My reflections about Inside Out 2 movie

#insideout #emotions #clues #information #movie #reflections

This photo was taken on my trip to inside Out 2 exhibition at Gardens by the Bay. Found this quite apt for the post, given how our tree (sense of self) can potentially develop based on one's collection of life moments or memories and of course feelings..

I have been looking forward to Inside Out 2 for several years now. In fact, I have been looking forward since I watched the first Inside Out movie in 2015.

Hence, I was extremely excited when I heard that Inside Out 2 was going to be released this year! I am truly impressed with the effort that went into the conceptualisation of storyline and of course, the captivating graphics of this movie!

The subsequent paragraphs depict some of my reflections about the Inside Out 2 movie. And yes, spoiler alert : I will be mentioning details of movie and so, you are encouraged to return only after watching the movie. But if you do not mind the spoiler, please feel free to read on. :)

Before I start, I would like to share a brief about Riley the female protagonist in this story.

Ok, here goes, Riley has reportedly just turned 13. She has two close female friends (also her hockey team mates) whom she hangs out with regularly and it is later found that they are heading to different school from her in the next school term.

Outside of her academics, she seems to excel in hockey. She was observed to be good at the sport as exemplified by the stellar performance she put up in one game. Following this game, she, along with her two other friends/team mates, were invited by a renowned coach to a hockey camp. It was during this camp that she realised how much she wanted to get into Fire hawks, the team that this renowned coach was coaching. All these translated to pressures to give her best and to impress the coach …

Riley’s headquarters is like a control center of her mind where emotions reside and work together to facilitate and monitor Riley’s day to day experiences. And quite early into the movie, the headquarters underwent an abrupt revamp whereby the console was replaced by a new one in order to make room for new emotions. In came Anxiety, Ennui, Envy and Embarrassment. There was even sneak appearances of Nostalgia - somewhat comedic in her entries if you ask me.

This revamp was something the original group (OG) comprising Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust was not prepared for. It somewhat parallels how adolescence may be experienced by individuals as an abrupt and somewhat unexpected transition and period marked by many changes (psychological, and physical). Following this revamp, we also witnessed the OG emotions being banished by the new emotions to the “back of  the mind”. “Back of the mind” is where Riley’s long forgotten, “forbidden” memories and deep dark secrets resided. Specifically, there is a vault in this “back of the mind”, tucked away from Riley’s consciousness, that housed a game character whom Riley has a crush on (with a bizarre special ability); a favourite cartoon character from her childhood named “Baggie” and of course, a towering figure representing her keeper of “deep dark secret”.

Meanwhile in Riley’s headquarters, Anxiety took over the console as main controller — and things eventually took an extreme turn  for the worst where emotional stability is concerned. In order to help restore some stability and balance into Riley’s life, these OG emotions made attempts to return to Riley’s headquarters. This showed how the emotions, everyone of them, cared about Riley and wanted the best for her.

There were several noteworthy moments or highlights in the movie:

Anxiety was the central emotion for most parts of this movie— and perhaps, this parallels how adolescence period can be primarily marked by anxiety and anticipation of what’s next.  The entry of Anxiety with three new emotions Ennui, Embarrassment and Envy took the OG emotions by a rude surprise. Their entry was preceded by an alarm bell going off, blinking light that says “PUBERTY” and the old console being demolished and replaced by a new one. As mentioned, this was when Anxiety quickly gained control of THE console whereas the OG got sent to “back of the mind” …along with all of Riley’s forbidden and deep dark inhabitants. Possibly, these memories were once highly treasured and brought her joy but today, they somehow became “forbidden” due to societal expectations or norms. I guess that is what social desirability and acceptance, or fear of social judgement do to us - and these are indeed themes that can surface in adolescence stage of one’s life.

We saw Anxiety gaining increasing control of Riley’s life (console at headquarters) as Riley strove to excel at hockey camp in order to impress coach and make it into the team. So much so that at one point, during an important hockey game, the stress to perform was so overwhelming that Riley lost control of herself and caused an injury to an opposing team member. This resulted in her being penalised and  getting benched.  She started experiencing symptoms of panic (seems like she was having a panic attack in that moment!). Anxiety, who was main controller at console, appeared frozen, as she watched the world around her go by like a tornado. In her attempt to help with situation, Joy called out to Anxiety but Anxiety was unfortunately frozen and unresponsive.  This suggested that while moderate anxiety can be related to optimal performance, excessive levels of Anxiety (in this case) can be unhelpful and impair one’s functioning.

Joy’s original plan was to restore only the tree of SELF that encapsulates the favourable self-statements or narratives such as, “I am a good person”; “I am a good friend”. However she realises that this isn’t going to be helpful. Instead she allowed the mix of both favourable and unfavourable statements as well as memories to integrate and grow into a newfound tree of SELF. This represents how her self image and esteem is made up of every part- the messy and beautiful all in one. Only then did it help in Riley regaining her composure and peace. It also helped her respond to her old friends based on the multitude of feelings such as kindness, joy, guilt etc. They eventually made up and Riley successfully restored the friendship which could have been lost should she not have reconnected with all her memories, beliefs and feelings. Another observation is that only after all the feelings resumed their positions at the console, just like how one embraces all the feelings, that Riley felt increasingly more stable and relieved. This truly reminds us about the importance of embracing all feelings and parts of self - all the messy and beautiful.

For a large part of the movie, Joy had to take the backseat and was somewhat suppressed (by the new group of emotions). There was a poignant phrase highlighted in the movie (I believe it was mentioned by Joy): “Maybe that’s what happens.. when you grow up,  you feel less joy”. Wow, this phrase describes exactly what just happened to Joy, didn’t it? It tugged my heartstring at that moment and I almost teared. I could identify with how I tend to feel less joy when the responsibilities of being an adult overwhelm me. And it definitely takes more than just awareness to ensure Joy is restored in our lives. It requires us to choose to prioritise play and playfulness in our lives for example. (please read: https://www.ahaeurekamoment.com/post/seize-your-play-moment-today)

This story exemplifies how one can regain access to feelings (which are initially suppressed or blocked) through playful moments. One example was when Riley’s favourite cartoon character called Baggie was conjured to assist OG feelings to return back to headquarters. And along with his catchy jingle, Baggie offered various tools from his bag to help them return. This successfully helped the feelings find their way back to Riley’s consciousness. Indeed this shows the power of play to elicit and regain access to feelings, memories or beliefs about ourselves that may have been blocked for some reasons.

I stayed past the credits - and saw the post-credit snippet whereby Riley’s deep dark secret was revealed. (Drum rolls — deep dark secret is...“Riley burnt a hole in the rug”). Though it wasn’t what I expected, I was so glad to hear it—in fact, honoured too. Just like how I feel whenever I get to hear about my client’s vulnerability and journey as this meant they trusted me enough to let me in on them.  I thought about how one’s response to the deep dark secret can determine one’s next course of action. If one’s deep dark secret was validated, perhaps one may go on and share more and/or get closure. If it was dismissed or invalidated, one may end up not sharing any more secret subsequently and perhaps there may be more inhabitants in deep dark secret vault over time. Oh well…

As I reflected on the feelings introduced in this movie, Ennui struck me the most as it was not a word that was commonly used -at least not in my world. However, it aptly describes the “blah” or “meh” kind of feeling that many of my clients have raised. The definition : “Ennui deals more with boredom than irritation - and a somewhat specific sort of boredom at that. It generally refers to the feeling of jadedness that can result from living a life of too much ease. “ (according to Merriam-Webster dictionary). I was also curious how they decided on those new emotions ( Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui and Anxiety) as the new kids on the block (console)!  I felt that the feelings of resentment, grief and confusion could be present during adolescence given how losses, changes and social relationships/conflicts can give rise to them. However, I recognise that while they can present themselves in adolescence, they may not be exactly characteristic of this stage. Perhaps, they may be featured in subsequent installation of this movie - corresponding to late adolescence or adulthood.

Lastly, as an adult, I still find this movie highly engaging as I find myself reminiscing those days as a teenager undergoing puberty and its related changes. I recall that stage being tumultuous and highly conflicting — it was almost like a constant tug of war within - the need for autonomy/independence versus the dependency and desire to fit in.  This can be such an overwhelming but exciting period of exploration and self discovery.