Burying emotions is more trouble than it's worth
(Thematic and character spoilers for both Inside Out 2 and Dimension 20: Mentopolis)
This week I went out with a couple friends and saw an animated Disney film in a theater for the first time in at least fifteen (perhaps closer to twenty) years. Inside Out 2 managed to exceed my expectations in just about every way – other than failing to deliver on fans' hopes for queer representation.
The film follows thirteen year-old Riley as she navigates emotional changes through a weekend hockey camp at her future high school.
Official Poster of Riley's Emotions
The new emotions – Anxiety, Embarrassment, Ennui and Envy – each get their own brief character introduction as they join the previously established Anger, Disgust, Fear, Joy and Sadness in the control center ‘Headquarters’ of Riley’s mind. Yet the film is functionally just about Anxiety and Joy’s struggle for leadership.
Having battled anxiety my entire life, I really appreciated the character’s portrayal: she’s all about planning, alertness and above all, predicting and avoiding bad outcomes. I love that she at first offers real help, justifying her gaining more and more control over Riley’s decisions through the course of the film.
Joy’s trajectory is incredibly important as well, though I’m not sure it sticks the landing in a way that kids will universally understand. Before the new emotions’ arrival and Anxiety’s coup, we get a glimpse of how Joy has been running the show. (It’s at this point that I must confess to never having seen the original Inside Out; parts of this may have been justified in the first film.)
New memories and experiences take physical form within Riley’s mind as coloured glass spheres (the colour seems to correspond to their dominant emotional charge, given that all of Anxiety’s are orange). Joy has been sorting these memories based on her opinion of them.
Deeply positive experiences are carefully chosen to form beliefs in the ‘memory pool’, which in turn shape Riley’s Sense of Self. Average or mundane memories (the vast majority) are placed in a labyrinthine library to be accessed when needed. Finally and crucially, Joy has been hurling negative experiences into the far and unknown reaches of Riley’s mind.
(The film shows us Joy introducing this concept, but given her shock at seeing the mountain of negative memories we see later I theorize that she has ‘invented’ this many times. After all, why remember your solution to bad memories when you’re trying to forget they exist.)
The emotions watching as Riley meets her hero, Valentina "Val" Ortiz
Conflicted
Predictably enough, Anxiety’s total control eventually leads to Riley utterly paralyzed by a panic attack. Perhaps less predictably, the only way for the exiled emotions (the original five, including Joy) to return to Headquarters is by riding a cascade of negative memories directly into the memory pool.
Notably, Joy doesn’t decide to do this because she realizes it was wrong to bury all of the negative and painful experiences. Instead it’s her only option in the moment, and she says she’ll deal with it later. It's only when a diverse and fleshed-out Sense of Self is ultimately the answer to breaking Riley's panic attack that Joy finally remarks on the lesson.
This outcome simply isn't as effective as so much of the other imagery in the film. What is ultimately happening is that both Joy's and Anxiety's created Senses of Self were almost entirely built of experiences which correlated to them; the solution is to re-introduce memories associated with the other seven emotions in order to create a more resilient and experienced Sense of Self for Riley. But my friends and I felt that that meaning was glossed over (along with those seven emotions) to the detriment of the film's overall message.
I love the characterization of Anxiety as always seeming helpful, even if it sometimes feels more like extortion than guidance, and I imagine many kids will be helped in some way by having seen this visual and narrative representation of it.
Yet I think the moral of not burying the negative emotions is also deeply important, both for kids and for many adults. So much cruelty in our world is based on these buried experiences of repression, abuse, rejection and more alongside their associated emotions, and I think the film could have done a better job of conveying that moral.
Another Life
Anastasia Tension by Allison Cooper
Certainly inspired by the success of Inside Out, Dimension 20's Mentopolis is a live-play role-playing game set within the film-noir world of a single person's mind. The talented cast of comedians take on the role of different neurological functions as they race against time to solve mysteries and save lives inside and outside the brain.
Hunch Curio, by Allison Cooper
Mentopolis is very much the adult to Inside Out's pre-schooler. Game Master Brennan Lee Mulligan prepared for the six episode season by speaking with multiple neurologists and constructed the game's world based on real human biology and a whole lot of puns (though cast member Mike Trapp still surprised him with 'Brainstorm', which Inside Out 2 used as well!)
Pleasure personified, by Allison Cooper
Emotions are barely touched upon here, replaced by a complex economy of wants and needs. An incredible and unique aspect of the season is that every character trait and action can be taken to reflect the life and characteristics of Elias Hodge, whose mind they inhabit. Attention and Curiosity are characters in the game, and where they go Elias' mind goes too. When Hyper-fixation eliminates a distraction, Elias stays focused on the task at hand. And the above shapes the below as well: the university at the hippocampus "defunded the arts years ago", given that Elias is a dedicated scientist.
Conrad Schintz, by Allison Cooper
But central to the season's plot is player character Conrad Schintz, a small and frightened child who embodies Elias' conscience. Working under a powerful corporation on a dangerous piece of technology, Elias reaches a moment where Conrad must rise or be crushed forever under the heel of ambition and avarice.
There is a strong parallel between Elias and Riley, in that both must embrace a buried part of themselves to move forward. For Riley it is accepting her flaws and her humanity, for Elias it is nurturing his conscience and standing up for what he believes in.
So consider watching Inside Out 2, especially if you have kids, and Mentopolis, especially if you don't. They're great stories with a great message, even if the former doesn't meet all of my expectations.
For a little more about accepting different parts of oneself, check out my post about a pivotal moment in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series.
Thanks for reading!
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