Almost every night in seventh grade, I cried about my math homework. It’s possible that the math was difficult and I was afraid of flunking pre-algebra, or that I was genuinely frustrated over the lack of a reasonable scenario where Sally would have to feed a population of llamas 14 kinds of vegetables in portions based on their neck length without explicit directions.
It's more likely that I was upset about other things. At 13 years old, I didn't know what being a teenager entailed, but I was uncomfortable with its proximity to adulthood. I was letting old friendships slip away before building new ones. I was realizing that the world was bigger and more problematic than the sphere I lived in.
All this going on, and I cried about pre-algebra. Why? It was because none of my classmates ever mentioned that they were lonely or insecure. No one on TV ever had a problem that couldn’t be solved in a 30-minute episode. In short, no one ever informed me that sadness was a socially acceptable emotion.
So to the pre-teen who sat next to me, masterfully imitating Disgust (played by a gloriously snarky Mindy Kalling) while watching me cry in the movie theatre, allow me to defend myself: I cried at the conclusion of “Inside Out” because I realized how important it is for kids your age to see this movie.
Pixar’s newest release takes a look at the mind of 11-year-old Riley as she moves to a new city and struggles to adjust while longing for home. Her experience is conveyed by characterizations of her emotions, and when Joy and Sadness (Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith, respectively) get lost, they have to navigate through a maze of memories and fantasies to help Riley find herself again amongst confusing new combinations of Anger, Fear, and Disgust (Lewis Black, Bill Hader, and Kalling).
Too often, we speak about emotions as if they are mutually exclusive. The act of turning emotions into individual, tangible characters seems like it might run straight into this problem. The genius of “Inside Out” is that it focuses not on how the emotions act, but how they interact. The emotions are portrayed as a team, working towards a common goal of keeping Riley safe, happy, and healthy. Although Joy sometimes overlooks the role that Sadness plays, banishing her to read through handbooks and stay out of the way, Sadness is never the enemy. Ultimately, it’s she who shows Riley that the first step to solving her problems is talking to someone about how she is feeling. When Riley finally cries into her parents’ welcoming arms, Joy and the others truly appreciate Sadness’s strength.
The movie is filled with hilarious jokes, exciting action, and stunning images. It makes emotions cool. It shows kids of a vulnerable age that crying isn’t for babies and sadness doesn’t make you weak: it makes you human.
If I’d seen “Inside Out” before middle school, perhaps I would have spent less time crying over my math homework and more time addressing what was actually upsetting me. Even in my first semester of college, I never wanted to allow myself to be unhappy about anything, because I had made the decision to be there and didn’t want to feel like I had made a mistake. It was so easy to forget that moments of unhappiness didn’t define my life.
Whether it’s an epiphany or a reminder, the message of “Inside Out” is encouraging and comforting for any human being. If you aren’t crying already during the star-crossed-volcano-lovers short, you probably will be by the end of the movie, if only because you’ve been told that you can.
