I’ve lived my life with a disability. I don’t talk much about it, nor do I use it as an excuse except when absolutely necessary. But none the less, it is something I deal with and live with, and must constantly deal with. And I am one of many. For so many of us there are struggles we wrestle with every day that go unseen. Mental health is an often-forgotten aspect of our lives that has been pushed aside and downplayed. But Mental Health and Mental Illness are real things people deal with on an everyday basis, and they should be explored more and more and taken more and more seriously.
The most important thing that Inside Out teaches us is that we need to harness all our emotions in a balance with each other. If one is pushed aside or ignored for too long it can throw the whole system out of balance and cause a number of mental issues: Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Anger Issues, and so many other things that can happen. And that’s what happens to Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) in the movie. Her need to be happy and experience Joy (Amy Poehler) at all costs causes her to fall out of balance with her other emotions, and then causes Joy to vanish entirely and her to give into a deep depression.
Depression is a real problem for more than 260 million people around the world. And while many just think of it as something that “Makes you sad” it’s so much worse than that. It saps your will to do anything, it puts you in an emotional funk that makes you apathetic to the entire world around you, it crushes you and binds you, making you feel as though you are trapped in your own body with no way to escape. And for many people, it can get so terrible that they consider self-harm and even suicide. And while Inside Out doesn’t deal with those absolutely terrible aspects of the disease, it does get into a number of other things that can happen to someone wrestling with mental illness.
Riley goes through a number of stages of her depression as her emotions stay lost in her subconcious. She has fits of absolute Disgust (Mindy Kaling) about things she once loves. She has vicious Anger (Lewis Black) towards the people she cares about. And she lets her Fear (Bill Hader) paralyze her from doing anything she once could do without thinking. And especially her Sadness (Phyllis Smith) causes memories that were once happy to now be sad and lonely things that make her feel unloved and uncared for. Depression isn’t just a single emotion, it’s a complex and terrifying shutdown of your mental functions, and a lack interest in anything and anyone around you. And as I already mentioned, it’s a very real problem for hundreds of millions.
So how do we do combat this? How do we help those with diseases we can’t see? Well the first is to listen, to be open. If we tell people to ignore problems within their minds they won’t get better, in fact it could make them much worse. But on the other side we also shouldn’t force things without the proper time and consideration. Like any disease, mental illness takes time to fight, and it is often a chronic problem that will affect them for life. It’s real. It’s dangerous, and it needs to be taken seriously. If we don’t then we risk losing more than just relationships. We risk losing people we love.
As someone who lives with a mental illness, this movie is very near and dear to my own heart. I spend days wrestling with my own state of mind and which states of my emotional core are driving my subconscious. But even so, I have learned how to balance my own issues in order to get the most out of my life. And I know that I have to deal with my own struggles and will be constantly going through them, I know that just by raising awareness and helping others know the truth about them, they can make life better.
Here is my breakdown for reviewing and ranking the movies of the Pixar series:
Voice Performances
Storyline
Worldbuilding
Most Memorable Scene
Villain
Each category will be ranked on a scale of 10 points for a possible total of 50.
So here is my breakdown for Inside Out:
Voice Acting: The characters in this are instantly memorable. Poehler, Smith, Hader, Kaling, and Black portray their emotional representations perfectly, and Richard Kind as Riley’s imaginary friend Bing Bong gives us one of the most memorable Pixar characters in a long time. The cast is perfect and one of the best ones in any Pixar film to date. (10/10)
Storyline: The storyline makes a normal situation many of us have gone through a situation which is far higher stakes than it seem from the outside. Watching Riley go on her emotional journey is one of the most relatable things in the world and by the end we all feel like we’ve lived in Riley’s shoes and dealt with her struggles. It’s not a new story, but it is one which pulls at the heart. (9/10)
Worldbuilding: The world of the emotions is so magnificently crafted. Each action inside of the world leads to a reaction for Riley. And the way certain memories interact, the explanation for numerous neurological tendencies in ways which are both whimsical and fun really creates a world we long to see more of. I could live in that world forever. (10/10)
Most Memorable Scene: The best scene for me, in this one, is the scene where Riley returns home and we learn that Sadness has a real purpose. I don’t cry at a lot of movies, but that one gets me each time. It’s simple, it’s touching, and it really hits home in the best way. And in a movie filled with over the top whimsy, it’s a real sober heartfelt moment (9/10)
Villain: The movie doesn’t have a villain. Which is not actually an issue. The movie doesn’t need an external force to drive the protagonists. This movie is far more introspective. And while I can’t say that there is any memorable character who plays the role of antagonist, the way the other characters get in each others way makes the story far more real than many of the other pixar films. (5/10)
Total Score: 43/50
Current Ranking:
The Incredibles
Toy Story 2
Inside Out
Toy Story 3
Ratatouille
Brave
Monsters, Inc.
A Bug’s Life
Monsters University
WALL-E
Up
Finding Nemo
Cars 2
Cars
And now we are 2/3rds of the way through this series. I’m excited to enter a portion of movies I haven’t actually seen. Including the one we’re exploring next week. So come to get my first reactions to an often overlooked Pixar movie. But until then, thanks for taking the time to get Ploominated!
Ploominate 