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Group Film Analysis Essay: Inside Out
Darian Sierra, Alexandra Lopez, Victoria Cadena, Taylor Hale, Virginia Cardenas, Arnold Torres
Avila
October 14, 2023
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“Inside Out” is a heartwarming animated film that explores the emotions and thoughts of an eleven-year-old girl named Riley. The movie takes place primarily in Riley's mind, where five
personified emotions – Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear, and Anger – work together to navigate her daily life. Through the characters' interactions, we can observe how communication concepts such as nonverbal communication, debilitative emotions, and self-concept play a significant role in Riley's emotional development and the challenges she faces. The film illustrates that while individuals may think they need to be happy all the time, that is not entirely true. Instead, it encourages the entire spectrum of emotions, meaning that all emotions and feelings are an essential part of life that we as humans encounter and experience and that there is nothing wrong with feeling sad. However, there is a need to note that the feelings that Riley has depicted show several nonverbal cues in the entire film, from herself and the five emotions that need to be assessed. The main reason is because it will show the nature of communication that Riley has with other minor characters in the movie. Watching the film provides an individual with the opportunity to learn and understand the extensive contact that is taking place between the characters, potential advice that can be given to Riley if faced with a similar situation, and the correlation between direction and nonverbal communication between others and oneself
. At the start of the movie, there is a display of Riley as a happy girl with friends and close family. However, there is a shift in character and behavior for the protagonist when the family decides to
move from Minnesota to San Francisco since changes have happened in her dad's occupation. In the process, Riley has several emotions and challenges while adjusting to the new life. One of the
most dominant emotions in life is Joy, which tries to keep things positive even after the shift. However, other emotions clash on how best to steer Riley while starting over in a new house, neighborhood, and school. As a result, there is chaos in the emotional headquarters, displaying
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several communication aspects. Although the film Inside Out has been able to focus on adjustments in Riley's behavior, communication concepts, including nonverbal communication, debilitative emotions, and self-concept, have been demonstrated as the framework for human relationships and connection with each other in the community. One of the most effective and efficient aspects of the film Inside Out is emphasizing intrapersonal communication. According to Adler et al. (2018), intrapersonal communication reflects and demonstrates how humans connect and communicate with themselves. The concept is dominant in the movie since the emotions of Riley have been presented in five different domains, as they are in the process of communicating with one another. One instance in the film where intrapersonal communication is demonstrated is when Riley is at a family dinner with her family. Based on an assessment by Febrianita and Hardjati (2019), non-verbal communication consists of behaviors and traits that hold meaning without the active use of words. The concept is
evident in the movie since there is an advanced use of non-verbal signals to express how Riley is feeling. Each of the characters presents a wide range of emotions. A key intention is to portray several emotions without suppressing any non-verbal signals. There is embracing and expressing how each person feels. For example,
Anger is a character that uses nonverbal communication quite often. When Anger is enraged, most of the time, “there is a clinch of the teeth, screams, and
fire from the top of his head” (Docter and Del Carmen, 2015).
This allows us, the viewer, to understand what he is feeling even when he isn’t communicating verbally.
Anger gets more offensive as a display of the non-verbal cues that Riley is angry. Another example would be the emotion disgust. She uses facial expressions to express nonverbal communication. Specifically the scene where Riley tries broccoli pizza. Therefore, people use non-verbal communication as a critical concept, as depicted in the movie, throughout their daily lives. If not all, most of the non-
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verbal communication cues that humans use are similar when responding to different situations in life. Whether it be positive or negative, nonverbal communication plays a critical role in the communication model as a whole.
In chapter 8, concepts appertaining to communication are evident in the movie. Emotions
are one of the concepts since they play a crucial role in establishing the type of communication an individual will have with themselves and with those in their surroundings. In the middle and end of the movie, there is a depiction of an instance where Joy and Sadness get lost in Riley's memory storage. As a result, Anger, Fear, and Disgust take control of Riley's emotions, creating a
completely different mode of communication. While there is continuity in the display of non-
verbal cues, a notable shift in the presentation of information and articulation is marked. Anger, Fear, and Disgust can only function by expressing themselves. As a result, Riley is scared and afraid of everything that is within her surroundings. When communicating with her parents, she is angry while also disgusted with any decision made and related to her. In the process, the fallacy of catastrophic expectations is created as a domain in the communication concept. Fear, Anger, and Disgust are essential in displaying the idea since they are considered harmful. The only way they can function is by thinking of the worst outcome and making an individual act and
behave irrationally. Through the debilitative emotions, Riley is under the influence of the three emotions, making it evident to the viewer that she has adverse reactions to every situation. For example, the concept can be demonstrated by the fact that Riley was at a point of “attempting to run away from her new life in San Francisco and try to move back to Minnesota, and cannot accept her new phase in life” (Docter and Del Carmen, 2015). Anger, Fear, and Disgust can all be
termed as a part of the debilitative emotions concept, intensively affecting Riley from functioning normally and building a concrete relationship with her parents.
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New experiences in people’s lives arise with all types of reactions. Social connection is a concept in communication that depicts the immense correlation between people conversing with each other. At the film's start, the audience is forced to view Joy through halo effects since the main motive is to do everything and make Riley happy regardless of situations where she is angry. Joy acts as a mother figure or older sister due to her overprotective nature to protect feelings and create memories. Floyd (2019) defines self-concept as a relatively stable set of perceptions that an individual holds, affecting their self-esteem and the communication connections they make with each other. The main aim of the concept is to venture into a platform
of self-worth. Inside Out magnifies the idea of interpersonal communication through the idea of self-concept. For example, when Riley is subjected to a change in environment and life, she faces
classmates who usually judge her for her actions and feelings. Riley does not accept the feelings as acceptable and develops the sense that she must be the happy girl, mainly because of her parents. In the scene, Riley's parents attest that "we appreciate you for being a strong girl throughout the entire shift in life and movements from one state to the other” (Docter and Del Carmen, 2015). In the process, she wants to maintain the same image of herself towards her parents and fit in her new school. Displaying that Riley is struggling to work on one of the things
she is avoiding at all costs results in a perception that her typical state of herself consists of happiness and Joy. All of the five characters have the interest of Riley at hand. For instance, the character pays keen attention to all of the five domains of emotions, but after the move, there is a
shift since Riley becomes recessive of sadness to prevent it from taking over. This, as well as the emotions inside Riley's head allow for the disagreements to increase in volatility, which eventually leads to Riley running away. Their views of the move differ, which makes for a perfect example of interpersonal conflict
. In the end, the same is depicted in her communication.
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An assessment of verbal communication defines that she is pretending to be happy, but deep inside, that is not the case, as can be indicated by the non-verbal communication cues. In conclusion. the three main communication concepts in the film Inside Out, are non-
verbal communication, self-concept, and debilitative emotions. All three correlate to depict the nature of Riley's relationship with herself and those within her surroundings, such as her parents. A holistic approach has been used in the film to show how emotions can affect a person's communication with themselves and others. A key contributing factor is the idea that intrapersonal and interpersonal communication correlate much more broadly. A case example, as assessed above, entails the interaction between Anger, Sadness, Disgust, Joy, and Fear. Each of the five emotions affects how Riley communicates with other individuals, especially her parents, and the dominant one always tries to take control of the situation. The issue of conflict management arises from the three concepts, making it difficult to have a standard approach to reaction. In the case of Riley, she pretends to be happy with the shift that has taken place in her life, but a close assessment of the three communication concepts displays an entirely different scenario.
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References
Adler, R. B., Rosenfeld, L. B., & Proctor II, R. F. (2020). Interplay: The Process of Interpersonal
Communication (15
th
ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press
Docter, P., & Del Carmen, R. (2015). Inside Out
. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Scientific Research An Academic Publisher. https://www.scirp.org/%28S
%28351jmbntvnsjt1aadkozje%29%29/reference/referencespapers.aspx?
referenceid=2950531
Febrianita, R. & Hardjati, S. (2019). The Power of Interpersonal Communication Skills in Enhancing Service Provision
. Journal of Social Science Research. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332331614_The_Power_of_Interpersonal_Com
munication_Skill_in_Enhancing_Service_Provision
Floyd, K. (2019). Interpersonal Communication
. McGraw Hill.