Inside Out

is definitely going to be one of 2015’s movie highlights.

Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust – these are the five core emotions that control our day-to-day lives without our knowing. Operating and safely sheltered in the Headquarters, they make sure that Riley, the child they live in, lives a happy and fulfilling life – with majority of her life filled with happy memories.

Riley grew up to be a happy kid until the day when they moved out of their home in Minnesota to the sunny city of San Francisco. From there on out, so many things happen to Riley that the emotions simply didn’t know what to do – especially now that Joy, their leader, got sucked out to the Long-Term Memory with Sadness, leaving Riley with just Disgust, Anger and Fear, which is highly representative of exactly what a kid who just moved in would feel.

There are several things you would come to realize while watching this film, and the fact that it’s about emotions makes it a necessity for the film to hit you right in the feels – and warn you, it definitely would.

Here are several of the things you would come to realize with Inside Out. To be quite honest, I couldn’t remember everything I caught and learned in the movie, but here’s the gist of almost everything.

1. Sadness is just as important.

We all keep saying that we want to be happy – the happiest in the entire world. In the same way that Joy was pretty much shunning Sadness out of the team due to her inability to keep Riley happy, everyone does almost the same. We repel the idea of sadness and depression, or at least allowing ourselves to fall into the deep pit of sorrow because it feels awful when in fact it is giving in to our own vulnerability and insecurities that would liberate us from all of our problems. It was greatly represented in this film – telling us all that it’s okay to feel sad and not happy all the time, that it’s okay to feel bad, because Happiness is best Happiness blooms and is most appreciated when it grows from sadness (and pain). Sadness is also the source of compassion, which is exactly what makes us human.

This leads me to appreciate Joy’s character design – blue (Sadness’ color) is her accent color. See what they did there? Bravo, Disney Pixar. Bravo.

2. Our emotions help us cope with life. Our experiences define our personality. 

Inside Out showed us that life is definitely a roller coaster ride with no distinct path. Our emotions are there to help us cope with the indeterminable fate and what we experience from it is what makes us who we are, but our choices are the ones that will define us. All of these contribute to our entire well being, and from that point on is what would be called life.

Despite the simple plot the film presented, it would require deep thinking for you to truly appreciate the film, and it’s definitely something that would blow your mind – that’s how brilliant this film is.

3. Always give way to others – you’re not always the right one and sometimes you have to step aside to let other people shine and achieve their goals. 

This is a major leadership lesson you’d learn in this film. It happened twice – the first time when Bing Bong let himself go and accepted the fact that he is no longer important to Riley as he slowly fades away into nothingness (major spoiler right there, and it’s also one of the most emotional parts of the film). The second time it happens is when Joy realizes the importance of Sadness, and how Sadness contributes to Riley’s happiness.

Stepping aside might not be what everyone would recommend, given that we were always taught to put your best foot forward, but sometimes allowing the spotlight to settle on other people is a great choice to achieve the most preferred outcome. Not giving anyone the opportunity to show their abilities and skills can prove to be taxing – the consequence being that there are so many things you could have avoided if only you knew what they were able to do.

Here are two articles I found online that share how well Inside Out presented leadership concepts:  this one is from Christine Haskell and this one is from Joseph Lalonde.

4. Amazing foreshadowing of how the mom’s emotions have a long table and how Riley’s is small. 

Now this is more an art appreciation. I noticed early on when they showed Riley’s Mom’s emotions, they had a really long table compared to Riley’s. Later on, Riley’s Dad’s emotions had the same long table. At the end of the film, Riley’s emotions had an upgrade, too (even a Puberty button).

Riley’s Emotion Team’s Table

Riley’s Mom’s Emotion Team’s Table

Now, the table serves as the main control. In Riley’s first version, the table shines the same color as the emotion that’s maneuvering it. The long control table allows for more complicated reactions, where everyone has a say in the reaction, unlike the single control table they used to have, where only one emotion can work on the situation.

Riley’s Emotion Team’s New Swanky Control Table.

The control table also represents the emotional growth of a person. Once you’ve hit a certain age, you suddenly feel different things, and you do weird things – which is exactly the introduction to puberty. When Riley started acting up, I thought Pixar was going for the adolescence/coming-of-age angle, but I’m thinking it might be reserved for Inside Out 2 (I’m hoping it would happen).

I also like the fact that the team leader per person differs. For Riley, it’s Joy. For Riley’s Mom, it’s Sadness and for Riley’s Dad, it’s Anger. It truly shows how diverse people can be.

5. The recurring theme of Change – that nothing lasts forever.

Truly, there is no such thing as forever – and the only constant thing is change. As Ratatouille said, Change is nature. Joy was upset when everything changed, in the same way that Riley was surprised that they were moving out. Everyone was flustered when there were major changes going on, and we always hold on to what we are most comfortable with – but sometimes, letting go is the most important thing (Elsa taught us that).

If you noticed, change is the main mover of the plot here. As Riley’s personality starts to deteriorate (you’ll understand this when you see the film), the entire landscape of her mind is also changing. She’s losing personality “islands” which later deactivates certain functions, which makes her a blank slate and it makes it even more difficult for Joy and Sadness to get back to headquarters. When they moved out, Riley started having emotional distress. When Joy and Sadness was gone from headquarters, the remaining emotions got flustered.

Here are two articles (here and here) again that explain the entire concept very well. The first one will hit you right in the feels.

Inside Out is definitely a thought-provoking film. It may have been made for the younger market, but everyone can pick something up from this film, regardless.

Hands down to Disney forever.

//SRV