Image courtesy of www.hitfix.com
While I am not a seasoned movie critic, I would like to
write a review on this movie. Some have called the movie groundbreaking. I would
have to agree with these sentiments.
Beginning in the first scene of the movie, Riley’s emotions “Joy”, “Sadness”, “Fear”, “Anger”, and ”Disgust” are introduced as real life characters and established in a warm and fun loving way.
When the main character, Riley who is an eleven years old girl, has
to move from her home in the Midwest to California, Riley finds herself reeling in emotions
while trying to figure out how to come to terms with this huge change
in her life.
Inside Out uses creativity and tangible images to solidify abstract subjects of emotions and workings of the mind. The colors in the animated film are bright, fun and eye catching. The world that has been animated really pulls in the audience and a fantasy environment suddenly becomes very real during the cinematic experience. As the movie progresses we discover the main conflict which appears to be between characters Joy and Sadness within Riley's mind.
The conflict between Joy and Sadness in the movie brings home the reality that so often in life, we as human beings, are so afraid to
allow Sadness to play her role that we push her away with falsified bouts of
Joy. The irony, as this movie so poignantly points out, is that Joy cannot
exist without Sadness. Sadness cannot exist without Joy.
Pixar took the bull by the horns in this movie and utilized
so many symbolic, tangible images to help us all understand the workings of the
mind just a little bit more. They took clinical terms and presented them in
non-clinical underpinnings, thus creating a foundation for the movie to build upon. Introducing core memories (presented as large marble-like balls), long term memory, the subconscious mind, dreams and so many more areas of the mind are ways in which Pixar helps us relate to Riley and
more importantly to ourselves. I especially liked the imagery at headquarters. At one point in the movie Joy was trying to help Riley sort out what to expect when she arrived at her new, unseen home. To accomplish this, Joy used puzzle piece chips in the main switchboard console to
put ideas together and try to create a futuristic picture for Riley.
As I sat in the theater, I continually thought to myself,
every movie has a villain. Where is the villain in this movie? It can’t be any
one emotion, all emotions are important. I don’t think it would be one of the
parents and it certainly isn’t Riley. I don't see any green vapor smoke anywhere. Nearly every animated film surrounds the evil villain with green smoke. Where is the villain to overcome and end
in triumph?
Inside Out makes it very clear that our core memories are
directly related to who we are as a person. As we grow, as we learn, our
core memories can change or be replaced. The older we get the more we realize that we can look at our core memories with different lights and see
happy and sad angles of the same past experience. Pixar introduces the idea that it is okay to look at
our memories of the past with different angles of perspective. What we choose
to dwell on in regard to that memory is entirely up to us. In this movie, Joy is
determined to not have Riley’s core memories tainted by Sadness. The core
memories must always stay happy. As the movie progresses, we recognize Joy’s
plight while understanding that it is okay and sometimes
necessary to have our core memories realistically tainted with sadness as well.
Due to a catastrophic event, Joy and Sadness were dramatically removed from headquarters. This is where the real fun began. The film took all kinds of adventurous twists and turns as Joy and Sadness frantically forged their journey back to headquarters so Riley could continue to be a fully functional, emotionally balanced human being. When Joy and Sadness were no longer at headquarters to help each other as well as help Anger, Fear and Disgust, Riley lost herself. Riley lost her
ability to become happy or sad. The only ones left back at headquarters were
Anger, Fear and Disgust. These emotions took over, because they had to, and
logical motions suddenly became illogical reactions. That was when it hit me; the villain in this
movie is us losing ourselves! The villain is losing who we are in the midst of difficult and sometimes devastating circumstances that envelope us. Okay, that's a mouth full. When we lose our core values, our core beliefs, our
core happiness and our core sadness we are in dire
need of rescuing. When we lose ourselves, we become numb. When we become numb to what makes
us who we are, we become numb to the world that surrounds us. We become numb to
anything that might make us happy or sad. We become numb and overwhelmed with
feelings of anger and fear and disgust and we enter into fight or flight mode
so quickly, we hardly recognize what is happening to us. There was no green smoke to surround a tangible, animated villain because at some point during the movie, each and every one of us realized that the villain is located within ourselves. Pixar trusted us, their audience, enough to make this realization. The creation of an animated monstrous villain on the big screen was not necessary.
This movie made me laugh and it made me cry. It made me
realize that allowing my children to be sad and work through sad emotions is
perfectly normal, perfectly fine, and perfectly necessary. It made me realize
that I have to allow myself the same courtesies. I don’t have to “fake it until
I make it”. I can take time for myself. I can take time to cry. I can take time
to get in touch with my emotions, re-balance myself and allow joy and sadness
to co-exist together.
I think the most important
reminder that this movie gave me was to ask myself, am I happy? Am I sad? If I
am neither, how do I get back to one of those emotions so I can keep anger,
fear and disgust from taking over? Anger, fear and disgust have their place and must play their roles but they are not the central emotions as to who I am or what makes up the core "me". If I do not have happiness or sadness, I do not have myself; I have lost myself.
Children all over the United States who have seen Inside Out now have a
tangible way to express to their parents how they are feeling. I have heard
many parents tell me that their young children, still learning to articulate
full sentences, are coming to their parents telling them which character they "are" in that moment. An aware parent is going to grab that moment with both hands and
help that child through that character, appreciate that character and work
through that character with them. An aware parent is going to hold their child’s
hand and teach their child that all emotions are okay. We don’t need to be
afraid of any emotions that we feel. What we need to be afraid of is losing
ourselves in stressful and frightening circumstances. Of course, the way we express these sentiments to our children need to be age appropriate and delicately handled for simple minds,
but it can be done. It is being done. Children understand concepts so much more than we
realize or give them credit for regardless their age. Inside Out is a bridge that can help us help our children.
Watch this movie with your children. Watch this movie with
your spouse. Watch it with your parents, brothers or sisters. Recognize the
depth of the mind while enjoying the company of the ones you love. Happiness can turn to sadness
and sadness can turn to happiness. I highly recommend this movie for all ages.
Pixar did an amazing job with this movie. They combined complex material,
simplified it and presented it in a way that everyone can understand and
appreciate.
I give Inside Out an outstanding two thumbs up!
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