Taking Mental Illness Inside Out

Nathan Dhablania

Professor Erika Nanes

Writing 150

February 6, 2017

Taking Mental Illness Inside Out

In a society where billions of social media users are constantly trying to put their happiest of happiest moments online, it has become almost unnatural to show emotions other than happiness online and in front of clinicians offline as well. This can be attributed to the change in medical definitions along with societal standards on what it means to be mentally ill. According to the article “Abnormal Is the New Normal” by Robin S. Rosenberg, the criteria of being diagnosed as mentally ill has been expanding to the point that many normal emotional responses to life changes such as feeling low after going through one’s first breakup or divorce, are being classified as pathological (Rosenberg). Rosenberg asserts that this trend “leaves us with an increasingly restricted definition of mental health and can make us all more likely to see mental illness even when it isn’t there—where there is just normal human struggle.” As a result of these broadened diagnostics of mental health, people are afraid to express or admit to episodes of sadness, in fear of being judged as mentally ill. Especially because people today are said to believe that “humans belong to two sub-species: the mentally well and the mentally ill” with no middle ground (Bentall). It is unhealthy to automatically assume that mental illness is taboo, biological, and not relatable. But it is also unhealthy to misdiagnose mental illness. Once-normal feelings and emotions, are now being considered psychologically abnormal (Rosenberg). However, it is impertinent for society to understand that the true function of all fundamental emotions such as sadness, anger, fear, happiness, and more are to help people cope with unexpected but natural misfortunate life events - not necessarily to serve as a diagnosis for mental illness.
        Disney Pixar’s film Inside Out (2015) centers around an eleven-year-old girl named Riley Anderson. Viewers follow Riley and her emotions as she experiences a dramatic change in her life as she is yanked from her familiar Minneapolis home and placed in the alien terrain of San Francisco. She leaves behind her friends and the many joyful memories she created during her early childhood. The emotions that live within Riley’s brain or “control center” as the movie calls, are Joy, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. What is interesting is that these emotions are all made into characters. The three characters Joy, Fear, and Disgust, have distinct roles that help Riley cope with her new life. However, Sadness, the emotion at the bottom of the sensory ladder, has a mysterious, undefined role within the control center. Joy constantly ignores Sadness and prevents her from taking over Riley’s mind, for she believes that it is the only way to keep her happy. As the film unfolds, Sadness yearns to understand the importance of her existence as well as her purpose within Riley’s mind. Through the development of Sadness’s and Joy’s understanding of each other's emotions, the film expands our current knowledge of mental health by redefining sadness as an instrumental force in personal growth. Inside Out, thus helps the audience understand that feelings of sadness are not necessarily signs of illness but potential signs of strength and maturity.  
        Joy’s initial perception of Sadness as defeatist and incompetent obscures useful traits hidden within Sadness’s personality that are exposed later on in the film. In the beginning of the film, Joy and Sadness argue over the disposal of a sad core memory, a crystal ball that symbolizes an important event in Riley’s life. Their argument turns physical and accidentally activates the memory flush tube which transports them to a region in Riley’s mind far from the control center called the Long Term Memory - an enormous labyrinth-like bank of past memories. Joy, whose main role is to keep Riley happy, must return to the control center in order to take back control of Riley’s mind, but she is unfamiliar with the path that leads through Long Term Memory. Ironically, Sadness is the only one who knows the way around Long Term Memory because she “read about it in the manuals” during her time spent alone and neglected up in the control center (Doctor and Carmen, Inside Out). Upon this discovery, Joy exclaims, “You are my map! Let’s go! Lead on, Mind Map! Show me where we’re going!” (Doctor and Carmen, Inside Out). This scene is symbolic in that it represents the first time Sadness has been given a distinct role as well as Joy’s trust. Earlier in the film, Joy was never trusting of Sadness because she perceived Sadness as an “obstacle” that would only cause chaos within the control center. Now, Joy views Sadness as a critical partner who will help expedite their journey back to Riley's control center. It could be said that Sadness’s new role as a “map” metaphorically expands our current understanding of mental illness by highlighting how sadness can be used to help people navigate through life’s tribulations. Furthermore, Joy’s willingness to trust Sadness in the film serves as an example to embrace sadness, rather than oppress it due to society’s fear of mental illness. This scene, therefore, exemplifies how happiness is not the only emotion that helps people find solutions, but how sadness as an emotion can have a fundamental role in personal growth and guidance as well.

        While still trying to find their way out of Long Term Memory, Sadness and Joy share a special moment with Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend created during her early childhood years. Big Bong serves to reveal another hidden but meaningful characteristic of Sadness’s personality in the film. As Sadness and Joy travel through Riley’s mind in hopes of returning to the control center, they run into Bing Bong, who offers to help them find their way back. Bing Bong leads them through Imagination Land, an amusement park full of imaginary objects. However, he finds out that his cherished rocket wagon, which was symbolic of his time spent with Riley, is dumped into the Memory Dump. Once a memory enters the Memory Dump, it is no longer retrievable. Utterly distraught by this event, Bing Bong breaks down in tears. Joy is the first one who tries to cheer him up by offering minimal words of comfort and shifting the focus back to the mission by saying, “Hey, it’s going to be okay. We can fix this. We just need to get back to Headquarters.” (Doctor and Carmen, Inside Out). She then proceeds to make silly faces and gestures in hopes of lifting Bing Bong’s mood. None of these tactics work. This is when Sadness decides to take a widely different approach from that of Joy’s and starts to empathize with Bing Bong as she says, “I’m sorry they took your rocket. They took something that you loved.” (Doctor and Carmen, Inside Out). This scene is symbolically significant in that it provides a new and positive outlook on Sadness’s developing persona and devalues Joy’s superiority and power. Joy, the very essence of happiness and hope, is unable to do anything in contrast to the consolation that Sadness provides Bing Bong. Despite Sadness’s negative demeanor, she expresses compassion, a feeling that complements the emotion sadness. Through compassion and traits of sadness, Sadness is able to sympathize with Bing Bong and ultimately make him feel better. Sadness’s ability to empathize with Bing Bong serves as a metaphor that expands our current understanding of mental illness by focusing on the remedial capabilities of the emotion sadness which society chooses to overlook.
        Overall, though Inside Out does not explicitly show any mental illnesses throughout the movie, one can definitely say that the film redefines society’s view of emotions that divert from happiness and positivity. Sadness, oppressed by Joy for her negative disposition, takes on distinctively practical roles revealing the positive implications underlying her existence within the movie. The development of her personality is symbolic of the positive role the emotion sadness plays in our society. Movies like Inside Out are very important, for they shine a positive light on mental illness and the fears of feeling negative emotions, across to a mass audience.