Reflection on How the Filmmaker in “Inside Out 2014 (Disney/Pixar)” Demonstrated Understanding of Adolescent Development

Inside Out by Disney/Pixar is arguably one of the best animated movies ever made. In the Pete Docter-directed film, a little girl named Riley Anderson (11 years old) experiences emotional development when her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. Inside Riley's head, five emotions—Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger—contest to make Riley happy in the 2015 film "Inside Out" (Rivera, & Doctor). Though Joy is accepted as the undisputed king, controlling the other emotions, each with distinct role except for Sadness as she does not want Riley ever to be sad. Because of this, Sadness is on a mission to discover her role in making Riley happy. However, her initial attempt turns out to be disastrous as it makes Riley suddenly start sobbing as she was introducing herself to her teacher and fellow students. At the turn of events, Joy is forced to intervene, in process they get thrown out of the headquarters. In their absence, the three remaining emotions, fear, disgust and anger fail to make Riley happy. Instead, situation worsens to an extent she displays anger to her parents by banging the table when they are unable to understand her. In order to understand the turn of events, this paper explores how Docter uses the five emotions controlling Riley to depict the emotional development teens undergo and factors that affect adolescent’s behavior during this critical and challenging stage.

As depicted from “Inside Out”, teenage hood is one of the most difficult stage in a child’s life. During this stage not only does an individual develop physically, they also do so emotional such that they start to experience many changes. At first, Riley is an easy going girl who is always the center of attention for her parents, often giving them happiness. During this early, stages, Riley was mainly exposed to one main emotion, Joy. However, as the family relocated to San Francisco, not only does she become aware of her new surroundings, she also develops emotionally such that she was able to perceive Fear and suddenly Sadness as she was introducing herself in class (Rivera, & Doctor). The sudden change in Riley emotional state from being happy while describing her love for hockey is due to abstract thinking taking where became overwhelmed with the negative part of that experience.

Individual egocentrism is another important factor which shapes the plot and character development in the film. While introducing herself, it can be seen that Riley was unable to keep her fear at bay despite the holistic class environment. This can be seen when the teacher later empathizes with her. While conversing with her mother about hockey, Riley does not even pay attention. In fact, she replies strangely to her mother,” …Oooh yeah, it was fine I guess. I don’t know”. Upon reprieve from her father, “Riley! I do not like your new attitude” she explodes to be left alone banging the table in the process. This clearly indicates how teens can be egocentric at times.

Following the altercation with Riley, the parent start being detached from their daughter. In fact, on the day when Riley planned to return to their Minnesota home, the parents did not wish her goodbye to school as it was the case before. Parents individuation can also be seen when they do not give consideration to the change in surroundings and how that might have an impact on their daughter. On the day that Riley reported to school, the parents failed to escort and ask her how was school. Instead, the mother talked about playing hockey to which Riley replied it was fine thinking the mother was asking about her experience in school.

During puberty, teens usually develop strange behavior keeps on changing from time to time. The unpredictable changes can be seen from Riley’s sudden change in feelings when feel in a hockey game. Normally, a hockey game involves sacrifice, courage and determination. From her response to her mother’s question, “You are not going to finish trials”, she simply says “we go”, dictating it to her mum. In fact, she even bashed off her mother’s concerns when she said everything will be okay by saying “Stop saying everything will aright”. (Talarico). From this discussion, the role of parents in guiding their children during poverty comes out. From the manner in which Riley’s parents responded to her concerns, and change in mood it is clear that they were not very critical in their roles. For them everything was all about happiness not acknowledging that at this stage teens undergo lots of emotional changes, change in moods as seen from Riley’s sudden changes from Joy, to Sadness, to Anger, to Disgust and lastly Fear.

Therefore, parents should be very keen on their teen children emotional growth during this critical period. They are supposed to play their role, give necessary guidance and be accommodative at the same time as seen from the teacher’s concerns. Since this movie is about what goes on the mind of a teenage girl, I strongly recommend that parents’ guide their children in watching the film. Emphasis on how teens can control their emotions and not get into trap should be emphasized.

Works cited

Rivera, J., and P. Doctor. "Inside Out [Motion Picture]." United States: Walt Disney Pictures,

Pixar Animation Studios (2015).

Talarico, Jennifer M. "Does Pixar's Inside Out show how memory actually works?." (2015).