Movie: Inside Out (2015)

The Destigmatization of Sadness in Inside Out

I’m giving Disney/Pixar an A in mental health awareness for their recent work. It seems like this is their pet topic these days, with Inside Out being the third movie running to tackle emotional health issues. First, in Disney’s Frozen, Elsa’s emotional issues and repression struck chords with people suffering from a wide variety of mental ails, such as depression, bipolar, and anxiety. Then in Disney’s Big Hero 6, Baymax makes it clear that his job as a healthcare robot is to attend to injuries both physical AND mental (the latter being the case with Hiro), and Pixar continues this pattern with Inside Out. Following the perspective of the well-meaning but unwise Joy, Inside Out contains a message about mental health that hinges on destigmatizing sadness and learning to appreciate its indispensable role in life.

I think my first impression of this movie is a representative starting place: When I first saw the Emotions introduced in the trailer — Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust — my thought was that it was strange that there was only one positive emotion out of the bunch. “Weird,” I thought. “I wonder why these are predominantly (4 out of 5) negative emotions.”1 In a sense, my first thought that these are negative emotions was right — the other four emotions deal with / react to negative, unpleasant things in the environment (annoying things, scary things, disgusting things, etc.), and so we would just prefer to go through life not feeling them if given the choice.

However, the idea of the emotions other than Joy being negative is the exact myth that the movie aims to dispel. The beginning of the movie immediately gives them all a positive spin after each emotion is introduced. Anger helps Riley assert her space, rights, preferences. Fear keeps Riley safe from danger. Disgust keeps Riley from being poisoned, either physically or socially (i.e. keeps her away from low-quality things). It is only Sadness that the movie’s protagonist, Joy, has trouble understanding the positive side of.

Over the course of the movie, the lessons Joy learns about Sadness are ones the audience would do well to take to heart as well.

Lesson #1: There is a rational dimension to all emotions

Inside Out

One of the best scenes in the movie for me was the one in which Riley’s mother is able to change Riley’s mood by framing the current situation in a way where Riley’s perseverance through the difficult moving process makes the situation much more bearable for the parents, and how much they appreciate it. Before this moment, the “negative” emotions (Anger, Disgust, and Fear), like malcontent mutineers aboard Joy’s Happy Ship, were threatening to seize control from Joy, as there was just no way it was appropriate for Riley to look past all the disappointing, unpleasant, and awful recent experiences to continue to be cheerful (as she would if Joy were to have her way). However, upon hearing this speech, the three willingly give control back to Joy, saying, “Well, you can’t argue with Mom!”

As someone who has had a foul mood completely turned around by a little gesture of appreciation or a random act of kindness, I really liked this depiction of moods being able to suddenly shift despite an overwhelming amount of stress. Aside from that, though, I liked this depiction of emotions as responding to new information in the external world and able to be swayed by reason. Sometimes people depict emotion as the opposite of rationality, possibly because when we are overwhelmed by emotion, it’s hard to reason calmly. However, this is a false dichotomy because emotions not only (usually) have reasons behind them, but emotions are also influenced by the rational thoughts we think and how we conceive of the emotion. Rationality is present in emotions of all kinds.

In Riley’s mind, there is only one emotion shut out of the mood control process, and whose function Joy is not able to understand, and who does random “destructive” acts to Riley’s memories without being able to explain why she felt compelled to do so: Sadness. To all the emotions, Sadness’s actions — turning a happy memory suddenly sad, stepping up to the control panel without warning — seem random, intrusive, unwanted. But to the audience, it’s obvious what’s going on. Feeling down, Riley looks back on her happy memories, and finds (with some horror) that they’re suddenly tinged with sadness. And Sadness keeps absent-mindedly trying to take control because she senses on some level that she is needed, that her emotion is the one that makes the most sense for Riley at that moment — like sadness creeping in on the edges of someone who doesn’t want to admit that they’re sad.

This depiction of the “irrationality” of Sadness’s actions is a huge and important part of the film. When an observer (like Joy) cannot see, understand, or recognize the function/purpose/usefulness/role/reason behind the emotion of sadness, the state of being sad becomes frighteningly irrational/unreasonable/gratuitous/inscrutable/intrusive.

It is critical for Riley that Joy, over the course of the movie, realizes that Sadness has strengths and functions that make her indispensable, and reasons for her actions. The first lesson being…

Lesson #2a: Sadness is needed for empathizing
Lesson #2b: Sadness helps people move on

Inside Out

When Bing Bong loses his wagon, Joy tries to get him to power through or be diverted from his sadness using the techniques she knows — cheer-based techniques like pep talks, wheedling, optimism, amusement. She knows from experience that sometimes these techniques work (like in the above-mentioned scene), but this time it doesn’t. Sadness, however, empathizes with him and gets him to talk through what he’s feeling.

I like this very short video on the difference between sympathy and empathy, which almost reads like an explanation of the difference between Joy and Sadness’s technique:

Similar to what this short talk illustrates, sometimes it’s more meaningful or more helpful to someone not to offer humor, levity, or positive-thinking (or solutions), but to instead acknowledge their sadness or pain by getting on their level instead. This is one function of Sadness (and other emotions) in the movie — the ability to connect with the sadness that someone is experiencing. Each emotion can do this with their own emotion, but (for example) Joy cannot do it with other people’s sadness.

In addition, this scene hints at another function or purpose for sadness. Only after talking about his sadness is Bing Bong able to get over the loss of the wagon and move on to the next things.

I think this is also true to life. Having kept a diary since high school, the good that journaling has done me is very obvious to me. Writing an entry would let me organize my thoughts and get to the bottom of what exactly made me so upset in various situations, and after the painful experience of poking into all that was done (which pretty much involved an hour or two of crying), the productive next steps always became so clear to me. It’s difficult to figure out what course of action to take next when you don’t fully understand what’s upsetting you, so cutting that sadness short would have made it much harder to arrive at the point of clarity.

Small amounts of sadness or stress can be powered through without needing any closure, but sometimes you need to examine a sad event closely and deal with it before you feel okay with leaving it behind / moving past it / forgiving and forgetting. Suppressing it makes it smaller and less weighty, but means you still carry it everywhere.

Lesson #3a: Sadness is a plea for help
Lesson #3b: The suppression of sadness can cause mental harm

Inside Out

This is the biggest and final realization that Joy has about the function of Sadness.

In the pivotal scene of the movie, Joy discovers that a memory that she “won” (is joyful / yellow-colored) actually started out blue and sad. The way it was converted to a happy memory was by Riley’s parents and friends showing up to cheer her up after a failed game. Joy finally understands that Sadness’s main function is to signal to the external world that Riley needs something, that she needs support and help, that she can’t solve her problems by herself. That’s important because seeking help IS a good and sensible response to sadness and depression, and that connection (sadness -> seek help) is a good one for people to keep in mind. Pushing sadness down or trying to power through it means that you erase the external, detectable signals that you need help.

Aside from the suppression of sadness, the other issue related to the expression of sadness is that sometimes people DO express sadness, but they don’t receive support. They are dismissed, told they shouldn’t be sad, told their sadness is annoying or burdensome for other people, and so on.

And it’s true, dealing with someone else’s sadness is mentally/emotionally taxing. It very much CAN be a burden. Sometimes there’s just nothing that a particular person can do to help. People have limits. In such cases, it might be tempting to minimize or attempt to erase someone’s sadness in a lazier way by simply saying it doesn’t exist. However, this does not help the person at all, and instead makes it so they form a different connections about sadness instead — (sadness -> don’t seek help, because you won’t get it), or (sadness -> don’t be sad) — in their mind.

One thing that’s a bit odd about the Emotions in Inside Out is that it’s not clear if they are a part of Riley herself or if they have a caretaker relationship to her similar to that of a parent. Supporting the idea of emotions as sometimes-parents, Joy sometimes shows a sense of pride in Riley’s accomplishments or, when she replays a favorite memory, a nostalgic fondness for time spent “watching Riley grow up” — much closer to a parent than an ego. And like a parent/caretaker/someone who cares deeply for Riley’s wellbeing, Joy (and the other Emotions, even Sadness) hate seeing Riley sad. But it’s this (well-meaning) reluctance or determined resistance toward the idea of seeing someone you love sad that causes damage to that person.

I think that’s an important message — the attitude you hold towards emotions affects mental states. Many mental wellness handbooks start with the important step of learning to validate (acknowledge, non-judgmentally, the presence of) “negative” emotions, like sadness, embarrassment, hatred, jealousy, etc. If we can’t do this, we pathologically disrupt the function and role of sadness.

In conclusion, Inside Out contains an important message about the importance and value of the emotion sadness, by following the viewpoint and mistakes of the main character, Joy, who, with the best of intentions, tries to protect her human Riley from unhappiness, disappointment, or failure. The result of her mistreatment of Sadness, though, is Riley undergoing a severe mental breakdown. Even some of the reactions to this movie indicate a continued assumption that sadness is a “bad” emotion. Hopefully, sadness will continue to be destigmatized and be recognized as a health-promoting emotion.

[1] Of course, they’re based on Ekman’s basic six universal emotions, minus Surprise, so that’s at least one reason behind the choices… but that’s beside the point about how it’s important to question whether these emotions are actually negative!

Movie: The Temptations (1998)

classic5This TV miniseries about the musical group The Temptations premiered on NBC in 1998; it was made based on the autobiography of Otis Williams, who is the lone surviving member of the original Temptations and considered to be the leader of the group (though was never the lead vocal). The Temptations, a black vocals group from Detroit, Michigan, successfully rocketed to the top of the Billboards with Motown Records during the 1960s and 70s. They are known for their sweet harmonies, soulful vocals, and smooth dance steps, and the group earned the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This miniseries The Temptations tells the story (from the viewpoint of Otis Williams) of the group from the early days until the deaths of all of the other core members; it was produced by Otis Williams and The Temptations’ manager of many years, Shelley Berger.

temptationsFor as long as I can remember, I have loved The Temptations for their feel-good and heartfelt tunes, as well as their great group performances. I had always assumed, though, that the five sharply-dressed members that danced and sang wonderfully together in videos I had seen got along with each other as well as they harmonized, and that those five people always equaled The Temptations. However, as shown by this TV miniseries that provides an overview of The Temptations over nearly 50 years, the group members changed a lot over the years and there were tensions along their journey to the Hall of Fame.

Back in the 1950s, The Temptations were formed from two local groups that were struggling to get their names out—“Otis Williams and the Distants” and one of their rivals, “The Primes.” The combination of the two groups was important; The Primes added the dancing component (Paul Williams was the choreographer for many of their performances) as well as Edie Kendricks’s strong tenor voice featured in many of their early tracks, while The Distants had the bassline and Otis Williams was the organizer needed to establish them as a group. The five original voices of The Temptations harmonized beautifully, but they still didn’t see success on the Billboards, and even became known as “The Hitless Temptations.” Frustrated, one of the members, Al Bryant, quit in the 60s and was replaced by David Ruffin, an aspiring singer and a fan of The Temptations. Now with Ruffin, The Temptations released their first Top 20 hit (“The Way You Do the Things You Do”), and later their number-one hit “My Girl” featuring Ruffin’s vocals. These five members are considered the “Classic Five” (the five I had associated with The Temptations). Throughout the 1960s, The Temptations released hit after hit and became internationally known, mainly with David Ruffin as the lead singer.

ruffinHowever, David Ruffin expected more money, wanted the group name to be changed to “David Ruffin & The Temptations” (much like “Diana Ross & The Supremes” or “Smokey Robinson & The Miracles”), increasingly used cocaine, and began missing practices and even some performances. Ruffin was fired in 1968 and replaced with Dennis Edwards. However, on multiple occasions, Ruffin snuck into their performances and hijacked the microphone from Edwards, pleasantly surprising avid fans of the Classic Five who were critical of the new Edwards. It is said that, due to the still strong popularity of David Ruffin, Otis Williams wanted to fire Edwards and bring Ruffin back in, but due to Ruffin’s continued unreliability, Edwards was kept on. Finally, with their Top 10 hit single “Cloud Nine”—which won a Grammy—featuring lead vocals by Dennis Edwards, Edwards was beginning to be accepted as part of The Temptations. In 1989, The Temptations—the Classic Five plus Dennis Edwards—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In the 1970s, two more of the Classic Five—Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks—were also replaced. Paul Williams’s health was declining so was forced to resign, while Eddie Kendricks—unhappy with the direction of The Temptations, his best friend Paul being out of the group, and the control of Otis Williams—decided to go solo. Dennis Edwards, who had replaced David Ruffin, also had ongoing tensions with Otis Williams, and was also replaced in 1976. (This miniseries shows very little about Edwards and his on-and-off participation in The Temptations). Regarding many of their hits from the 1970s, leader Otis Williams commented, “While you hear our voices weaving together so smoothly, we were actually fragmenting.” In the 1980s, The Temptations did a “reunion album,” that featured the more “classic” sound of The Temptations and brought back Ruffin, Kendricks, and Edwards. These three later did their own tour titled “Former Leads of The Temptations.”

When looking at the incredibly talented and influential Temptations over the years, there are a few interesting things I wish to highlight.

ballofconfusionFirst, the adaptation of the group to changing times. The Temptations—initially with a doo-wop, classical Motown sound that mainly sang about love—started incorporating more funk in the late 1960s and early 70s, such as the electronic wah-wah sound featured in “Cloud Nine” and “psychedelic” rhythms. Also, the lyrics began to incorporate the social and political changes that were erupting in the turbulent times of the 1970s, in contrast to their earlier characteristic love ballads. For example, their song “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today),” was about the unknown future and brings up issues such as violence and segregation. This change is also seen with other Motown hits such as Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?”which addresses the Vietnam War over a funky beat. 1990Since then to the present, the contemporary Temptations have incorporated a Eurodance beat characteristic of the 80s, the slow and simple R&B beats of the 90s, and even auto-tunes—which dominates pop music today—in their most recent album. Regarding this adaptation, leader Otis Williams says that the group has to “live in the present while respecting the past.” Also, as an undercurrent in this miniseries, we see the tough transition from segregated America—where The Temptations are considered for “black audiences only”—to integrated America—where black and white people stand together in the crowds.

Second, the tragically young deaths of many of the members. Of the Classic Five, Paul Williams suffered from health issues and alcoholism, and committed suicide at the age of 34; David Ruffin died at the age of 50 from a cocaine overdose; Eddie Kendricks died at the age of 52 due to lung cancer; and Melvin Franklin—the bassist who stayed in The Temptations until right before his death—suffered from many health problems, and died at the age of 52 after a series of seizures. Al Bryant of the original five died at the age of 36 from a liver disease. Otis Williams (74 years old now) is the only surviving member of the original or Classic Five. Also, Roger Penzabene, the songwriter who wrote their hits “I Wish It Would Rain” and “I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)” based on his own heartbreak, committed suicide. Life as an artist can be mentally and physically exhausting, and so many incredibly talented people die young. (27 Club)

Lastly, what really makes “The Temptations”? There is a musical group called The Temptations that is still active today, and it is still led by Otis Williams—who never had lead or distinctive vocals in any of The Temptations’ many hits. The tagline of The Temptations today is “55 Years & Still Going Strong,” and Otis Williams says that “reinvention is the name of the game.” The lineup has changed several more times over the years, and even some of these newer members have gone off and created their own Temptations splinter groups. Dennis Edwards—the original replacement for David Ruffin of the Classic Five, and the only other surviving of the six members that were inaugurated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—has his own group, The Temptations Revue. Over the years, there have been 24 people who were at least for some time considered a Temptation. As Eddie Kendricks aptly says in the dramatized miniseries when he quits The Temptations, “There’s getting to be more ex-Temptations than Temptations.” Interestingly, with the members being replaced one after another, none of the current members of The Temptations have worked with any of the original Temptations other than Otis Williams. Because of this and the gradual change in sound over the years, the original name of “Otis Williams and The Distants” seems more appropriate now. It seems that Otis Williams is clinging onto the name because of all of the respect there is for The Temptations.

Since this miniseries is based on Otis Williams’s autobiography, it is certainly biased, especially regarding the positive leadership of Otis Williams and the tensions between group members. Several people, including Otis Williams’s ex-wife and David Ruffin’s family, filed lawsuits against the miniseries for the negative and biased representation of characters, but the court ruled in favor of the defendants. Otis Williams also claimed that, although it was based on his autobiography and he is considered to be a producer, he did not have much say on how things were presented.

standing-in-the-shadow-of-motownThis miniseries, though biased, gives a good overview of the fascinating, yet turbulent history of the incredible musical group The Temptations. Watching this miniseries in combination with Standing in the Shadows of Motown—a documentary that sheds light on the Funk Brothers, the incredibly talented, but overlooked back band of many of The Temptations’ hits as well as many other Motown classics—and Get Ready: Definitive Performances—which is a collection of recordings of live performances by The Temptations during the 1960s and 70s that shows the charm of their actual dancing and stylish suits—is truly inspiring as well as informative regarding the amazing impact these musicians had on modern music.

Sakuranbo