Do you ever look at someone and wonder .. what is going on inside their head?
I just watched this film the other week. And I guess most, if not all, have already seen this Disney Pixar’s computer-animated movie entitled Inside Out. It’s a story of a girl named Riley Anderson who’s from Minnesota but later moved to San Francisco together with her family when her father got a new job. But aside from 11-year-Old Riley, five other main characters were introduced – Riley’s core human emotions: joy, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger.
Joy – the one who is always witty and future-oriented, and is most likely concerned with Riley’s “happiness.” For her, a good day will turn into a good week, which will turn into a good year, and will turn into a good life. She’s actually the most dominant among Riley’s crew of emotions. Her motto? “Always think positive.”
Sadness – the exact opposite of Joy. She finds it hard to control herself and keeps saying sorry after doing something not right. She constantly observes the negative in every situation and, of course, she feeds herself negative thoughts.
Fear – he is really good at keeping Riley safe by contemplating about the “what-ifs” in life. To him, the outcome will always be disastrous.
Disgust – basically, she keeps Riley from being poisoned – physically and socially. She’s also judgmental of new situations.
Anger – he cares “very deeply” about things being fair; prone to outbursts, easily annoyed, and very reactive.
Problems start to occur when, without warning, Riley needs to move across the country. It has gone worse when Sadness begins touching core memories, causing them to turn blue or sad. These core memories are very important since they came from a super important time in Riley’s life. Each powers a different aspect of her personality, or as what they call it, the Islands of Personality – Hockey, Goofball, Friendship, Honesty, and Family. These happy memories are mostly from Riley’s early childhood. That is why childhood is the most beautiful of life’s season and must be kept happy since it is the basic foundation of a person’s characteristics and personalities later in life. So as Joy’s main objective, she tries to keep Sadness isolated by keeping her in a very small circle drawn on the floor. But then, the twist didn’t stop there. They start to make bad decisions in the absence of Joy .. and Sadness.
Just like in real life, problems start to take place when our minds are contaminated with negative thoughts and we allow ourselves to dwell on unhappy things that surround us. But as what Joy told Sadness, you can’t focus on what’s going wrong. There’s always a way to turn things around. Find the fun and try to think of something funny. Actually, I find it annoying at first when Sadness keeps touching happy memories. But then, isn’t it just realistic? When in real life, no matter how okay we may seem, we still think or find things that could go wrong and make us sad in the end? I think humans are just like that – destructive by nature.
Okay. Let’s go straight to the point. We all want to be happy. Nobody wants to be sad. But as what the movie is trying to show, all these emotions are what make us human. All we need is just balance. We need all emotions working together to gain balance in life. We can’t be happy all the time. It’s okay to be sad. How will you be able to empathize with others when you’re always feeling cheerful? Because of being sad, Riley misses all her happy memories and realizes the reasons why she is upset. By making her parents understand how she really feels, the Family Island was saved. So it is very crucial for us to learn how to overcome feelings associated with pain and loss. In other words, you need to be sad to be happy again.
According to Sadness, crying helps her slow down and obsess over the weight of life’s problems. But isn’t it what we need sometimes? To slow down? Maybe not to obsess over life’s problems. But tears are said to be the pressure-release valve of the soul. Hardship is what even makes us resilient. We just need to take control the first time it hits us, though not easy. But you can always know your limits, and know when enough is enough. The bottom line is it all starts in the mind. What’s going on in one’s mind affects the person’s entire behavior. Emotions, on the other hand, can also drive thinking which is the film’s fundamental point. That is why it is vital for us to better understand our own emotions.
So if you are someone who has been through a lot lately, this movie is for you. It will help you comprehend why you feel how you feel. In fact, I already love this movie. It is not only for children. For me, grownups will appreciate it even more. And since it tries to explain the concept of “emotional intelligence,” I find it more of a film that belongs to a psychological genre. Emotional Intelligence, or what we call an EQ, is the ability to understand our own emotions and the emotions of others as well.
I think I will remember this movie from now on and will forever be looking at someone wondering what’s going on in their head. Kidding aside. Well, we all have these little voices inside our head. So if you haven’t seen this film yet, then it’s time for you to see the world from the Inside Out.