Journal Article

Inside Out: Life of the Mind

Prost, Eric

2016

Overview

HERE'S HOW THE MIND WORKS, according to the film. The emotions are in control. Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust are depicted as people (with some famous voices), each with boldly coloured skin. They run the brain's Headquarters at a sort of central keyboard behind [Riley]'s eyes that seems to influence her when buttons are pressed and levers pulled. Joy is the dominant emotion, although the others influence Riley as well. Memories are formed and appear as balls that shoot in pneumatic tubes coming in and out of Riley's consciousness, eventually ending up in long-term memory, a place far away from Headquarters where the balls each appear the colour of the emotions that most influenced their formation. Although they usually control her, these two emotions are as naive about the rest of the mind as Riley herself. And they are not even in control any longer when they are lost in the maze that is long-term memory. They try to catch the \"train of thought\" back to Headquarters, but are stymied at every turn. They get separated from each other and even venture into the world of abstract thought where they suddenly appear as abstract animation à la Picasso, and then as two-dimensional animation, finally exclaiming desperately that they are no longer \"figurative.\" (After watching, my daughter pronounced that the movie was \"a serious one, not funny,\" which is understandable if equating abstract thought with cubist animation is as humorous as it gets.) The two lost emotions then go down some steps into the \"Subconscious,\" a place where the animated landscape resembles the hippocampus under an electron microscope. A main theme of the movie is that the emotion of sadness is important. At the beginning, it is clear that all the emotions play their parts in keeping Riley on the level. Fear keeps her safe by helping her avoid danger and reminding her to wear her seatbelt; Disgust keeps her healthy by helping her avoid certain foods - like broccoli; Anger makes sure things are fair for her. But Sadness? Sadness is mostly annoying throughout the movie and, in this, is portrayed well and realistically. In my clinical practice, family members often feel mainly frustrated with their depressed loved ones: \"Snap out of it!\" \"Stop ruining everything!\" But then it is this same tedious emotion that finally helps Riley express to her parents how she misses Minnesota, and it is Sadness that ultimately brings the family together again in a way that, for example, Anger cannot. When Riley displays anger, she is sent to her room and then runs away; when she displays sadness, the family members understand one another.

• Publisher: Queen's Quarterly
• Subject: Animated films / Brain / Emotions / Families / Humor / Long term memory / Motion pictures / Movie reviews / Parents & parenting / Theme