Inside Out 2 has been in the theater for close to three months and I finally saw it a few days ago. I was the only person in the theater. I don’t know if that is weird or not, but I don’t mind. I picked the best seat and I had the theater all to myself. That’s what you get when you go to a three-month-old movie at noon on a Friday. Maybe I should treat myself to a solo movie more often.
Inside Out 2 builds on the plot of Inside Out 1. In the first movie, there are characters inside a young girl’s head representing Joy, Anger, Fear, Sad, and Disgust. In the second movie, these characters are joined by Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui (boredom). Inside Out always reminded me of the short-lived 1990s Fox live-action sitcom Herman’s Head, which starred several actors who voiced Simpson’s characters. If you don't remember Herman's Head, don't worry. It was mostly forgettable.
I liked Inside Out 2. I liked Inside Out 1 probably a little better because of its originality, but I like them both for their creativeness and how they convey the mental parts of the mind as objects. There is a lot of thought and care put into the Inside Out movies. The Pixar people obviously consulted mental health professionals to build a world inside the mind. They are both brilliant in their execution.
Spoiler Alert: Stop reading here if you don’t want the movie ruined. I have a critique about the movie that might ruin it if you haven’t seen it.
But I have a few questions about Inside Out 2. My first is perhaps based on my age and how things were when I was a teenager in the early 1990s. Is anxiety that big of a deal for the average 13-year-old or is Riley suffering more than usual? I don’t think I learned or understood the meaning of the word “anxiety” until I was in my 30s. I heard someone mention “depression” once in college in the early 2000s. I knew that meant being sad, but had no idea the extent or the effect on the brain.
Maybe it was the times, or maybe I was ignorant of mental health.
My second question about Inside Out 2 is “Where is Confidence”? I agree with Ryan M. Niemiec Psy.D. in his review on Psychology Today. Ryan writes that there is an imbalance in the movies with several detracting emotions and only one positive emotion, Joy. He writes, “Humans have a large array of positive emotions. Where are excitement, love, gratitude, interest, desire, (healthy) pride, awe, elevation, hope, amusement, and/or calmness/peace?”
In the movie, Riley suffers from almost crippling anxiety. She almost has a nervous breakdown during a hockey game. Anxiety is controlling her mind and has created a whirling tornado of chaos. But instead of Joy taking the controls, why not Confidence? Is Confidence an emotion? If Boredom is an emotion, I would think Confidence would be as well.
There is a key scene in the movie in which Anxiety uses Riley’s imagination to create scenarios of failure which lead to more anxiety and panic. Joy finds a desk in Riley’s imagination and begins sketching positive scenarios. Wouldn’t that lead to Confidence – the idea that good things will happen based on experience? If Riley knew how to score hockey goals, playing at a more difficult level becomes a battle between Anxiety (Failure) and Confidence (Success).
Maybe Riley doesn’t have Confidence. Is Confidence a rare trait among 13-year-olds? Is it seen less than Anxiety? I am not in mental health, so I don’t know.
We don’t see Riley’s parents building up her self-confidence. Maybe that’s a blind spot in their parenting, or maybe Pixar didn’t think it was important. We see her succeeding, we see her having great support from her family and friends, and we see her having more opportunities for additional success. But somehow, these factors don’t gel into Confidence.
Is that normal?
While we see Riley having fun playing hockey, experiencing Joy in sports is typically a byproduct of success. No one is happy when they lose. When a pro athlete says they are “having fun”, it is usually because things are going well. Failure leads to more work, which is usually serious, and not fun – although the best athletes discuss finding Joy in The Process. But that might be too heavy for a teenager.
Of course, there could be Joy in playing, win or lose. Especially when playing for recreational purposes. But that’s not Riley’s situation. She is a serious hockey player.
Instead of idolizing a player on the high school team, Riley could have idolized basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who said,
Bryant’s Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson used the concept of envisioning success to motivate Bryant and fellow legend Michael Jordan. When you envision yourself succeeding, it becomes what you do. You think about your past victories. Confidence becomes contagious. Success builds on itself. Confidence could have led Riley’s imagination instead of Anxiety, drawing situations where she succeeds.
The voice in Riley’s head shouldn’t have said “I am a good person”, although that is important. The voice should have said, “I am good enough.”. That’s Confidence.
Following the climax of the movie, Confidence could have also taken control of the mind. Confidence plans for the future. I am not a mental health expert, but there are a lot of articles on Confidence versus Anxiety. They seem to say that while a little bit of Anxiety is ok, Confidence prevents it from overwhelming the mind.
The tools for Riley’s success were there. The emotion that needed to control her mind wasn’t.
Maybe Riley could have heeded the words of the great mental health coach Stuart Smalley, played by Al Franken.
“I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And doggone it, people like me.”
Here is a classic Saturday Night Live skit with Smalley and the aforementioned Michael Jordan.
