Inside Out

Emotional suppression vs vulnerability/acceptance The philosophical conflict in Inside Out is You should hide your pain and maintain emotional control vs you should acknowledge your pain and allow others to see it. If you asked me to create a concept around this philosophical conflict, I would never in my life have come up with something as good as this movie. A great concept has the universe of the story literally represent the dominant worldview. In Inside Out, we have the the emotion of sadness as a character literally not allowed to operate the control panel. So the universe of the story (Rileys head) literally represent the idea that it’s good to supress your sadness. Is this on the nose? Yes, very much. But the movie is also made to be understood by children. And having the theme of the movie be clear is very good. When her family moves to San Francisco, Riley experiences genuine grief: she’s lost her friends, her home, her hockey team, and her familiar life. But Joy interprets Sadness as something that needs to be contained. Riley’s problem isn’t simply that she’s sad. It’s that she believes she isn’t allowed to be sad. But Joy’s insistence on keeping Riley from feeling sad, drives her to run away. But when Riley returns home, Joy finally allows sadness to take control and Riley cries in front of her parents. That vulnerability accomplishes something that Joy’s attempts at positivity never could. Her parents understand what’s actually wrong, comfort her, and Riley begins processing the move. The movie shows us that expressing emotions like sadness has a social use. Being vulnerable allows the people around you to help you.  S-tier pixar movie.