Inside Out 2: My Insights
I recently watched “Inside Out 2” in theater and immediately knew I wanted to write about it and share my thoughts and insights. To say that I am in awe of how this movie showcased more complex emotions, would be a complete understatement. Disney and Pixar, in my humble opinion, did such a wonderful job demonstrating how belief systems form, how every emotion has a purpose, and how to regain control over emotions when emotions feel overwhelming and as if they are controlling you.
Without getting into too many spoilers (though there are some here), some of the scenes that hit me hard as a therapist were:
Joy taking Sadness’ hand and saying” where I go, you go”: this demonstrates the duality of emotions being experienced cohesively. It’s okay to experience two polarized emotions at the same time. We see this again, later in the film when some of the memory spheres are two colors, representing two emotions or ways of thinking.
When Anxiety is first introduced, she says “I protect from fears that we can’t see, in the future”, which is the ‘basic’ function of anxiety, however, later on in the film, when Anxiety becomes too focused on ‘unhelpful/negative’ projections of anxiety, things get pretty complex and overwhelming for Riley (the main character in which all the emotions are residing). This reminds us that we all experience anxiety, it is a functional and protective emotion. The challenge with it is when it takes over and consumes our thoughts and functions.
They demonstrate how we can’t ‘suppress’ or ‘throw away’ unhelpful thoughts / memories - they need to be processed and built into our sense of self, just as all the happy / healthy / helpful thoughts and memories. All experiences shape us, not just the ‘good ones’.
The depiction of the panic / anxiety attack → okay, so by this scene, I was sobbing - the details and depiction of what this feels like and how the film creators depicted this was wonderful,‘spot on’, and realistic (from my personal experience of experiencing a few myself). If you have suffered from anxiety / panic, or know someone that has, this scene will move you (enough said). From here, the emotions moving away from the ‘control center’ and giving Riley space, kept me at the edge of my seat with my inner voice screaming to the screen “YES, YES…”. Then, when we see Riley subtly grounding herself with her hand on the bench, looking at the sun and becoming focused on the present, and taking a few deep audible breaths, we know she (like any of us that have felt very similar) will be OKAY.
We learn, we can control our thoughts, actions and in effect our emotions → they don’t control us. With some effort, and conscious choice, we can elect to find Joy.
When I finally slowed the tears, with all sorts of emotions within me, the overarching thought was how thankful, grateful and proud I am, that this movie is mainstream, and that youth, adults, and families will all be touched and walk away with some knowledge about how feelings work and how complex our minds are.
In closing, without a doubt, I absolutely recommend Inside Out 2, to anyone and everyone. No matter your age, stage and whether you identify with anxiety or not, this movie is a must watch!