The first Inside Out movie was great! I recommend and reference it all the time. They did a good job in their research (if you have never watched the bonus features, it goes into the making of the movie and evolution of the characters as well as the various consultants that they used).
Now there is another one coming out this week – June 14, 2024 – and it introduces at least four new characters – Anxiety, Ennui, Envy, and Embarrassment. Check out the trailer!
People have had so many different reactions to the 2015 movie – everything from “I don’t get it” to deep philosophical thoughts about the nature of personality and emotions.
In the new one, the main character turns 13 years old – and there are many references to the 5 emotions not knowing what they are in for with Riley hitting puberty. The big thing is that those four new emotions will be added – and who knows what will happen?!?
Inside Out was Well Researched
There were various consultants for the 2015 movie including Dacher Keltner, and Paul Eckman who wrote this Op-Ed in the New York Times, the Columbia University Mind Brain Behavior Institute, and the founders of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. If you get a chance to watch the bonus features, there is some really interesting stuff about the character and story line development in the “behind the scenes.”
The second movie has another consultant – Kristin Neff, PhD, who along with Chris Germer, PhD founded Mindful Self-Compassion – as well as Dr. Keltner and Dr. Eckman. Here is an article about their contributions in Psychology Today and how the new emotions were finalized.
Inside Out in Therapy
When I talk about Inside Out, I think of it in terms of IFS and how important emotions are to our personality development, ability to process our experiences, and in how we connect to others. All of these are bigger themes than they were when the movie came out, and there has been a slew of research and discussion in the intervening 9 years.
I kind of wish they had made the next movie 10 years later, when Riley was in college, because there is a whole lot of potential material – but I guess that would not have been a great kids movie!
Emotions are Good!
A lot of people have been taught that emotions are the enemy and that if you act emotionally, that is always negative – even if the emotion is not negative! It is so so SO important, though, to be able to identify, express, and process emotions.
IMHO, that is one of the biggest challenges that has caused our “mental health crisis.” While I am glad that mental health is no longer fighting the same stigmas (at least with younger generations), I do have to wonder if it is just increased awareness and collective acknowledgment of negative experiences that is the “crisis.” Maybe we’re just talking about mental health more now – and I consider that a step in the right direction!
If we do not learn to identify, express, or process emotions then there are whole aspects of personality and relationships that go unexplored. We can’t form healthy relationships, we don’t communicate well, we fall apart with failure, we become perfectionists, and we are lonelier than ever before. We get stuck in the pre-teen phase of life, and never learn to be our genuine selves or to grow up. We just go from crisis to crisis – faking it – and not learning any emotional skills because we don’t have the foundational ones that we were never taught.
Of course, that leads to a divided and fragmented personal and social structure in which no one feels safe to express themselves! We lack compassion and integrity and the ability to think critically and be honest with ourselves and others. We all just say we are “fine” – but you know what that stands for!
I hope that Inside Out 2 is not only entertaining, but also addresses some of these issues – but we will see…
Inside Out Review – Update June 17, 2024
Here is another therapist’s review of Inside Out 2, but I would encourage everyone to see both of these movies. I have heard lots of interpretations and messages that the movie brought out for others, but my overall takeaway was that we need all of our emotions to develop and support our personalities. Without Anxiety, the original emotions would not notice certain things, but if one emotion is driving the others, it can get out of control. In most people, emotions balance each other out but we do need them all!
Emotions are complex!
If you feel that you need help learning to manage your emotions and want to connect with a more genuine version of yourself, deepen your important relationships, or get unstuck, lets talk about it! Email me at kwilson@windoverwater.net