As I mentioned in my Zootropolis post, I am a Disney fanatic. I’ve grown up alongside Disney’s evolution and was rarely disappointed with the movies produced by the company. I sang along to ‘When Will My Life Begin’ from Tangled for weeks after I watched it, and ‘Let It Go’ was on constant repeat after I heard it. (I’m a musical theatre enthusiast who seriously can’t get enough of the angelic vocals of Idina Menzel – They’re Wicked!) But never have I been quite as impressed with a Disney motion picture as I was with Inside Out. The film completely captivated me and I was left in Sadness for hours after watching it knowing that it was over, sobbing into my ice cream as the ‘TripleDent Gum’ jingle repeated itself over and over again in my head (And just because I’m cruel, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHArCl_fPm0 )
I feel sorry for anyone who was around me in the weeks following the first of many times I watched Inside Out; I’m pretty sure they wanted to throttle me and throw me down the Memory Dump for talking about it so much.
Why, you may ask, did this film mesmerise me so much?
The film was one of the most spectacular examples of modern animation I have ever seen. The hours put into making this film are evident from the very first shot and everything was done to minute detail. The story was compelling and had me laughing, crying and scouring the internet for weeks after watching it for any Inside Out related content I could get my hands on. I even stayed to watch the credits to which I thank myself for, because at the end of the film it showed the five generic emotions in the heads of others and offered a unique perspective on the emotions of a range of people. It’s a humorous take on the complexities human mind, but also extremely touching and heart-warming.
Inside Out is a movie Picasso would be proud of, (If Picasso was a 21st century animator and not a cubist artist of the early/mid-20th century, that is!) I dare say, and one that is at the top of my list of favourite animated movies.
It’s also extremely significant in the world of psychology.
Meet Riley, an 11 year old girl originally from Minnesota. She is a happy, energetic girl who loves to be goofy, play hockey, adores her family and despises broccoli (Who doesn’t?). She has five emotions personified by brightly coloured characters that control Riley and all aspects of her personality. These are the ever optimistic and dominant emotion, Joy, Anger who protects Riley from being downtrodden and bullied, Disgust who protects Riley from being poisoned, Fear who considers the worst case scenario to prevent Riley from getting hurt and Sadness, the rejected emotion who Joy doesn’t understand why she’s there. When Riley moves to San Francisco her world is turned upside down. She must leave her beloved hockey team, start a new school and sorely misses her beloved home town. Desperately trying to stop Sadness from ruining Riley’s first day at school, Joy and Sadness end up being pulled away from HQ. The pair must work together to scramble their way back to HQ to restore all of Riley’s ‘core memories’ while the remainder of Riley’s emotions struggle to retain some normality in Riley’s life in the absence of Joy, the leader of Riley’s emotions. After many trials and tribulations in the depths of Riley’s mind, Joy and Sadness eventually make their way back to HQ. Joy realises that sometimes it’s important to let other emotions take charge. This was the third point in the film that I started bawling, for the record. Yeah, this film turned me into a disgusting, snivelling wreck. Thanks, Disney!
From a psychological standpoint, the film is extremely unique. The five emotions present in Inside Out are five of six of the six universally validated emotions. The sixth emotion is surprise, not included in the movie. Personifying these emotions into living breathing creatures makes it a lot easier to understand for younger audiences. They were also extremely accurate. Sadness literally has to drag herself to do things at some points in the films, and this sometimes is how it feels to be sad. Sadness and depression can also manifest in lethargy, (Sadness: I’m too sad to walk. Just give me a few… hours) defeatism and sometimes even numbness. But negative emotions can also be important in order to make rational, safe decisions. Take this for example:
Sadness: [Joy is walking through Riley’s mind, carrying the memory spheres] It’s long term memory… you’ll get lost in there.
Joy: [calling over her shoulder] C’mon! Think positive!
Sadness: Okay…
[pause]
Sadness: I’m positive that you’ll get lost in there!
In the film, Joy rejects any help from Sadness. This eventually goes very wrong for Riley in the course of the movie. It’s eventually sadness who saves the day in a heart-wrenching moment where she enables Riley to reach out to the people she had turned away and accept all the emotion she’s been suppressing (Awwwwwwwww, my poor heart!) Sometimes, emotions really are better out than in. Every single emotion is crucial to Riley’s development, and the absence or repression of a key emotion can sometimes lead to crippling mental and emotional stress in the long term, as opposed to the growth you may experience simply by embracing it. Moving is extremely stressful so sadness is a perfectly reasonable emotion to have in response to this experience, yet Riley is under pressure to ‘keep smiling’ and reject the sadness she feels, something that we are also encouraged to do in the real world. Her feelings as a result are demonstrated in other forms such as irritation, resentment and Riley isolates herself instead of seeking the support she needs in a time of intense emotional distress. By suppressing a key emotion we can spiral into worse problems such as depression or other mental health problems. Inside Out demonstrates the damage telling someone what they ‘should’ feel or do can cause to someone, especially a young girl such as Riley already entering a difficult stage of life. To speak in cliché, sometimes after the rain comes a rainbow, however. After allowing herself to embrace sadness, Riley develops new aspects to her personality and becomes better for it. We all have emotions and as Marina and the Diamonds would say ‘I am not a Robot’ – this is not Wall-E. Accepting that certain emotions are okay is crucial in recovery from many mood disorders.
Getting a glimpse into the minds of other characters in the film and their emotions was one of my favourite aspects of the film. Whereas Riley’s primary emotion is Joy, her mother’s is Sadness, her father’s is Anger, and the ‘cool’ girl’s is Fear and so on. It’s an interesting glimpse into how if you are governed by a certain emotion your personality can be completely different than if you were controlled by a different one. Another interesting question is this; why are Riley’s emotions mixed genders whereas other people (and animals) around her seem to have emotions of one particular gender?
The most important thing this film managed to convey above all else was this: Emotions are complex, yet are a vital element of what makes a human being. Our ability to feel and reason is what distinguishes us from other living, breathing creatures in this vast universe (Though I would pay good money to see a dolphin trying to crack a murder case!) Sometimes in society we’re told to repress what we feel if it’s negative because it doesn’t conform to the pursuit of happiness that the media and society tells us is our ultimate goal, and this is tremendously unhealthy and can lead to bigger problems. Instead of being rejecting negative feelings and scorning those who demonstrate them, we should be offering a friendly shoulder to cry on, giving our support in that person’s time of need and giving ourselves the self-care we need when we’re feeling low. We should be standing united instead of allowing people to delve into the depths of despair and the all-consuming vortex that is mental illness.
Telling people they ‘should’ feel a certain way? It’s a no from me.
It’s okay to feel the feels! Seriously, watch this film and you’ll be crying with Joy in no time!
Disclaimer: The featured image in this article is owned and rightfully belongs to Disney.
Emma's E-Musings 