I have to admit that I haven’t seen a lot of the popular movies out there. Every time I tell someone I haven’t seen a classic Disney movie, they gasp as if I were telling them the worst news ever.
I grew up mainly watching Disney Channel original movies. But, last year, Disney-Pixar released the film "Inside Out." And it’s no surprise for any Disney-Pixar movie to put someone in the feels. However, I think "Inside Out" took that to another level.
The film is about an 11-year-old girl, and the story is told through her perspective by her emotions, made into actual characters. There are five emotions portrayed in this film: Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear. They run the headquarters, a.k.a. the little girl's mind.
When Riley starts out in life, she first experiences the initial emotions — Joy and Sadness. As she gets older, she begins to experience new emotions such as Disgust (at the food she hated), Anger (when missing a goal in hockey) and Fear (of the first day of school). The film focuses on what role each emotion plays in our daily lives. It demonstrates how even though you want to keep your happy emotion at top priority, it can be hard, especially if you’re an 11-year-old girl.
In the film, it’s evident that Joy doesn’t think that Sadness is necessary to help run their headquarters. Joy believes she ruins things and causes more harm than good with her bad attitude and, quite literally, sad mood.
However, once the story plays out, "Inside Out" teaches viewers that sadness is, in fact, an important emotion to use at certain points in life, especially when comforting someone. One of the major events in the film is when Joy and Sadness get lost for a while. As their journey unfolds, we see the two of them work together for the sake of Riley’s emotions.
This proves a great point to viewers — that you can’t ignore certain emotions, regardless of if they’re bad ones because, in reality, all of our feelings work together to make us who we are.
While I was watching this movie, I began to realize how much I could relate to Riley. That may sound crazy because I am 20 years old, but the concept was very relevant. All of our days are filled with emotions. Whether they be happiness, anger, envy, fear, pride, sadness or even anxiety. While watching this, I felt reassured that I am not alone when I feel any of these things, and that they’re normal for everyone.
Attending the movie as a young adult seemed a little embarrassing at first. But by the time the movie was halfway over, I didn’t care if there was a 6-year-old behind me kicking my seat and making fun of me for crying at almost every scene. Even if you are the only college student watching the film (boy or girl), that’s OK, because anyone with the smallest amount of empathy will feel for the 11-year-old as she experiences life’s ups and downs.
We all have emotions, and this movie allows its audience to relate to the fact that some days we’re going to feel sad, and some days we’re going to feel really happy, but either way, emotions are a part of life.
Disney-Pixar hit the nail on the head with this one, and I recommend everyone put aside their Disgust for children’s movies and allow Joy to bring out the kid in you.
