The Joy of Inside Out 2
Tim Bechervaise reveals what he learnt from watching Pixar’s latest film on emotions
It’s rare to come across a film that’s both fun and educational, and universally liked by adults and children alike. Nine years ago, Inside Out – a film regarded by many as peak Pixar – did just that. Earlier this year, its sequel was released. Like the first, the anchor is Joy – and it’s here the film points to what’s so special about Christmas.
In the first film, released in 2015, we were given a fascinating, humorous and profound insight into the human mind, as the story followed 11-year-old Riley deal with the upheaval of moving. The sequel invites us into Riley’s mind again as she, now aged 13, copes with puberty. But whereas the first instalment revolved around five key emotions – Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear – the second also features Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui and even the odd appearance from Nostalgia.
In typical Pixar fashion, the characters are delightfully portrayed, none more so than Anxiety, who painstakingly seeks to get Riley to fit in with her peers at an ice hockey camp. Although well intentioned, it pushes other emotions to the fringes, with the five original emotions flung from Riley’s mental headquarters. This includes Joy, who had led the intrepid gang in creating a glowing spherical web known as Riley’s ‘sense of self’, which centred around her being a good person. But with Anxiety at the controls, it’s at risk of being undone.
A battle for Riley’s mind ensues, until Joy leads a charge to restore order. This climaxes with her overcoming Anxiety, who had become paralysed by fear, such was her desperation to have Riley fit in.
But to get there, Joy needed her own epiphany. ‘I don’t know how to stop anxiety,’ she says. ‘Maybe we can’t. Maybe this is what happens when you grow up – you feel less joy. But I do know this: Riley will never be herself if we don’t get this back to headquarters.’
The film closes with Riley realising that, in her attempts to look cool, she had strayed from who she was, damaging her wellbeing and closest friendships. She pulls through with a stronger, more rounded ‘sense of self’ – warts and all. And the anchor of this is Joy.
For Christians, joy is the anchor of the Christmas story. Jesus told his early band of followers, ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’ (John 10:10). It’s little wonder, then, that when the angels appeared to shepherds after Jesus’ birth, it was with ‘good news that will cause great joy for all the people’ (Luke 2:10).
What makes this good news so joyous is that Jesus came to deal with all that’s wrong in our world – and that starts in each of our hearts. Like Riley, we want to believe we’re good inside, but the reality is we all make mistakes.
In Inside Out 2, Riley found joy in acknowledging that life involved not only growing up, but messing up. And when she did, it need not define her – and it need not take away her joy. The same goes for the Christmas story, but in a far deeper, more beautiful and wondrous way, because at the centre of the story is a baby born in a manger – who for the ‘joy set before him’ went on to endure the cross – so that every person who believes in him can find joy in knowing they are loved by God and forgiven for every wrongdoing. In this freedom, we can be our truest self.