Inside Out is a 2015 American Pixar animation directed by Pete Doctor, and he also wrote the screenplay for it with Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley. This film takes a peek into the mind of a kid. Quite literally.
This story is about an eleven-year-old, whose life couldn’t have been better until her parents decide to move to a city that serves broccoli pizza. It stars the voices of Kaitlyn Dias (Riley) and the lead emotions of the film, Amy Poehler (Joy), Phyllis Smith (Sadness), Lewis Black (Anger), Bill Hader (Fear), and Mindy Kaling (Disgust) who navigate through the changes occurring in the surroundings with Riley. It’s quite interesting to see how Pixar has dumbed down the psychology behind the mind of a preteen into an animated story for the kids. And though dumbed down for the kids, Inside Out has managed to portray the psyche of the younger brain meticulously. For kids, this film sure is a jolly watch but as you watch it as you’re fairly older, you start to notice the minute details and symbols spread out through the entire film. This film is so much more than just a children’s animated film. It’s basically a beginner’s crash course of understanding fundamental emotions. And not the brutally boring and difficult ones where you try to concentrate so much that you end up dozing off rather a quite engaging one where time seems to pass effortlessly.
The characters in this film are very thoughtfully made and placed. From the characters having the characteristics of what the emotions would have if they were people to each emotion feeling other emotions as well to show how independent and yet unusually intermingled emotions are. The understanding is that emotions don’t exist in black and white. The emotions in the mother’s, father’s as well as the little boy’s mind whom she bumps into towards the end of the film were of their respective genders whereas Riley’s emotions had a mixture of genders which again shows the diversity. As kids, they’re usually happy apart from the occasional scoldings and tantrums and thus the power struggle between Joy and other emotions is accurately shown. Inside Out also shows the notion the society seems to hold of happiness in general. ‘Oh, you’re sad? Well, don’t be.’ Kids are conditioned to joy but not so much the remaining spectrum of emotions. Riley’s parents kept repeating the line ‘our happy little girl’ so as to unknowingly enforce that. It also further backs up the greek idea of Utopia and how it’s simply not possible. Even if Joy did take over, to appreciate and truly feel happy would not be possible without sadness. One feels happiness much more deeply if there has been sadness initially.
The screenplay in this film is exceptional and filled with metaphors. A clever example is marbles as memories that fall into the memory dump are lost forever much like the idiom losing your marbles. And again marbles slowly fade away to show how you tend to lose your memories over time. The upgrade of the control panel from a small control panel to a much wider one with enough space for not just joy but the others as well shows the drastic change that the mind goes through as one grows up. The fading of Bing Bong, the mayor of imaginary land shows that Riley is growing up leaving behind the childlike imagination. And perhaps that’s why Sadness never knew Bing Bong. This film also follows a classic act structure consisting of Introduction, Act 1 turning point followed by obstacles of the journey then Act 2 turning point and finally the realisation.
Whether you’re a child or an adult or anything in between, if you like colourful animation, psychology, and random gum commercials then this film is definitely worth a watch.
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