Everyone Needs a Little Joy: Inside Out 2 Movie Reflection

I just finished watching Inside Out 2 and I would like to state here first that I absolutely adored it.

Lets get into it. This movie focuses on Riley finally hitting puberty and with that the introduction of a couple new emotions — ones that eventually push the original emotions to the side. Anxiety is the main antagonist, note: not villain, of the story. She tries to change Riley’s sense of self — a key plot point and the emotional focus of the film.

This movie placing Anxiety as the antagonist rather than the villain was exactly what I had always wanted to see. Anxiety had what was best for Riley in her head at all times, she just ended up going about it incorrectly. They never tell her she is horrible, they never truly vilify her, they show that she had good intentions, that she wanted to be wanted and useful just like Joy did throughout the movie.

I think of the message the movie wanted to send with that, and my own experiences with anxiety. I feel that the film wanted to send out the idea that all feelings are valid, that ones’ sense of self is not defined by their emotions, and it doesn’t always have to be positive all the time. We are complex, we contain multitudes. There is not one emotion that defines us (a fact touched on heavily in the previous movie) and our emotions do not determine who we are but how all of our emotions impact our choices. Riley comes into herself as the emotions fight in her head, anxiety taking control. And that was what impacted me the most.

I have struggled with anxiety since I was at least 7 years old, the stomachaches I felt when I didn’t want to go to school for fear of being bullied, the worries I would have after seeing someone be sick, the mental torture that I did not have a name for that is all my good friend anxiety. She has taken the reins for as long as I can remember. My sense of self was incredibly impacted by anxiety much like Riley in the movie, I have not only thought I’m not good enough but other far more severe thoughts since anxiety rented a space in my mind. Watching this film put it on screen in an easy enough way I felt that others who may not experience this could undertsnad. The fog of anxiety and the want to just help. I feel like sometimes my worrying does more harm than good but I know it is becasue I want to keep myself safe. I want to protect me, but I end up hurting me more than anything else.

The part that got me the most about the film was joy. Poor joy, she ends up feeling rejection in both movies yet she keeps the joyus personality up.

“Maybe that’s what happens when they grow up, they feel less joy”

This quote hit me deep. I don’t want to feel less joy. Anxiety took away so much joy under the pretense of making sure I will be happy in the future. I spent so long living in my head and checking out of the real world. I see some pictures in my camera roll and when I think of the memory the only thing I can remember is how miserable and anxious I was at the moment.

I am growing up and I want to make sure I always make space for joy. There is never anything so important that I can’t make room for a simple joy. Not everything is good all the time, sometimes the anxiety comes out and she works very hard in my brain. It’s difficult, there is little control, but I fight back. Joy gets put away a bit, but I never want her to disapeer. I will never not need her. Just like Riley I feel when I want to embrace the joy, not always but I need to know she will be there. I need to feel her there.

I want to make sure that quote is not true. When we grow up we do feel joy. We make space. And we breathe. And we live. And we just feel.