‘Inside Out’ Teaches Us The Value Of Our Emotions

Disney and Pixar’s newest film, Inside Out, premiered this Father’s Day weekend and had many looking deeply at their own personal emotions. The film stars Amy Poehler as Joy, Mindy Kaling as Disgust, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, Lewis Black as Anger, and Bill Hader as Fear. No one thought that Inside Out would personally reflect their own emotions but, somehow Disney and Pixar made it pretty personable.

Inside Out opened up with you meeting 11-year-old Riley, who is being uprooted from her home and moving to San Francisco. It seems that Joy is the president of all the other emotions, but you soon realize that each emotion has to work hand in hand with each other to make a person function. When Joy and Sadness get tossed out of “headquarters,” Riley begins to decent down a dark path with only Disgust, Anger, and Fear to guide her, which is usually not a good combination.

What struck deep in Inside Out was how well they played with Sadness. Most people have the misconception that Sadness and feeling sad is a bad thing, especially because it can cause you to cry and feel embarrassed. In Inside Out, the other emotions do everything they can to keep Sadness at bay with Riley, believing that the emotion is bad for her. You soon learn that you need Sadness in your life to help fuel and feel your other emotions, such as joy.

The writer and direction of Inside Out, Pete Docter, teamed up with psychologist Paul Ekman and Dacher Keltner to help us get an inside look at how these emotions rule our brains and bodies. The best part of the movie was when they showed us why we needed Sadness and how it helps connects all our emotions.

Fans of Inside Out took to Twitter to express their love for the move.

#InsideOut is brilliant!

— Maureen V (@Malvern_TX) June 23, 2015

Inside Out was REALLY good!

— Jonah Sachs (@SachsJonah) June 23, 2015

I wish there was a movie like Inside Out made when I was a kid to make me understand what's going on with your mind. I loved it so much.

— Julia (the problem) (@JuliaHerrity25) June 23, 2015

To say that Disney and Pixar outdid themselves with Inside Out might be an understatement. According to Forbes, Inside Out’s weekend debut made $91 million and was the 41st best opening weekend of all time. Inside Out also scored 98 out of 100 on Rotten Tomatoes, so it’s pretty good.

Did you see Inside Out over the weekend? What did you think of it? Did Inside Out touch your emotions or was it too childish for you to enjoy? Also, what was with the Lava short before Inside Out?

(Photo by Kevin Winter/ Getty Images)