The two films in this unit are my favorites, mainly because of “Inside Out.” I cried while watching. It is a warm and heartbreaking masterpiece. If there is no sadness, where is the meaning of joy?
Insider Out
I don’t think “Inside Out” expresses James Lange’s theory. The emotional role is to transmit Riley’s emotions through the organ button of the brain command. The hypothalamus inspired the interior design of this fun brain commander, and the producers didn’t want it to look too sci-fi but wanted it to be a place that looked warm and comfortable, where emotions could make their home. I think this design expresses that emotions, minds, and cognition are one rather than separate. Additionally, Riley feels disgusted is shown when the character Disgust flips those power switches, and Riley’s behavior does the same, so she knocks over the plate. It goes against James’ idea because Riley’s mind (Disgust) understands the situation and then makes Riley do her act. However, James’ point is that Riley would be disgusted for not liking broccoli. So “disgust” wouldn’t be the one who flipped the switch for Riley to Disgust. James believes that the physical sensation is the emotion, not the character of Disgust. Thus, one of the things I love about this movie is that it does an outstanding job of connecting emotions, bodies, and minds, and we can see how each emotional character can provoke Riley’s reactions.
Another link to the lecture is a quote from Lisa Feldman-Barrett, who said emotions are socially constructed. For example, emotional changes in Riley’s parents stem from social constructs, including family and the workplace. When we observe Riley’s upbringing, we realize that the world is not perfect. The film’s turning point happened when Riley’s father moved to San Francisco for work. Although Riley was very uneasy facing the new environment and new classmates, she still faced it positively and optimistically, but then sadness suddenly appeared. Uncontrollable behavior, she will involuntarily touch the memory, even the core memory, which frightened Joy and quickly warned sad not to feel it. It reflects our usual attitude towards sadness – try to avoid it; it’s OK to pretend you’re not painful and try to make yourself happy, even if it’s fake happiness. Barrett’s point is Riley’s sadness in the face of new circumstances and the stimulation of new classmates. Moreover, this film keeps emotionally resonating with audiences because we all had a Bing Bong in childhood. The debilitating and disappearing Bing Bong is a trigger point when we sense an emotion, which arises by categorizing physical stimuli in our cultural context. Emotions do not happen to us but because we perceive them. Therefore, I believe that emotions are part of our cognitive system.
“Man of The People” Star Trek
This episode brings up the concept of empathy again. Alkar revealed to Picard that he could channel his negative emotions onto another person, a “receptacle” that allows him to be clear-headed and level-headed as a negotiator. Knowing that this would lead to accelerated aging and death of the recipient within a few years, Arka did not foresee her rapid symptoms when he chose Troi as his next recipient. So Troi becomes more and more vulnerable until death. It’s incredible to see how these negative emotions Troi was going through caused her to age very, very quickly. But it also shows how emotions, minds, and bodies are linked, as we see the harmful effects of negative emotions on the body. At the same time, the ” receptacle ” role reminds me of the empathy chip in the episode of “Futurama,” where Bender experiences Leela’s emotions. Both Alkar and Bender lack empathy, and thus both lack the ability to understand feelings in a given context. On the other hand, neither Troi nor the chipped Bender can express their emotions.
Ps: Why do we need sadness? She said,”Crying helps me slow down and not obsessive worried of life’s problems.”
3 thoughts on “Is it OK to be sad?”
Hi Yiyi,
I agree that William James’ (whose theory I think you are referencing) is not represented in the film. Instead of seeing the body as constituting the emotion, we see it responding to the emotion. As you note, disgust hits the button, so the body reacts with disgust, rather than the body’s reaction being disgust.
Interesting that the visual design of the control center was meant to mirror the hippocampus, which is generally identified as the seat of emotions in the brain. However, it is worth noting that neuroscience has not yet been able to definitively locate emotions in the brain. This is in part why Barrett argues that emotions do not have a distinctive neurological or physiological fingerprint.
It is worth noting that according to the Theory of Constructed Emotions, they aren’t triggered. Rather when we watch Bing Bong die, we consider our embodied experience (mouth dry, tears welling up, chest heavy) within a particular context (what is happening in the film) and then categorize, make sense of, what we are experiencing as sadness.
Great discussion of “Man of the People.” I especially like how you connected Aklar’s offloading of emotion to Bender’s empathy chip. What does it suggest about emotions if we can project them outside of ourselves and onto other people?
Jessica Hautsch
Hi Yi, great response. I like what you said about the duality of sadness and joy. I think it is important to realize that without sadness, true joy can’t really exist. It’s true that you can put a face on for others and hide your true feelings, but it isn’t healthy, and eventually, a person’s true emotions will break through, or in the movie’s case, the Sadness will eventually leave the Circle of Sadness. Also, I really liked how you compared the Star Trek episode with the empathy chip episode of Futurama. It’s true that Alkar and Bender both lack empathy, except that one is just an alcoholic robot jerk, and the other is a killer who kills with his negative emotions.
hbaalbaki
Hi Hasan,
Yes! Though some studies suggest that smiling when you’re sad can actually make you feel happier (though it depends on the degree of sadness you’re feeling). I think we’ve all had the experience of seeing someone pretending to be happy when they are not–and often we can tell that they are faking it. As we sense into their bodies, it doesn’t feel right to us.
Jessica Hautsch