Inside Out
Inside Out has remained my favorite movie and I have seen it at least 100 times. I knew that it was set up for a sequel by how it ended, and I have patiently waited nine years to see the next one. Of course I went on opening day, I even went to the theater to buy the tickets instead of getting them online. However, how could I possibly tell you about Inside Out 2, before I even shared my thoughts about the first one.
Yes, it’s a kid’s movie, but I love how kid’s movies make it so simple. It's hard at times to identify how we feel, and I appreciate how easy they were able to break down our complicated emotions into identifiable characters: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger.
Within the movie we witness Riley’s emotions work to help her navigate life and what seems to be her first trauma, moving. What begins to happen for Riley is grief from the loss of her old life. The things and memories that used to bring her joy are now affected by Sadness. Sadness comes across as impulsive in her actions to touch these memories. Joy, who desperately wants Riley to feel better, stops Sadness over and over. As if Joy was suppressing Sadness from doing what she needed to do, feel. At the beginning of the film Sadness states that her crying “helps me slow and obsess over life’s problems”. Crying is a great release, one that I encourage. Not only does it release different toxins based on why we are crying but it also releases endorphins and oxytocin which makes us feel better.
As the story unfolds, Joy and Sadness are swept away, as if Riley can not find Joy and is choosing to suppress her Sadness. Leaving her only with Fear, Disgust and Anger in Headquarters. The movie goes on with Joy and Sadness trying to get back to Headquarters, and Headquarters doing their best to manage what they can. As time goes on, her islands of personality crumble, a clear representation of how we lose interest in things that used to bring us joy, and a sign that her mental health is unwell.
Joy for the longest time believed that all Riley really needed was her, and that the other emotions only helped in small ways. Joy’s thoughts on this begin to turn when Bing Bong loses his rocket ship to the great abyss. Joy tries to stay positive and cheer him up with laughter, but Bing Bong just sits there. Sadness comes over and speaks with him, validating what he was feeling, allowing room for tears, and after Bing Bong says he feels better. This message is huge. The first part is that we need to acknowledge our sadness, we can’t cover it up with Joy. Secondly, the power of validating others. Rather than “staying positive”, sometimes what people need to hear is “that sucks” and “I’m sorry that happened to you”. We move past our feelings by actually acknowledging and feeling them.
In a desperate attempt to make Riley feel better, Headquarters comes up with the idea to have Riley run away, which breaks apart the last of her personality island and tail spins her into numbness which we see when none of the emotions can influence her. Just then Sadness and Joy make it back, and it is Sadness that saves the day. Bringing us a great reminder, that under our anger, disgust, and fear is sadness. We often choose to sweep over it, as it's not comfortable to be vulnerable. However, it’s the tears of sadness that bring Riley back to herself. At the end, we realize that Sadness wasn't being impulsive by touching the memories, she was being intuitive.
Sincerely,
Sarah
