Joy, Sadness, and Everything in Between
More Than Just A Kid's Movie: A Philosophical Look At Pixar's 'Inside Out'.
Understanding ‘Inside Out’ and going beyond the superficial.
The Heart, and the Brain
“The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of” – Blaise Pascal
The heart, and the brain.
Two different functions of the human body that symbolize certain differences. Pascal suggests that our feelings and intuitions, often associated with the heart, have their own logic and validity – it cannot be explained or justified by rational thought.
Similarly, philosopher Baruch Spinoza proposed that,
“Reason cannot defeat emotion, an emotion can only be displaced or overcome by a stronger emotion”.
Interestingly, Spinoza suggests that pure logic and rational thinking cannot trump emotions. Emotions are so deeply rooted in our psychology and act as powerful motivators that significantly influence our behaviours – emotions have the power to cloud our judgement, lead to impulsive behaviour or fuel our determination.
What these two philosophers discuss, as well as countless others before and after them, is the debate between reason and emotion. It is widely believed that our emotions influence our thoughts and decisions while reason helps us regulate our feelings.
Reason and Emotion
The image of an emotional vs reasonable figure has remained consistent throughout popular culture, particularly in Hollywood’s portrayal of emotional vs reasonable characters.
An emotional person is usually associated with negative thoughts – they are portrayed as overly sensitive, impulsive and dramatic. On the other hand, the reasonable and logical person is usually someone who is able to control their emotions. Someone who is strong, calm and objective in their perspective.
This is the fundamental concept in the propaganda film Reason and Emotion (1943). Produced by Walt Disney, this film was released during World War II to promote logical thinking. Reason was personified as a calm and collected figure that encouraged audiences to think critically and resist impulsive actions. Emotion was illustrated as a wild, chaotic man with the intent to elicit negative emotions such as fear and anxiety.
Interestingly, this film is cited as an influence for Pixar’s Inside Out.
The director, Pete Docter, has stated that Reason and Emotion was only used as inspiration was he was aiming for a more nuanced portrayal. The main difference was how emotions were personified – Docter wanted to show that emotions wasn’t an enemy to reason but rather complex and essential components to the human experience.
Inside Out
Inside Out tells the story of Riley, an 11-year-old girl whose life changes when her family makes a move across the country, completely changing their lives. Whilst the film explores Riley’s world the film focuses more on the world inside Riley’s mind and how the five emotions (Joy, their leader, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger) operate together in unison in a sort of command center.
In each passing day there are discrete moments colored by one of the five emotions that are stored, sent and archived into a library of long-term memories. However, in very rare occasions Riley would experience something so rich and powerful in emotion that it becomes stored as a core memory, building into thematic park islands based on Riley’s interests and hobbies.
When Joy and Sadness are accidentally ejected from the control center, we follow their journey through several other mental regions such as Imagination Land, Abstract Thought and the Subconscious Jail. From their journey, we learn that Joy’s dominance may be detrimental to Riley’s emotional growth – the film highlights the importance of embracing Sadness, as well as other emotions as a natural and necessary part of life, rather than a weakness or a threat to our happiness.
Inside Out challenges the conventional view of happiness as the sole goal of emotional well-being. A healthy emotional life is determined by a balance of all our emotions, including the emotions that may seem undesirable. The movie’s message is about embracing the full spectrum of our feelings and to embrace what NEEDS embracing.
But is this model of our minds and our emotions an accurate one?
A Theory of Emotion
Inside Out draws inspiration from Paul Ekman’s theory of emotions. Ekman’s revised research has concluded there are six basic emotions: joy, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise. These emotions have been held as universally experienced and expressed, regardless of culture.
Excluding surprise, the representation of these emotions suggests several things.
Firstly, each emotion is given a unique color and personality. Each given color was not at random, as Joy’s radiant yellow while Sadness’ melancholic blue tie in research relating to color theory (in which I will not go into).
Secondly, Ekman’s research has helped the portrayal of these emotions particularly through facial language. Each emotion has been associated with facial signals that have been universally accepted and can help any individual read facial cues.
This is all in accordance with Ekman’s theory, suggesting that all feelings are fundamental and innate to the human experience. Furthermore, the struggle of each emotion within the control center mirror Ekman’s idea that emotions can be complex and conflicting, fighting for dominance within our minds.
However, Inside Out does more than illustrate Ekman’s theory – the movie digs into the nuances of emotional experiences, exploring how emotions blend and interact to create a wider spectrum of feeling. Joy’s realization of the importance of Sadness leads to the creation of nostalgia, and Anger’s interaction with Disgust has birthed contempt.
Emotional Development
A very subtle thing that Inside Out touches on is emotional development.
What Inside Out challenges is the traditional view of an emotion as ‘positive’ or ‘negative’. We cannot simply view one emotion as ‘good’ and the other as ‘bad’. Looking back at Reason and Emotion, Docter’s value in emotions isn’t that they should be viewed as separate entities but as pieces of a singular cohesive entity.
The film emphasizes the importance of all emotions, even the seemingly “negative” ones like sadness or anger. This is shown at the end of the film, as the control center’s panel is replaced to house all five emotions.
Inside Out promotes the idea that each emotion has a unique purpose not only in Riley’s life, but in ours, and shares a more holistic and acceptive view of emotional experiences.
For Joy and Sadness, the greatest fear wasn’t being confided within the subconscious prison that housed Riley’s worst fears but the Memory Dump in the center of Riley’s mind, where memories are forgotten forever without any hope of recall.
And perhaps this is the greatest anxiety that any person can face – the process of loss.
Loss
We notice a loss of Riley’s innocence and youth as she transitions from childhood into adolescence. With Joy and Sadness missing from headquarters, Riley’s adolescence is best described as tumultuous as her other emotions fight for dominance, symbolizing Riley’s emotional state of mind.
During this time the film highlights both a shift in Riley’s emotional landscape and her personal growing pains. Throughout the film, we notice Joy’s core memories begin to fade and change color.
Perhaps, as Riley begins to encounter more challenges and experiences in her life she begins to resonate stronger with other emotions.
This period also touches on confronting these complexities and uncertainties – her sense of loss and disorientation is further amplified by her struggles to befriend new people and adjust with her new surroundings.
We see loss through Riley’s identity, with the disintegration of Riley’s core memories reflecting a loss in her identity. Riley continues to struggle to not only adapt to her new environment but also the changing dynamics within her family. Further loss when her ‘personality islands’ break and fall into the abyss and we see her core values begin to crumble.
The loss of her ‘personality islands’ may reflect more on Riley’s internal questionings about who she is and what she values – perhaps it’s the film commenting on the fragility of our identities during times of change and upheaval. Just as Riley core values are destroyed and reconstructed, this is only possible through our external influences.
Taking Pablo Picasso’s quote out of context,
“every act of creation begins with an act of destruction”,
Riley is able to build her personality back up through the destruction of her old values. External values such as your parents’ expectations, social pressures and the challenges of adapting to a new culture are all up to interpretation and help build a sense of human experience.
Loaded messages in the film?
There are already various commentaries, explanations, insights and theories into Inside Out - at what point do we draw the line?
One thing must be stated - it’s a kid’s comedy movie! This was created for entertainment, not as an academic piece!
Pete Docter never held Inside Out as an academic or scientific work. There are plenty of themes that have been open for interpretation, such as biology, culture, neuroscience and psychology - but the complexity of these themes would only make things more complicated. It is, again, a movie created purely for entertainment.
Inside Out uses academic research as reinforcement for central themes - indeed, the movie is a critically acclaimed masterpiece that is still being talked about today. Pixar has, time and time again, raised the bar up high for what makes an animation movie spectacular.
If the intended message was for kids to understand the importance and accept sadness (as well as all other emotions portrayed), it is no doubt a good message.
But while Inside Out undeniably conveys a powerful message about accepting sadness, it is crucial to recognize that emotions aren’t isolated entities. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust are simple representations that our core emotions are interconnected and influenced by not just internal processes but also by external factors.
This interconnectedness extends much further than personality traits, or for that matter, personalities themselves. The film's portrayal of emotions as distinct characters is a simplification, albeit a useful one for children to grasp the concept.
However, the reality is far more nuanced. Emotions are fluid, constantly shifting and blending, and they don't exist in a vacuum. Our environment, relationships, and experiences all play a role in shaping our emotional landscape.
Furthermore, personality traits aren't fixed or predetermined. They evolve over time as we interact with the world and encounter new challenges. Personalities, too, are dynamic and subject to change, reflecting the ongoing process of growth and adaptation.
Conclusion
Inside Out is a colorful adventure through the reality of Riley and the portrayals of her core emotions. Disguised as a kid’s movie, the film explores the complexities of the human experience through emotions, the fragility of identity and the power of loss. Challenging the ideas of “good” and “bad” emotions, the film encourages us to embrace the full spectrum of our feelings.
What is ironic about Inside Out is this: while Riley may come off as robotic and structured, we are able to see a more complete framework of the inner workings of the mind through Joy herself.
A figure we follow through the entirety of the film, Joy serves as a guide who constantly questions and reflects.
She is someone who doesn’t turn to another ‘smaller headquarters’ but relies on her own indistinct compounds of feeling that are purely influenced by the chemistry, situation and of other emotions.
Inside Out may not be a scientifically accurate depiction of the mind but it’s true power lies in the power of something that doesn’t require intellectual exactness – emotional intelligence.
Inside Out highlights the importance of self-awareness, empathy and our innate abilities to navigate the complexities of emotion and experience.
As Joy says,
“It’s not about pushing the bad stuff away. It’s about finding a way to live with it”.
Thanks for reading, until next time,
Oscar