First of all I want to say how much I love Inside Out and I am not ashamed at all that most children’s movies make me cry – they really know how to get me in my feels. Especially when they have personified them. The movie suggests that everyone is controlled by 5 basic emotions – Joy, Disgust, Anger Fear and Sadness. The movie doesn’t seem to count surprise nor contempt as basic emotions, which in my opinion is a missed opportunity because surprise would have been a funny addition to the crew. In Riley, Joy is mainly in charge (although other emotions take the wheel at times) however it appeared that in other minds, other emotions were at the helm. In the father’s mind it was anger and in the mother’s- sadness. It felt like this could be alluding to a person’s general affect. While certain emotions might be temporarily “in control” Riley is generally led and influenced by joy. I wonder if this remains constant throughout life. Is a person born being controlled by a particular emotion – and that emotion remains in control – or do certain emotions get “promoted” as a person changes and grows? Are all children inherently governed by joy?
Inside Out portrays embedded cognition and Arnold’s appraisal theory of emotions. As stimuli are received and life events occur the emotions assess/appraise the stimuli and then a certain emotion takes control and dictates the action. The broccoli clip is a perfect depiction of the appraisal theory in action.
The islands as facets of Riley’s personality reminded me of schemas – how Riley sorted and divided information and memories collected and fit them into different categories that made up her understanding of the world and herself. This movie is so nuanced and there is so much to unpack in every moment of the movie, I think a lot of it could be used when we discuss memory, since a major portion of the plot was delving into how we store memories and the way we retain/forget information. Inside Out does a really great job of conceptualizing memory making and how our emotions affect our decision making.
Like Joy in Inside Out who initially viewed sadness as a detriment to Riley’s cognition, Alkar in “Man of the People” also views difficult emotions as a cognitive deficit. However, this weeks Star Trek episode goes back to pitting emotions against rational thought rather than an embedded cognitive process. Ambassador Ves Alkar states “I discovered long ago I had the ability to channel my darker thoughts – my unwanted emotions to others, leaving me unencumbered.” While he doesn’t get rid of all of his emotions/thoughts he channels the ones he sees as “cumbersome” leading him to be a better negotiator for peace because he isn’t influenced by rage or sexual desire. While he is unencumbered the host for these emotions and thoughts are not only mentally affected but also suffer physically. After being the host for these emotions Deanna ages rapidly – This seems to depict an ideology that emotions affect you physically and age and eventually kill you, while without these negative emotions the ambassador is free to make more rational choices and lives in a youthful state. I wonder why he died in the end of the show. Has he been doing this for so long he is actually ancient and those years caught up to him or was he so unprepared to handle any negative emotions from his years of casting them aside that he was instantaneously crushed by the metaphorical weight of them?
5 thoughts on “No Hard Feelings”
Hey Nicole !
I really like your theory that all children start with Joy as their most dominant emotion. I feel like it makes sense for a lot of children, especially children who are raised in loving families. Children look at the world with so much wonder and excitement and we even see this in Riley as we watch her grow up and learn to feel things in tandem. I also thought that the different lead emotions might show a sign of maturity or growth ! I also noticed that you connected this movie to the next unit, memory. I felt that I could connect it to our empathy unit because of our reactions to the film. I think it’s a great movie for the entirety of the class !
arbuonaiuto
Hi Ari,
Yes! I think you’re absolutely right that this movie relates to what we learned about empathy–and will definitely relate to what we learn about memory next module. It can be a bit tricky to untangle a lot of these ideas because they are all part of the same system. So it becomes difficult to talk about one without the others.
Jessica Hautsch
Hey Nicole,
I love how you analyzed Inside Out. I agree with you that they portray that people are controlled by a certain emotion. The questions you ask are very valid as well. I feel like people definitely experience an array of emotions, but at time I feel like there is a main emotion that is mostly present in a person’s life at all times. It’s interesting to think about in regards to yourself. You’ve done a great job with using and analyzing the broccoli clip and tying it into our video lecture as well. I agree that in “Man of the People,” shows the ideology that emotions affect you physically. Great job!
Anthony Aromolo
Hi Nicole!
I love that you mentioned Riley’s islands and how they are made up of her understanding of the world because I think they really do have an impact on her emotions. To answer you question, “Are all children inherently governed by joy?”, I would have to say yes for the reason that joy is literally an emotion that is born with children and I think the times a child does not grow up with joy is the environment they are in.
ALSO: I feel you about crying with children’s movies. I cry so much no matter how many times I watch any disney or pixar film
Brianna
Hi Nicole,
I love the way that you compare the Personality Islands in the film to schemas—or we might also think of them in terms of cognitive frames. They are fundamental to how Riley understands the world and her interactions with it.
You also set up a great contrast between how Inside Out and “Man of the People.” Inside Out is, essentially, teaching kids that it is okay to feel sad; Aklar, it seems, never got that message. I like your observation that the end of the episode suggests that he is unable to cope with his experience of emotions with a negative valence.
Any yes! There are definitely connections between this film and what we’ll be learning in Module #6 about memory, so please feel free to make those connections!
Jessica Hautsch