Libba Gardner is a major character in Disney/Pixar's 2020 animated feature film, Soul. She is the mother of Joe Gardner and a tailor who resides in New York City.
Background[]
Official Description[]
Libba Gardner is Joe’s mother, his biggest fan, and his kind-hearted truth-teller. She is a proud businesswoman who’s owned a successful tailor shop in Queens for decades. Her late husband, Joe’s father, was a struggling musician, so Libba was the primary breadwinner for the family. She knows that life as a musician can be brutal, so she encourages Joe to have a backup plan, which he interprets as a lack of support. But no matter how pragmatic Libba can be, above all, she loves Joe and wants him to be happy.
Physical appearance[]
Libba is a tall, thin elderly black woman with curly grey hair. She sports a pair of half-moon glasses, a red shirt, purple skin and red shoes.
Personality[]
Libba is a pragmatic, blunt, but ultimately loving woman; while she does not approve of Joe's dreams to become a musician, all she cares about is her son's happiness.
Appearances[]
Soul[]
Libba is first seen when Joe goes to his mother's tailor shop, happy that her son has a full time job as a music class teacher. When Joe attempts to ask her, she explains to her son that he will tell Melba and Lulu about telling them that he is happy to have a full time job. Joe explains to her that he has a plan to which Libba explains to her son that even though her son always has a plan, she reminds her son that he would a backup plan would be recommended when talking to them, explaining to Joe that with this job, he would adapt having a new life with a job like what his mother has, explaining to him that playing music will be his real career to which Joe accepts his mother's advice. After talking, Joe suddenly receives a call from Curley.
Joe encounters his mother again working on a dress most as Mr. Mittens (controlled by Joe) tells the real Joe (controlled by 22) to fix the suit for the Half Note Club for him to which she refuses to just as Joe gets troubled by her about telling her to accept the full-time job about playing attending Dorothea's band which Joe would attend, just as he discusses with her about his reason for his life, much to Libba feeling worried that her son is being insincere with her. Joe (controlling Mr. Mittens) then tells 22 (controlling the real Joe himself) to tell Libba to get the suit off the rack from somewhere else and that she has never understood what her son was trying to do with her life, much to Libba feeling offended of what her son said to her. Joe then explains to his mother that even though he had a rough moment, he explains to her that he can't be truthful with her, feeling that she disapproves of what her son is telling her.
Libba then explains to her son that even though he loves playing with Dorothea, she explains to him that he didn't see how tough it is to be a musician list like his father was, feeling worried about Joe's struggle on becoming a musician just as she explains to him that his father had her pursuing his dreams - explaining that Libba's tailor store is where the bills were paid to keep her store growing. She then asks her son that who will pay the bills in case she no longer works there to which Joe explains that music is his passion as he seeks to achieve his goal with music to which his mother disagrees. Joe then clarifies his saying, explaining to his mother that music is his reason for living, feeling that his father felt the same way, much to his mother's disappointment. Instead of music as Joe's duty, she explains that tailoring would be his job instead music just as she shows him his father's suit, explaining to Melba and Lulu to work on the suit. After working on the suit, Libba and her two assistants feel overjoyed on the suit Joe is wearing just as Joe thanks his mother for giving him the right suit to which she explains to him that her husband Ray would have been happy if he were there just as she shares an embrace with her son just before he and Mr. Mittens leave.
Later that night during performance at the Half Note Club, Libba later watches Joe performing with the Dorothea Williams Quartet band just as she praises her son for wonderful performance as well as Dorothea's band, alongside Melba, Lulu, and the rest of the audience who cheer for a wonderful performance at the Club. After performing, Libba gives praise to her son for a fascinating performance with Dorothea just before she leaves with Melba and Lulu who board a taxi nearby.
Pixar Popcorn[]
In the episode "Soul of the City", a brief image from the episode shows Libba giving her husband Ray a taste of her cooking.
Trivia[]
- Libba attends church with Joe.
- Like King Triton, Libba did not support her child's dreams, despite accepting that Joe did love playing music and in the end, reconciled with her child, after realizing how much Joe wanted to be a jazz musician as he felt his life wasn't good enough.
- Due to Libba's husband being revealed to be alive in Pixar Popcorn, it's possible her husband has some sort of disease that leaves Libba to take care of him.
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