While anxiety is one of our most uncomfortable emotions, the Pixar sequel shows how it can be valuable, and not always just something to be “fixed”.
Popular psychology might not seem like box office gold. Yet Inside Out 2 is now the highest grossing animation of all time, and its box office takings have already surpassed those of last year’s blockbuster, Barbie.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for the film Inside Out 2.
As fans will know, the film gives viewers a first-hand view of a girl named Riley’s inner life, in which emotions are personified as wise-cracking characters in her mind’s Headquarters. Riley is now 13, and Joy, Fear, Sadness, Anger and Disgust have been joined by Anxiety, Embarrassment, and Ennui.
Anxiety soon hijacks the Headquarters and banishes Riley’s Joy (Amy Poehler) and her gang to the “memory vault”, alongside Riley’s deepest secrets. They must battle their way back to the Headquarters and restore Riley’s sense of self, while she struggles to navigate the social awkwardness of ice hockey camp.
Like its predecessor, the film’s script was informed by scientific consultants, who ensured that it accurately captures the multifaceted nature of our emotions – and this is surely a large part of its appeal for adults as well as children. We can all relate with the maelstrom of feelings that Riley endures and learn to appreciate them for their roles in our lives.
As the film shows us, however, anxiety serves a purpose: it ensures that we pay attention to the things that matter most to us
Anxiety is no doubt one of our most uncomfortable emotions. The physical symptoms – racing heart, breathlessness, muscle tension – can leave us feeling as if we are no longer in control of our bodies, and our stream of consciousness can descend into a cascade of worst-case thinking. As the film shows us, however, anxiety serves a purpose: it ensures that we pay attention to the things that matter most to us. Even if we are not in physical danger, it can alert us to situations that are important to our self-esteem and future happiness, propelling us to act.
The ideal anti-hero
For an animated film, Riley’s Anxiety (played by Maya Hawke) makes the ideal anti-hero; an energetic redhead with a gap-toothed smile who is eager to please and frantic to plan for every possible threat to Riley’s self-esteem. The more her plans backfire, the more despotic she becomes – pushing Riley to ditch her old friends and ruthlessly pursue a position on the high school ice hockey team. She begins to believe that no one will like her if she fails in this mission. This backfires: she starts alienating her existing friends and ultimately places herself under such pressure that she starts to experience a panic attack. We have surely all been there – falling into vicious cycles of worry and self-doubt, in which we believe that our whole world will crumble with a single disappointment or failure.
