressive ballpark figure to apply in the film, albeit one that's 9 billion shy of where we were at during the film's release. As a result, it makes the lengthy number given to the first soul sent on their way a fairly decent guess and a fitting one in a story where every soul means something. Feel free to take a walk and consider your own existence if you really want to. Also, listen to more jazz.