Have you ever caught yourself wondering what was going on in someone else’s head? Pixar Animation Studios motion picture,’ Inside Out’ released by Walt Disney Pictures, offers the movie goer its version of emotional mindscape in 94 minutes of carefully, crafted, creative animation.
Inside Out, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The movie was the brainchild of Pete Doctor in collaboration with Ronnie del Carmen. This movie allows the audience to gain a privileged entrance into the lead character, Riley’s mind, where we meet the five, animated, personified, prime emotions of Anger, Disgust, Fear, Joy, and Sadness. The five emotions which dramatically surface in the movie, mirror those Pete Doctor witnessed in his pre-teen daughter and those he personally experienced in his own life resulting from his relocation from Denmark to the United States.
On the surface Inside Out is a kid’s movie but it takes an adult mind to grasp the complexity of our emotional make up. Younger members watching Inside Out will follow Riley’s attempt to return home, whereas older members will find themselves reminiscing on their own emotional journeys. Adults will grasp the reality that the five prime emotions are seldom experienced in isolation. The more mature moviegoer catches the deeper reality that emotions blend together. Our emotional intelligence helps to support our understanding of others and the developing of relationships with others. www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional.../emotional-intelligence-eq.htm
Christopher Haubursin, www.vox.com/2015/6/29/8860247/inside-out-emotions-graphic, has graphically illustrated the way in which the overlap of emotions creates a fuller pallet which broadens our emotional makeup. For example, joy coupled with sadness produces a feeling of melancholy and sadness and fear gives rise to anxiety as illustrated in the chart below.
For me, Christopher Haubursin chart broadens the concepts presented in the movie and stresses the mix of emotions release in encountering any situation. Hopefully, summertime will offer you and yours the leisure to enjoy Inside Out in what promises to be a thought provoking treat at the movie theatre.
Nancy Wales CSJ