Introduction:
Welcome to the story of Inside out, an animated movie released in the year of 2015. This movie highlights different emotions through a cast of characters set in the main characters brain, Riley. In this post I will talk about the role of empathy in the movie and how it can relate to viewers.
Characters:
Riley: An 11 year old girl who used to live in Minnesota but has now moved to the Golden State (San Francisco), she has a deep passion for the sport of hockey
Joy: One of the five characters who control Riley’s emotions and is a representation of happieness in Riley’s life
Sadness: Sadness is a representation of grief in Riley’s life controls all her emotions relating to it
Fear: One of the five characters who controls Riley’s emotions of fear and apprehensiveness
Disgust: A character who lives inside Riley’s mind and protects her from things that can be disgusting eg. eating brocolli
Anger: The fifth and final character who lives inside Riley’s mind and voices her judgement in angering situations
Bing Bong: Riley’s old imaginary friend who is portrayed as a stuffed elephant, Bing Bong plays a big role in the plot line and in the message of empathy.
Explanation: Riley who used to live in Minnesota now lives in San Francisco due to her parents decision to move. She is having a hard time fitting into the new community and the story centers around the conflicting emotions in her mind. All the emotions in Riley’s mind live in what is called the headquarters.
Examples of empathy:
- During the story, Joy and Sadness are taken out of headquarters through a tube and are stuck on one of the 5 islands that represent Riley’s personality, Goofball island. Through their journey of trying to get back, they come across Bing Bong who helps them along their journey. Unfortunately, during the adventure, Bing Bong loses one of his treasured possessions and is devastated. Joy, the representation of sympathy in this situation, tries to tell him that its okay and shes sorry for him. This doesn’t help Bing Bong at all until sadness (representation of empathy) comes along and tell him that she knows how he feels and how she’s been in the same situation before. She takes him in for a hug and a few minutes later, Bing Bong is all fresh and ready to go. This example shows how empathy and sympathy are 2 seperate things and how opting for empathy is the most effective solution.
- Throughout the journey back to headquarters, Joy begins to realise that Sadness’s role is crucial in Riley’s life and learns that it is okay to be sad sometimes. Because of this, Joy does not try to diminish Sadnesses role in Riley’s life anymore. This shows the empathy of understanding different perspectives.
- In headquarters when Disgust and Fear watch an embarasing memory of Riley doing a presentation in front of the class, they react strongly and feel second-hand embarassment. Although it is different, this type of empathy shows how they can put themselves in Riley’s shows and understand how she feels.
Summary: All in all, This movie is a great representation of the idea of empathy and even sympathy. The idea of empathy in this movie is very relatable and resonates with viewers easily. Thank you for taking the time to read this post!