Inside Out Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Inside Out
Year: 2015
Director: Pete Docter
Country: US
Language: English

The human mind is much more complicated than a basic good-evil dichotomy. Everyone is a sum of their experiences, memory, and basic (and often not-so basic) emotions. Such conceptual thoughts are the material of Inside Out, a marvelous animated film that exists almost entirely within the theoretical space inside our heads, operating by abstract rules and an uncanny understanding of human emotion.  Compared to most American animation, Inside Out is a rather reflective film with a tremendous amount of relevant commentary. 

After young Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school. Joy (Amy Poehler) appears to be the most antagonistic of the emotions; attempting to take control of every other emotion and memory. 

Inside Out is remarkably relevant to North American society. Like the character Joy, we value happiness and desperately try to rid any other emotion. We go mad trying to fill our lives with pleasing memories, though often our drive for bliss creates quite a havoc on the outside world. Corporations in silicon valley have booze and pool tables at their disposal, really pushing the notion that they have a "happy" workplace environment (despite having to work 14hrs/day for terrible bosses) 

The media really tries to sell us that it is "wrong" to be happy. Advertisers claim their product will either bring you happiness or remove the problem that was making you unhappy. Why is lack of joy wrong? Disgust may not be a random problem of the mind, but a response to an unjust environment. Anger can be a positive motivator for many people. I'm sure the civil rights movement of the 60's didn't come about because people were "happy" to be segregated in their society. 

Inside Out is remarkable, because it is one of the few mainstream films to embrace of sadness and melancholy as essential components to a person's emotional growth. Instead of feeding us pure escapism, we are treated to real emotional underpinnings. As a statement against the capitalist industry of producing faux happiness, the picture does a good job.