Emotion Frenzy

I think the two pieces this week were the best ones we’ve ever watched and it is majorly because of “Inside Out”. I think it’s the cutest movie ever. So heart warming, yet heart wrenching at the same time. A masterpiece.

I believe “Inside Out” expressed the James Lange “Appraisal Theory of Emotions“, where Riley’s life was the chain of events that the Emotions could react to. In this sense, the Emotions controlled Riley and these were two separate cognitions. From how I interpreted the movie, Riley’s reaction to her environment was partly due to her own cognition, along with the Emotions. The movie makes them out to have a separate consciousness from Riley, but all serving the purpose of helping Riley respond in the best way she knows how or they think is best for her. Each Emotion controls an aspect of Riley and in turn makes up her Islands of Personality. While we learned concepts of emotion and cognition being intertwined, “Inside Out” shows emotions that are put upon us. For example, when Sadness and Joy are stranded from Headquarters, Riley seems to turn numb, unable to feel happiness or sadness. While Anger, Fear, and Disgust are still at Headquarters she is unable to feel 2/5 of her emotions that make up her personality. She ends up running away, but as soon as Sadness fixes her core memories and integrates sadness into them, Riley is able to experience joy again.  Sadness and Joy are the core Emotions that help her personalities exist, or more so to appreciate happiness while experiencing sadness. Without them, Riley is unable to achieve happiness or sadness without them. This shows that the Emotions control part of her cognition and is not integrated. The Emotions control her emotions, thus her emotions out of her command.

Crossing over to “Man of the People”, I really enjoyed this episode. It was quite interesting and the plot twist was INSANE. I feel like the concept of cognition and emotion being separated is once again seen. While Counselor Troi is an empath and takes in other people’s emotions, once Alkar has Troi go through with the funeral customs, her emotions are not her own. To be exact, the complex emotions she feels are her own, but an outside force is causing her to experience them. While she is usually calm headed and docile, Troi experiences very negative and forward emotions that cause her to fiend over Alkar. She can do so much better to be honest. In the scene while she is exercising in front of the mirror, her body seems to be taken control by something and she seems to touch herself as if she is experiencing it for the first time. It seems as though an outsider is experiencing her own body, thoughts, and emotions. This expresses a distinct distance from her cognition and emotions, and she becomes almost lifeless or possessed just as Riley did when she became disconnected from Sadness and Joy.