So today we’re going to talk about how I cried for a solid 20 minutes because of Inside Out…
Umm, let’s restart that. We’re going to discuss emotions and how they are interpreted within Inside Out and Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “Man of the People.”
Inside Out
Inside Out has such interesting concepts when it comes to emotion, and also very important ones.
The emotions, mind, and body play as a team in this movie. Even though the emotions are viewed as separate characters and entities, they still work with Riley and her cognitive processes. They are a personified version of how humans think. We don’t have one track minds- different experiences give us different emotions, making us ponder how to react.
Riley has plenty of emotions her first night sleeping in her new home. She hears the noise and sees the shadow of a bus, and we see Fear start to flip out going, “What is that? Is it a bear? It’s a bear!” After some dialogue, Anger inputs his thoughts about the move. He says, “This move has been a bust.” Fear believes there’s 37 things for Riley to be scared of, Disgust mentions the icky stench in the house, and Anger exclaims, “I can’t believe mom and dad moved us here!” Joy tries to lighten things up, saying things like, “We’ve been through worse” and “Let’s make a list of all the things that Riley should be happy about.” This is much like how we in real life process emotions. If I were Riley, I’d have similar thoughts. I’d be scared of the unknown, disgusted by dead rats and the smell, and pissed at my parents for making me move. Possibly, I’d try to focus on the positives to feel better (I say possibly as someone who struggles with depression, if you know you know). Inside Out exhibits emotion similar to Arnold’s Appraisal Theory of Emotion. The emotions see something happen in Riley’s life, and usually say aloud if it’s good or bad. Their thoughts related to emotions are then exhibited in conversation, and from there they figure out the action they must take. After all, anger somehow came up with the “let’s jump on a bus to Minnesota to fix the occurring problems.”
On a more important note, Inside Out reveals that it is important to express our feelings in order to get the help we need. After Bing Bong’s rocket gets sent to the dump, he is overcome with sadness and says, “Riley can’t be done with me.” Joy says, “Hey! It’s gonna be okay, we can fix this. We just need to get back to headquarters. Which way to the train station?” Joy tries to pull him, but he says, “I had a whole trip planned for us” and stays put. Joy keeps trying to cheer him up to no avail. On the other hand, Sadness says, “I’m sorry they took your rocket. They took something that you loved. It’s gone, forever.” The two continue to talk about Bing Bong’s feelings, and he ends up crying and feeling better. Joy is like Riley in the beginning of the movie, pushing to hide feelings and avoid the problems to “stay positive.” On the other hand, sadness is like Riley at the end of the movie, pushing to express feelings in order to acknowledge and overcome them.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
I think it’s safe to say the episode “Man of the People” was weird.
I’d consider this episode an opposition to the Theory of Emotional Construction. This theory claims emotion as something that doesn’t happen to you, but rather something that is constructed. This episode shows emotion as something that happens to you.
We watch Deanna Troi deteriorate throughout the episode both mentally and physically after the “funeral meditation” with Alkar. Picard confronts Alkar after the autopsy of Alkar’s (not) mother to figure out what has been done to Troi. Alkar tells Picard, “You see, I discovered long ago I had the ability to channel my darker thoughts, my unwanted emotions to others, leaving me unencumbered.” He later says, “She’s an empath. I was reasonably certain I could establish a link with her. Frankly, I was amazed when I saw how quickly she’d aged. Usually my receptacles survive for years.”
Emotions are looked at as transferrable. It is also clear that it’s easier to transfer them onto empaths, which are people that can feel what others are feeling. Dr. Crusher called these transferred emotions on Troi “psychic waste.” It is as if emotion takes control of the person depending on how much dark emotion is transferred. Troi becomes a completely different person- more sexual, cruel, and attached. They happen to her; she doesn’t construct them. When the emotions transfer back to Alkar, he grows old and dies. He has no control of them.
6 thoughts on “Feeling Inside Out”
Hey Sara,
I also cried because of the movie inside out. I really liked how you stated that Riley emotions were basically doing the same kind of talking to each other that we do in our heads. I didn’t think of that when watching the movie but now really thinking about it, it makes sense. I’ve also been told I’m a negative nelly and I have depression, so I KNOW! Anyway, I thought that was a cool point. In star trek, yep, I thought it was also weird. When you stated the scene where Deanna is helping Alkar because she is an empath, but I thought it was so annoying how in the end of the movie he chose a different woman who was not an empath. So, it didn’t matter who he chose. I think he chose her because maybe he knew that she felt sorry for him losing his mother but also because she had feelings for him. But that really made me angry, using women for your own benefit. Which is why I said, this show is a little disrespectful towards women.
gcoito
Hi Glynis,
Just a bit of clarification about the Star Trek episode. Aklar’s species are empaths, but they can only sense the emotions of other members of their species. The woman he chose at the end of the episode was a member of his species, so he did have an empathic connection to her. Deanna is half human and half Betazoid, which is a species of empathic aliens, so she has an empathic connection with everyone. Hope that helps to clarify things!
Jessica Hautsch
Hi Sara,
I think you made a nice point about how it is important to express your feelings when you need to reach out for help/support. This is another example of how our social interactions with others play a role in how we process our emotions. Sadness like you mentioned was able to cheer Bing Bong up because she knew how he was feeling, and once someone acknowledged it, he was able to feel better and continue on his way. I also liked your discussion on how the different emotions are kind firing away simultaneously, because as we take in our surroundings and environment we pick up on different things. Alkar’s character was interesting because as you pointed out, at first he was able to control his emotions and place them into something else, where at the end the emotions overcame him. I guess in a way it is commenting on how sometimes we are at odds with how we feel and sometimes it is like a power battle.
Sarah Murphy
Hi Sara,
I hear you! I cry every time I watch Inside Out as well. (Though to be fair, most Pixar movies get me pretty good!)
You make a great point about how emotions in Inside Out are shown to be part of the cognitive system. Even though there are different locations to represent different aspects of the mind (abstract thought, imagination land, long term memory, etc), emotions are spatial central, an integral part of the landscape.
Ha! Yes, the Star Trek episode this week is very weird (part of the reason, honestly, why I like it so much). You do a great job of putting it in conversation with the theory of constructed emotions. This episode embraces a much more traditional view of emotions—as things that happen to us. The fact that Alkar can project his “negative” emotions into someone else suggests that they are not something that he constructs within and as part of his cognitive system, but separate entities that can be, somehow, removed. As you note, the representation of Deanna’s emotions as out of control also reinforces this idea. It also represents a problematic dichotomy where men are ration and unemotional, while women are irrational, overly-emotional, bodily, and out of control. This patriarchal gender binary is, at least in part, supported by the Cartesian separation of mind and body, reason and emotion.
Jessica Hautsch
Hi there Sara!
Not me also crying at this film. I remember when it came out in theaters, let’s just say my popcorn was extra salty that night. With Riley being controlled by her emotions, and how they were present in her from birth definitely follows the Theory of emotional construction. The emotions appear over time and the emotions play out from Riley’s experiences in the world. And it even goes along with William’s James idea that our bodily sensations are not before emotions, that is the emotion. Having our emotions control our every day is our basic reality. My feeling of responsibility is making me do homework and my guilt for spending money on a summer class is also making me work hard to try and do my best. Our emotions are in every bit of our lives. Again, fantastic job, can’t wait to read more.
snaraujo
Hey, Sara!
Yeah, the scene where she first sees her new run-down home, funnily enough, hits close to (my) home. Moving around is never fun, and the first day is, arguably, the worst. Though there are a lot of things to discover, comparing them to what you already have discovered and experienced and finding out that the new things are worse…yeah, it sucks. A lot of the little things that made home…well, “home,” are gone. Like how you analyzed, best thing to do is acknowledge things are different and to move on from that fact. Though I didn’t particularly like the movie (plz don’t crucify me), I enjoyed this aspect of it.
I totally agree that this Star Trek episode was extremely weird. The way emotions were portrayed was very…old school, I suppose. The typical “don’t let emotion cloud your judgment”. Never mind the fact that we mostly judge with emotion and motive. When was the last time you picked your favorite ice cream flavor without ruling out everything else?
Anyway…
Great analysis.
gkhidasheli