INSIDE OUT

How well do we know everybody around us? Even our close friends, for instance. Do we really know everything about them? Do we know what goes on inside their head? When we truly understand the thoughts and minds of an individual, can we know the person "inside out".

One thing I love about Pixar animated films is that it sends a very clear message that everyone can relate to. Behind all the cuteness of the romance of WALL-E and EVA, there was the very obvious message of saving the Earth from environmental destruction.

The topic of discussion in this latest Pixar film, "Inside Out" , is emotions. Emotions drive the world. Wars are fought and white dresses are sold because of emotions. Clearly, emotions are not a trifle thing to be set aside only for psychologists to study.

This movie removes the common misconception that emotions lead to weakness as they cloud our judgement and avoid us from thinking rationally. This is the complete opposite of what actually happens.

Emotions are what keep us rational in our decisions. Had it not been for Fear, Riley would have stepped on the wire while playing and injured herself. Had it not been for Anger or Disgust, Riley would have been poisoned- physically and socially. The role of Joy is very obvious. However, it is the role of Sadness which is the main topic discussed in the film and this review.

Sadness garners sympathy, and at times, empathy. Presence of sadness as an emotion is what leads to resonance. Not to get too technical, but resonance means the ability to completely feel the other person's sufferings and pain. Then only can the two people completely trust each other.

There are many examples in the film to support that. When Bing Bong (Riley's imaginary friend) was sad, it was Sadness that cheered him up by letting him know that what he feels is completely normal and understandable. It does not help to cheer up a person by talking about things other than what is actually bothering the person, like Joy was trying to do. When Riley missed the winning shot in the hockey game, she became sad, and that is when her parents came to her and sympathised with her and cheered her up.

This is something that Joy realises towards the end of the film, and that is why she allows Sadness to touch Riley's joyful core memories so that Riley can remember her happy memories with sadness and break down into tears. This helps her parents to empathise with her. This, in turn, gives Riley happiness to know that someone else can also understand her sorrow.

Joy: Do you remember how she used to stick her tongue out when she was colouring?

[Joy continues to fight back tears. She picks up another memory orb, this time of a younger Riley telling a story to her parents]

Joy: I could listen to her stories, all day...

[Joy picks up another memory of Riley playing in her backyard as a toddler. Joy's eyes well up with tears, but she keeps holding back]

Joy: I just wanted Riley to be happy...

[Joy picks up the sad core memory of Riley crying in school. As he looks at it, she begins to sob, and completely breaks down into hopeless tears while Bing Bong sadly looks on. Joy's tears fall onto the happy memory orb of Riley after the Prairie Dog hockey game. As Joy wipes the tear off of it, she scrolls through the memory to see it was previously a sad memory turned happy. The sad portion consists of Riley sitting sadly with her parents on a tree branch. Curiously, Joy "rewinds" the memory to the point where Mom and Dad came to Riley to comfort her. Joy begins to hear Sadness's description of the memory in her head]

Sadness: (voice over) It was the day the Prairie Dogs lost the big playoff game. Riley missed the winning shot, she felt awful. She wanted to quit.

[Joy scrolls through the memory to see the blue sad memory of her and her parents turn a happy yellow when Riley's friends come to cheer her on]

Joy: Sadness... Mom and Dad... the team. They came to help... because of Sadness.

Joy also realises that without Sadness, she is incomplete. Without Sadness, she has no idea of the route to headquarters. Without Sadness, she could not have saved Riley at the end. In real life context, excess of joy is harmful. When there is too much of joy, we cannot differentiate between shortcut and danger, like we see in Bing Bong's case. When Sadness's advice was neglected, Bing Bong and Joy enter the room of Abstract Thoughts, and fall in huge danger. When we are overjoyed, we tend to neglect challenges and dangers in front of us, lest our happiness gets reduced. Our sensitivity gets reduced, and we feel overconfident, which is always fatal.

One thing many of us could not realise while watching the movie, is the role of Anger. It will suffice to say that Anger is the expression of Fear and Disgust. It was right after the actions of Fear and Disgust that Anger did his job. When all three were alone in the headquarters, it was Anger who made all the decisions and did the job, despite counter opinions from Fear and Disgust. Again, in real life's context, whenever we are afraid or feel disgusted, we feel powerless, as we are unable to control the situation and have our way. It is then that we get angry, so that we have a momentary illusion of power and control. Remember when Riley felt fearful of the new thing that was being fed of her, and disgusted when she realised it was broccoli? She felt powerless at that point of time and hence, she became angry. Thus, Anger covers up all negative emotions.

Another aspect of this film is depression. When Riley's core memories were gone, she failed to realise who she really was, and this led to her getting depressed. Depression led to social withdrawal and refusal of any help offered to her by her support system. This, in turn, led to each of the islands (family, friends, honesty) getting destroyed. She became very lonely, and the "train of thoughts" also got destroyed.

Depression is the absence of any kind of feeling or emotion. Sadness is a very important emotion to have during depression, the reason, as said earlier, being that sadness garners resonance. Resonance, in turn, leads to acceptance of help from support systems, and this saves a person from depression.

During depression, a support system is very important. It can be in the form of family, friends, or even our imagination. Whenever toddler Riley felt lonely, she imagined her friend Bing Bong and constantly played with him. When Riley started withdrawing from society, Joy decided to bring back Bing Bong to the headquarters. In times of extreme sadness, an imaginary friend also has the capability to provide us with confidence.

Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions and sensations that occur when we are asleep. Dreams may be a manifestation of  our deepest desires, or experiences in our everyday life that have troubled us, or given us joy. This idea has been wonderfully portrayed in the film. Dreams portray our deepest desires and our darkest fears. Or what we generally worry about in the day. Like the clown, which woke her up. Or the dream where she stood up and her teeth fall and all the kids laugh. It didn't actually happen. But perhaps, that's how embarrassed and lonely she felt when it was happening.

A few lessons I learnt from this film:

•    We can recognise the little successes of the day and be happy about them. So what if we didn't meet the goal? Atleast we have taken a step towards it! Like that time Fear said "Alright, we did not die today. I'd call that an unqualified success!"
•  Expectations can disappoint. When the family was moving to their new house, Riley had mental images of what her house would be like. But then she saw the actual house and it was nothing at all like she had imagined. Sometimes leaders, unknowingly set high expectations and hype up what is about to come. But when the reality hits, everybody gets discouraged and that is not good for the team. Hence, we should set realistic expectations- for ourselves and for others.
• Always make the best of a bad situation and remain optimistic. Riley did get disappointed on seeing the rundown kitchen and her empty bedroom. But she instantly began to imagine what her room would be like when all the goods arrived, and she started playing hockey with her family.                              

All emotions go hand-in-hand. You can't just live on one. The core memories earlier were all of joy. Then later, they were mixed, colourful, bright, and most of all: complete. Riley would remember hugging her parents in that moment with both sadness and joy. All those emotions together will define her, complete her. We have to embrace every moment of our lives. Not just the happy ones. The embarrassing ones, the sad ones, all of them. Then only we can completely be satisfied with ourselves.

P.S.- I would like to thank my dear mother, who helped me a lot with this review. She practically explained the film to me. Loads of love, mom!