Inside Out

3 Gen Pic: My girl took the pic!! 

By: Cynthia Litman

Pearl of the Post: Sweet Emotion

Nutshell, Disney Pixar's new animated film "Inside Out" is quite the pearl of a film.  It's brilliant and I loved it.

I was lucky to see one of the first NYC screenings of the film and I've been excited ever since.

Inside Out stands along side the greats - Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Monsters, Inc..

Inside Out is about an ordinary girl with ordinary feelings in an extraordinary movie. It probes deep within the psyche in a powerfully light way.

Ya ever wonder what your kids are thinking? I sure do, all the time.

Spend five minutes in a classroom and you'll likely observe how children are beautiful, fun, complicated, mysterious, growing, emotional ticking time bombs.

Emotional intelligence is where it's at. Children's EI's are elementary. They are developing their emotional bodies along with their physical ones. And hence their mental and emotional processing faculties are being schooled. This thing called life needs deciphering. Parents are the first filter. Parents are processing too and humans of all ages are in constant development.

Into the vestibules of the mind we go.

Riley is the central character. We witness Riley's first thoughts and feelings as a baby and watch them evolve along with her personality. She's now 11 and is an only child. Her father accepts a job transfer which uproots her life from the snowy hockey skating loving banks of Minnesota to the broccoli hipster sunny San "Fran-sucko", California (San Fransisco).

Her life is turned Inside Out. Relate much?

Riley's family is in major transition (as is every other family at the end of the school year!). She is on the cusp of adolescence facing new challenges presented by a new city, new home, new school, new friends and the stakes are high.

Riley's emotional world is in flux.

Disgust, Fear, Joy, Sadness and Anger

Her emotions, Oh, those sweet emotions, are animated brilliantly. They are loveable being exactly who they are and fully embody their roles.

First comes Joy.

With Riley's expanding life experience comes Anger, Fear, Disgust and Sadness. With just 11 years of experience, they are also on an evolutionary journey. They reside in Headquarters and grapple to power Riley's emotional remote. 

Naturally, Riley's parents are observing.

You peer into her parent's "mature" minds and see stereotypical male/female scenes. Her mom wants to understand and draw Riley out. In daddy's world, anger is at the wheel and draws the line. (My favorite parts are animated mind dances of the different characters.)

Joy, controlled Riley's remote for most of Riley's childhood. But now Sadness is creeping in.

Uh oh!

This is a pivotal point in Riley's journey and dislodges Joy and Sadness from the control room. They are flushed out of HQ and together they must navigate the terrain deep inside Riley's mind.

This is where Inside Out achieves genius status. 

Riley's animated mind is a vast, busy and efficient place.

Joy and Sadness realize their part of a much bigger picture. After all, emotions are but one facet of a human being. Interestingly, the emotions reside in the the mind versus the heart showing just how interconnected our thoughts, feelings and experiences are.

Our experiences are moments encoded within our memory banks.

Riley's moments turn into memory balls which are then properly sorted and filed by a whole on the job crew. We have a few selective core memories which capture the pivotal moments in our journey. The core memories are catalysts for the cults of our personality.

Our life's path is mined with pivot points.

Think of the moments in your life you constantly revert back to and use as your own identity beacons. Personally, in that moment watching the movie "A Color Purple", I knew I wanted entertainment to be a part of my life. Wasn't sure in what form but I steered my ship towards it and minored in theatre arts and psychology in college, became an entertainment lawyer, turned writer/blogger/reviewer, turned event producer, turned I'm itching to produce media...

The memories of my college psychology classes are flashing montage style.

Meet Bing Bong, Riley's Imaginary Friend

With millions of thoughts a day, compartmentalization is necessary. Our fresher short term memories are easily retrievable. Our faded long term memory is a vast archive awaiting retrieval signals. Throw back Thursday's may help. (Watch Clip: Long Term Memory)

You may only remember a smidgen of a moment that was so much a part of your experience when it occurred. Riley's one time beloved Imaginary Friend, Bing Bong, is part elephant, cotton candy and cat and cries candy. He was Riley's best friend and I can see why.

He is just so darling.

(SPOILER ALERT) Bing Bong fulfills his service and falls into the land of the forgotten. (Bring tissues because I cried like a baby!!) As someone with full on Mombrain, I can only imagine my vast wasteland of forgotten thoughts and math classes that slipped out of long term storage.

As you move further from a moment, what's left is your feeling. 

Feelings are the container to begin memory retrieval. Other details are wiped away, become abstract or slip deep in your subconscious. And there are those moments and details that linger, like my wedding day, or the Cheers theme song which I can belt out on cue.

Huh, I lost my train of thought.

Oh, yeah, meanwhile, back at Riley headquarters, Anger, Disgust and Fear take turns at the wheel in a hilarious sequence of events. A new Riley rhythm plays out. You just can't and shouldn't expect Anger to be joyful! (Watch Clip: "Just Like Joy")

As Riley's works through her transition her emotions grow. They start to understand, value and respect each others important roles. (SPOILER ALERT) Ultimately, sadness brings around the joy.

Their collective collaboration is the key to running a smooth operation and central to Riley's overall well being. They begin working towards a more cohesive, balanced and symbiotic leadership. This paves the way for Riley's next developmental stage and life presses on.

Even though this film is all about the mind, it's all heart. We haven't event gotten to the body, maybe the body - mind connection will be the sequel. :)


Mommas Pearls Meter: 4 Mixed Bag of Pearls!! 
My Forecast: The Family Movie of the year. Will make gobs of money and earn awards.
3 Gen Film: Grandparents, Parents, Children
Values: Children will feel understood and validated by this film. It's a great conversation starter for families.
Market: Inside Out should be a requisite for every parent, child, anyone who works with children - teacher, mental health professional, special education professional, dance/sports/yoga instructor, camp counselor, etc.

Fear, Disgust, Joy, Sadness & Anger (left to right)

Film Notes:
INSIDE OUT, Disney*Pixar, PG, 94 min
Official Website and Trailer
Voices/Cast: Joy/Amy Poehler, Fear/Bill Hader, Anger/Lewis Black, Disgust/Mindy Kaling, Sadness/Phyllis Smith, Mom/Diane Lane, Dad/Kyle MacLachlan, Riley/Kaitlyn Dias
Director: Pete Docter   Co-Director: Ronnie del Carmen
Producer: Jonas Rivera
Screenplay by: Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley

Viewing Tip: Stay tuned through the beginning of the end credits to peer into the minds of some of the other characters.

Disclosure: I love this film. Love Love Love. I love Disney for inviting me and my family to the advance screening and for donating Inside Out merchandise for my MomTime Events Inside Out screening. I was not compensated monetarily by Disney. I do charge admission fees to the MomTime Movie Event attendees. My love for Inside Out is priceless.

Published: June 19, 2015  Updated: June 20, 2015
2015 Cynthia R. Litman, Esq., PLLC d/b/a MomTime Events. All Rights Reserved. 
Animated Images owned by Disney.