Inside Out
by Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley
Inside Out is the new Pixar movie, and it took me a longer time than usual to go see it because I knew I would cry. Well, yeah, of course I cried, and thanks Pixar SO VERY MUCH for adding a line at the very end of the credits that made me cry all over again just as the lights went up. I also had a really good time. This is an inventive, sweet movie about the importance of emotions – all of them.
Riley is an eleven-year-old girl who has just moved from Minnesota to San Francisco with her family. She is not thrilled with the new house, the new school, or any of the other changes that come with moving across the country. Riley’s parents, who clearly adore her, expect her to be the happy one in the family. As an infant, her father greets her with “Here’s our little bundle of joy!” and when the family moves Riley’s mom tells her that during this stressful time it will help if Riley can “keep smiling.” One thing I liked about the parents is that they are, in general, fantastic. Affectionate, attentive parents – they just make the same mistake that a lot of people do with regard to pressuring kids to be happy.
Anyway, Riley’s emotions live in a part of her brain called Headquarters. Joy (Amy Poehler) is the ringleader. She sees it as her job to keep Riley happy all the time, and in general Riley is a happy, goofy kid. Joy works with Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). When Sadness touches one of Riley’s core memories, things quickly escalate until Sadness and Joy end up running around Riley’s brain trying to return her core memories to their proper places and return to Headquarters so that Riley can feel Sadness and Joy again (she can’t while they are away from headquarters).
This movie does a good job of making the stakes feel high. Riley is a middle class white girl and her problems are pretty small scale, but of course to her they are huge, heartbreaking problems. The movie also avoids making Riley look like a super special snowflake by showing the insides of other people’s heads as well as Riley’s (this is also very, very funny). Riley’s emotions see Riley as the most important person in the universe, but everyone else’s emotions feel the same way about everyone else.
The movie struck me as a very poignant look at depression. When Joy and Sadness are away from headquarters, Riley CAN’T feel happy. She can’t snap out of it. She can’t cheer up, or put her problems into perspective. Nor can she have a cathartic cry – she only has Fear, Anger, and Disgust which make her feel something like Sadness but without the healing potential. There’s something amiss in her brain, beyond her control, just as people with depression have a medical condition and can’t just choose to be happy. The most powerful stuff in the movie comes from showing how Sadness and Joy have to work together to help people heal and grow.
This movie has some very funny stuff (the dream about broccoli pizza is worth the price of admission alone) but it’s not a laugh-a-minute comedy like Monsters Inc. or Finding Nemo (funny movies which are also tearjerkers, because Pixar loves nothing better than to rip out my heart and eat it). It is a very emotional movie (duh) and one that is conceptually fascinating. You get the sense that the animators had an awfully good time. The scene in which Sadness and Joy wander into Abstract Thought is hilarious and it’s more hilarious if you picture a roomful of animators going “WHEEE!”
The ultimate message is that it’s OK to feel sad – in fact, feeling sad some of the time is essential. Which is a pretty subversive message for a summer movie, and gives it a real honest and grounded feel amidst all the whimsical imagery. That being said, while the movie is often very poignant, it’s never a downer – it’s too funny and fast-moving and colorful to be depressing. It’s grounded by serious stuff but also playful and fun.
Everything in the film revolves around an eleven-year-old girl. As it happens, I attended Inside Out with two eleven year old girls, who have chosen to be called Cupcake and Kitty, who graciously and with only a small amount of bribery agreed to share their thoughts with us. Comments in brackets are my own.
How many stars (out of five) would you give the movie?
Cupcake: 3.5
Kitty: 4
What did you like about it?
Cupcake: The part where Riley meets a boy and the boy freaks out because she is a girl and he doesn’t know what to do.
Kitty: How they went on an adventure and how Joy and Sadness tried to get back to Headquarters.
What didn’t you like?
Kitty: I did not like the sad parts and I thought it was not very exciting.
Cupcake: It was OK, but it wasn’t wonderful (Kitty nods at this).
Who would like it?
Cupcake: Little kids wouldn’t like it because they wouldn’t understand it. But they might like Imagination Land.
Kitty: They might also like the part where the boy freaks out.
Cupcake: No, little kids wouldn’t understand that at all.
[This led to a spirited debate, followed by the following recommendations:]
Cupcake – The movie is good for kids age eleven and up.
Kitty: I think nine and up. Fairytale land is kind of funny and there’s a unicorn in it. I think the movie helps kids understand how they are feeling.
Do you think movie is about growing up?
Cupcake and Kitty: YES!
Kitty: if you move somewhere and you don’t really have friends or anything, you don’t need to feel alone, you just need to stand up for yourself and make new friends.
Cupcake: When they were in Imagination World they were getting rid of little kid things and replacing them with…I’m just going to call it Build-a-Boy Workshop.
[Riley has an Imaginary Boyfriend in Imagination World. Both girls disliked the Imaginary Boyfriend].
Cupcake: At a different part, in Long Term memories,
Do you think that as you grow up you have to lose parts of you childhood or adapt them to your new life?
Cupcake: Adapt. But Riley sort of did, because she kept Imagination Land, but she added stuff, like Build-a-Boy Workshop. That thing was weird.
Kitty: It has some stuff that’s kind of childish like an imaginary friend. And when you get a little older you don’t do that. You just change.
So there you have it. I feel my young reviewers were a bit conservative in their estimates – while the themes resonate with adults and older kids, it’s hard for me not to picture the colorful, fun imagery being a draw for younger children. There’s nothing objectionable in the film although if your kid liked clowns and broccoli before the movie, they certainly won’t after. I’m surprised that the movie is PG – it’s a very gentle movie. And bring tissues. My jaded eleven-year-old companions did not shed a tear but I bawled my eyes out.
SB Sarah: My kids are 9 and 7, and they loved it, and understood just about every nuance of the story. The great thing about Pixar movies is that they function on multiple levels for the most likely varied ages of the people seeing them. This one functions as an adventure story, a story about growing up, and also a story about psychology and how we don’t really understand everything about how the brain works, especially when the brain is doing a good job (or a not so good job) of taking care of itself.
I agree with Carrie that the part where Sadness and Joy are absent from Riley’s brain was incredibly poignant. Their absence creates a numb indifference that is similar to or for some people exactly like depression. I was most fascinated by the idea that the brain and its parts want balance and equilibrium, but that there are a lot of smaller aspects within it that can easily knock everything out of place.
Plus, emotions are what manage the brain. Not thoughts. Thoughts, if I’m reading the world building correctly, can create or build parts of the long term, short term, and core memories, and Riley can react to them if they’re replayed inside Riley’s brain. But the emotions are the ones in control, with an actual control board, trying to help Riley. That said, the emotions who are in charge aren’t entirely sure how everything fits together, or how the brain they’re in functions. Every new core memory or long term memory is a surprise. They’re managing the control board, but there are a lot of parts they don’t get, that work independently of them, despite their control board.
I wish there had been a little bit more about other people’s brains. There’s a cliche-heavy part (seen in the trailer) where the emotions controlling Riley’s father and mother are interacting, and I thought it was very interesting that the adults’ emotions were calmer, more homogeneous. You can tell the difference between them, but they’re very similar to one another, whereas in Riley’s brain, the different emotions are more distinct in appearance and color. Also, in the mother’s brain, it looked like sadness was in charge, where as the dad’s brain was managed by anger – which didn’t fit their personalities entirely, either. The dad isn’t an angry dad any more than the mom is constantly sad. It was odd and curious.
But the part that sticks with me most is the fact that emotions are important, and specifically that sadness is important. As Linda Holmes said in a recent Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, it’s pretty rare and wonderful to see a summer movie that addresses the idea that kids, especially girls, are expected to always seem happy, even when they’re not. It’s important to feel sadness, and acknowledge that its there. Ironically, in the movie, it’s the character of Sadness who knows the most about how Riley’s brain works (for a few reasons, which I won’t spoil).
I loved this movie and am still thinking about it. I recommend it and disagree that younger viewers wouldn’t understand it. Kids know they have feelings and don’t always know what to do with them, and giving those feelings individual identities is something younger kids can understand. The idea that a group of young and adult movie goers are seeing a film with the message of, “Feelings, especially sadness, are important” makes me, pardon the obvious cliche, very joyful indeed.
Inside Out is in theatres now and you can find tickets (US) at Fandango and Moviefone.
NB: This trailer does a better job of setting up the adventure story of the film, and shows more of the command center:
My kids are older than Sarah’s or Cupcake and Kitty (both are older teenagers). According to my Girl Child, Build-a-Boy workshop ain’t that farfetched. Cupcake and Kitty might revise their view in a couple of years.
According to my Boy Child, the panic set off by a girl is ridiculous–those mental creatures would have been staring with their tongues hanging out in fascination (and OK a little alarm but more in the frozen-solid-with-uncertainty way)
Everyone agreed the cat at the end was the very best, and also completely accurate based on our cats.
As for me… when Bing-Bong and Joy were trying to get the rocket/wagon to fly and Bing-Bong looked at his hand, I knew what was going to happen and I TOTALLY LOST IT. This movie sounded kind of strange but Pixar really pulled it off.
My sister and I both loved this movie and announced on our way out of the theater that we would watch it again and then own it; that was pretty much the consensus of overheard conversations as well. Seven- and ten-year-old grandchildren/nieces liked it, but weren’t nearly as effusive as we were.
The whole premise of every one of the emotions being afraid of Sadness, of trying to keep her away, from “ruining” memories, was so poignant and heartbreaking. I can’t talk about Bing-Bong right now … shit.
Inside Out is fabulous. I want more.
I agree that it was a really good movie. I disagree with your assessment of how it dealt with depression.
When Joy and Sadness were away from headquarters, I didn’t see Riley’s response as depression, but rather an angsty, sullen preteen. That’s when all the sarcasm, cynicism, and anxiety were being expressed. The depression didn’t come until the dark cloud started spreading over the control board, when she started not being able to feel anything. That was a great representation of clinical depression. You can’t feel angry, disgust, or fear because you can’t feel. It also got across that sadness doesn’t equal depression.
I understand that Pixar actually consulted psychologists and neurosurgery experts for this movie, in an effort to reflect how the brain actually works and that it’s fairly scientifically accurate, which is very cool. Really looking forward to seeing this movie.
Without spoiling the ending – I felt the climactic ending sequence/ post climax sequence sort-of explained how Mom has Sadness as the Leader and Dad has Anger as the Leader (especially considering the control center). I also feel that Sadness doubled as Compassion a bit throughout the movie, and Riley’s mother seems fairly compassionate.
I also started tearing up when Bingabong’s arm faded, it was such a good set-up.
But I bawled at the end. Like snot coming out of my nose bawled. I was 11 the second time I moved – from one northern state all the way down to the bottom of a southern state – and that ending sequence! It totally sucker punched me in my emotional core. Moving sucks when you’re 11 years old and shy and awkward. And Riley wasn’t even all that shy, she had a very outgoing personality!
Its a very good movie. Not pixar’s best (I still find the themes and adventure of Finding Nemo to be the best – I cry at that ending all.the.time its so good), but still very, very good.
We saw this after work last Thursday and thought it was amazing.
My godson, who is a paranoid schizophrenic with bi-polar disorder (really, could you pile more on a person) and I had a conversation about emotions in the early stages of his illness. He was about 18. He was always worried about being sad or depressed. He didn’t see it as normal. He, like Joy, thought he was supposed to be happy all the time. No matter what I said he’s never gotten over that idea.
BTW did the rest of you tear up during the “Lava” short. Or was that just me? It was just me, wasn’t it?
And Lewis Black and I are fraternal twins separated at birth.
I loved it! I took my 16yo and 11yo boys, and while both of them enjoyed it, the 16yo was the bigger fan. He admitted to tearing up during the rocket wagon scene. (I pretty much bawled through that scene and a couple others.) I think maybe he is old enough to have some perspective about the sadness of leaving behind old memories and the relics of early childhood, while my 11yo was too young to experience those moments as strongly.
My hope is that younger kids who see this movie will come away with a little more awareness of their emotional lives and some vocabulary to communicate about them.
Absolutely loved this movie. Convinced my spouse he had to go also and, of course, he loved it despite a bit of initial grumbling. I felt that, like all good animation, it worked on two levels, one for children and one for adults. Let’s hear it for abstract thinking and deja vu.
We stayed far enough into the credits to enjoy the cat, but left while everything else was scrolling. What was at the very end?
I saw this with a friend and we were the only adults sans kids in the theater. I really liked the portrayal of Joy. She looks like Tinkerbell dipped her head in blue glitter. At first, she seems like an overflowing fount of goodness and optimism, and I Loved loved loved how the film shows the eventual limitations of Joy, and how she can even be quite mean and not empathetic to someone who doesn’t operate according to her grand plan. Sadness is the compassionate, sympathetic one.
I wrote a review of Inside Out a few days ago. It mean a lot if you went and checked it out.
@DonnaMarie: I totally teared up during the Lava short. TOTALLY.
Here’s that link I mentioned:
http://www.vulture.com/2015/06/neuroscientist-fact-check-inside-out.html?mid=twitter_vulture
@DonnaMarie: Three days later and I am still singing that lovely song. What a great short film to pack such a wallop.
“Everything is awful and my legs don’t work” is such a remarkably apt summing up of depression that I cannot. At all. I cried throughout significant parts of the movie, and almost turned around to get another ticket and go back for the 9:40 show. Loved it.
I went yesterday with three kids: 7 and 3 year old boys and a 4 year old girl. They all liked it a lot but the littlest got scared about 2/3 through when they were with the clown (hopefully that’s vague enough not to be a spoiler). Other than saying it was cool / great, they weren’t effusive. Ironically the 3 year old also had a melt down straight afterwards so this was an opportunity for the rest of us to talk about anger as an emotion. However, today, TODAY was awesome and we reflected on the movie for an hour or so to talk about the memories we keep and those that we do not, and what makes memories special. This wouldn’t really have been part of our Sunday conversation had we not gone to the movie. We also talked about the links between memory and emotion. At the time I thought it may have been conceptually more appropriate for slightly older kids (8 or 9 plus) but now I think it was useful entre to discussions around emotions, brains, etc for younger kids.
I saw this with my 10yo and 6yo daughters. Both loved it! As we were leaving the theatre, my 10yo remarked that Riley was the only character who had both male AND female emotions, and posited that she is “a tomboy, like me” – which blew my mind, because I hadn’t noticed that, and made my heart grow three sizes, because Pixar created a heroine that she could really identify with. Well done, Pixar!
So I was originally not going to see this because the trailers REALLY offended me; it felt like everyone was summed up by emotions in their head and that there was something wrong with you if your emotions weren’t balanced.
As someone with clinical depression and bipolar, that pissed me off.
But it sounds like I might go see it, if they handled it the way you guys say they do.
Thought you might like to know why the particular emotions were in charge of the parents. It seems odd, but it made a lot more sense when I thought about it. In a balanced adult, the key emotions serve helpful, positive purposes…ALL of them! We see hints of it in Riley as she matures.
Healthy sadness is a major contributor to empathy, and Riley’s mother is shown to be very empathetic and caring about others–and once framed that way, it makes sense. What the mother really has in charge is compassion, and it may actually be that Sadness is the primary driver of that ability.
Healthy anger is tied to keeping things fair and getting things done. Riley’s father is a very action and goal-oriented person and seems to be a self-made man if not sole proprietor of his own business. Having this form of healthy anger in charge seems to work for him–but UNLIKE the mentally unstable, road-raging bus driver at the end, who has become consumed by anger to the point of basically destroying his other emotions, the father demonstrates the ability to be caring and to show regret for any less-than-diplomatic actions. And even his angriest response is still restrained (the point made by the whole Defcon 2 thing..,unlike Riley’s unrestrained explosion…AND by his apology and concern later) and not even slightly abusive.
I could even see scenarios where a well adjusted adult could have Fear or Disgust in charge. For instance, in its proper function, Fear is about keeping us safe. Someone in an occupation with a high risk of injury needs to be alert both for danger AND just how far they can push the boundaries before getting into something they can’t get out of. In reverse, someone very risk averse might be able to make a good career in risk assessment, auditing, etc., and need their eagle eye for threats. As long as this stays mediated by reason and doesn’t become paranoia, this could easily be a functioning adult.
And Disgust is implied in the movie to have a role in taste and even an eye for beauty, not just keeping you from getting poisoned. If it avoids becoming arrogance or snobbishness, or dangerously high levels of self-criticism (think anorexia as one example) or OCD, it would be easy to see a very artistic personality with this fine sense of discrimination of beauty in charge. In the BEST case scenario, you may even have a person who, instead of putting people down for little imperfections, instead uses their discernment to be particularly capable of seeing through outward appearances to the little jewels of beauty in others that they are unable to see in themselves, and helping to bring that out to the forefront.
(Think of Carmindy the American version of What Not to Wear: you’d think a makeup artist like her would be vain but what always struck me was that she always saw something beautiful about her clients even when I, in a shallow moment, wasn’t seeing it yet, and she always made sure to tell them what she loved. You could always see how good it made people feel!)
I also meant to add…in both the older Riley and her father, Fear acts as a check against the consequences of unrestrained anger. Fear runs the safety checklist before Riley’s dad sends his daughter to his room, and in the final sequence, it’s Riley’s Fear who finds the “bleep button” that keeps Anger from unleashing the full library of curse words. 😉
Oh…sorry for one more…I actually disagreed with the whole need to get rid of Bing Bong and some of the little kid stuff. That part made me sad…AND a little angry because I thought that was not quite the right message.
It can’t rule you as a functioning adult–but I distinctly remember the day at Riley’s age when I was playing with action figures and it suddenly occurred me I ought to go to the computer and start writing my stories down. Have my stories matured with life experience and become less carefree? Yes, for sure. But instead of eliminating all of my old imaginings, let’s say I’ve got a very well-loved Hall of Fame in my head of retired players that dutifully hand out advice to the newer generations. 😉 For me, Bing Bong deserved graceful retirement and a Hall of Fame award, not death or being forgotten.
(And heck, a kids’ author and artist can use things like that DIRECTLY, as a well-adjusted adult!)