It is also connected to various ‘islands of personality’, which drive various aspects of Riley’s character, like her goofiness, her honesty, her relationships and her talent in hockey. In addition to serving as the cockpit for Riley’s actions, “headquarters” is also responsible for recording her sensory experiences and storing them as memories. Each of these emotions is represented as a pilot inside Riley’s head responsible for directing her day-to-day functioning. This imaginative portrayal echoes Ekman’s 1993 study where he states that the expression of these emotions (as well as a sixth) is universal across cultures.

The centre or ‘headquarters’ of her consciousness is run by the five core emotions. The inside of Riley’s mind is depicted as an elaborate computer system controlling her thoughts and actions. Because of this, Riley goes into a depressive state, while Joy and Sadness travel on a quest to headquarters to set things right.Įkman and Keltner (psychologists specialising in the study of emotions) helped shape the film’s representation of emotions. After a traumatic first day at her new school, an accident results in a situation where Joy and Sadness get marooned in the vast expanse of her long-term memory. After the massive upheaval in Riley’s life, sadness begins to contaminate her memories. Inside Out is an attempt to explore the complexities of five emotions, Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear, inside the mind of an eleven-year-old child, Riley. Barnes traces the origin of the idea to Docter’s childhood experience of moving to Denmark, an experience which left him with deep insecurities.

In an article for the New Yok Times, Brookes Barnes gives an elaborate sketch of the long, complicated process of the film’s development. These subtexts open up the possibility for range of psychiatric and psychoanalytic readings of the film, making it particularly interesting from a medical humanities perspective. The story is also a subtle account about coping with depression, as she eventually learns to develop therapeutic relationships with her family and friends by talking openly about her feelings. The imaginary world inside Riley’s head is based on interpretations of scientific models of the mind and of human behaviour. However the film’s complex subtexts are really what makes it remarkable, as they are richly informed by a wealth of psychological theories.

This film has already received great acclaim at Cannes Film Festival 2015 for its heartfelt relatable story, imaginative storytelling, beautiful animation and a delightful musical score. This year’s summer release by Pixar Animation Studios, Inside Out, follows the inner workings of the mind of Riley, an 11-year-old girl from Minnesota, as her life is suddenly turned upside down when her family moves to San Francisco.

Inside out movie summary