Sunday, July 5, 2015

Inside Out And In My Head (SPOILERS for Inside Out!!)

So, today has been a thoughtful day.

A friend and I went to see Inside Out today, and I was just expecting a quirky, fun movie for kids or tweens. And it was, but...it was also so much more.

Inside Out pretty much gives you insight into the emotions of a girl named Riley. Joy, Fear,  Anger, Sadness, and Disgust. Joy is the main emotion of the operation, and Sadness is always pushed aside because they see her as a bad emotion that should be used hardly at all. A lot of stuff happens, and Joy and Sadness are stuck in long-term memory, leaving Disgust,  Fear, and Anger by themselves in Riley's head.

In the beginning of Joy and Sadness' journey home, Joy writes Sadness off and doesn't let her do anything, like she has been doing since the beginning of the movie. Then, throughout the movie, Joy is faced with the idea that maybe Sadness isn't so bad, and she may need to give her a little more credit.

(MAJOR ENDING SPOILER AHEAD!!)

When Joy ends up in the memory dump, and now she's sad, not able to feel the Joy in the situation. She looks at one of the memories, and as she replays it, she sees that Sadness had to happen for the memory to be joyful. So then she realizes that she needs Sadness. That Riley needs Sadness.

Okay, so I bet you're trying to figure out what the point of this is, huh? Well, let me get right to it then!

In Inside Out, Joy is the prominent emotion in Riley's head, correct? Well, for me and I'm sure for a bunch of people, Sadness run supreme. And for a long time, I treated it like the rest of the emotions treated Sadness; with slight annoyance and attempts to squash it as must as possible.

This movie helped me realize that I don't have to always squash it; sometimes, Sadness is the only way for some Joy to come in. Sometimes, being sad is a good thing, and now I don't feel so bad when  I'm down in the dumps, because I remember that this movie taught me that all of my emotions have a good purpose.