Inside Out

Rewatch and definitely spoilers ahead <3 I have seen Pixar’s Inside Out more times than I can count. It is arguably one of Pixar’s best movies EVER. There is something so fulfilling to me about a huge company like Pixar making movies about mental health/emotions. This movie perfectly showcases what it feels like to be a child who is simply growing up. A kid going through the motions of life - being hit with waves of feelings every day. And how feelings are not simple; they come in multitudes. It isn’t always just ONE emotion that someone is dealing with, but it can be many emotions all together. The movie is obviously not realistic in any way but it offers a very creative outlook for how the mind processes feelings and memories. As we grow up not only do we phase out of things we used to love to do but we also learn new things that we love more. The islands of personality crashing down when Riley is unable to act the way she used to is so simple but effective. It doesn’t mean those personality traits are lost forever but they are unable to be accessed due to the mental state Riley is in. And this is so very accurate for many people who go through depression. You can love doing something but when your life feels like it is falling apart, those things don’t seem as enjoyable anymore. It took Riley accepting her sadness and talking about it to her family to realize that her life might be different now but it can still be a good life. The biggest validating feeling for me is that sadness was the hero. Sadness at first is seen to be the villain. She continues to touch Riley’s positive memories turning them into negative ones… Which is so real. How many times do we look back on a memory that was happy but then it feels bittersweet because it is no longer where you are in life? It happens. And sadness is not a villain for this. Our happiest moments cannot be fully appreciated without the sadness. And that is a beautiful lesson to learn. Or maybe I am just a miserably depressed person and I enjoyed seeing a film where feeling sadness is acceptable and okay LOL. Regardless this is definitely my favorite Pixar film to date and if you have not seen it please do.