Dasha Tatarkova

premiered last week Pixar's new feature-length cartoon Inside Out, which broke all the studio's box office records both in Russia and abroad in its first weekend at the box office. And it's not just that Pixar is better than others at hitting the sick and squeezing tears out of the audience. "Puzzle" conveys a seemingly simple, but often hushed up idea: to be happy, it is not at all necessary to experience only joy all the time.

The heroine of "Inside Out" Riley is not a princess or a fairy tale character. Riley is eleven, an only child, and loves hockey and her friends. In general, a happy girl whom her parents try to bring up in love and protect from gender stereotypes. The problems begin when she has to move to San Francisco, a monstrous city from Riley's point of view: pizza here with broccoli, lakes, if any, will certainly not freeze in winter, and dark streets are nothing like the green expanses of Minnesota, to which she is used to. Any radical change in adolescence is perceived acutely, and even more so such an event as a move. Dad's problems at work, difficulties with the arrangement and the new school do their job - Riley closes in on himself, and then decides to run away altogether.

The events in Riley's life are just the tip of the iceberg, the main action of the cartoon takes place in her head. The main characters are actually the girl's emotions, symbolizing her inner world and all those psychological processes that lurk somewhere in her head. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear are literally behind the remote control of the girl's life, periodically transferring control to each other depending on the situation. Director and screenwriter Pete Docter says these five emotions are a representative sample of the entire emotional spectrum of a person. When writing the script, Docter consulted psychologists all the time, and Riley was based on his own daughter, who had grown up during the making of the film.

Riley's emotions learn to exist
with a friend as a partner, because it's normal to be sad and cry

At the same time that Riley's relationship with her parents deteriorates in reality, a mini-disaster occurs in her inner world - Joy and Sadness are temporarily far from their place of work. In addition, part of the cheerful memories that Joy juggles to support the girl in difficult times become sad when Sadness touches them. At the same time, the latter seems to have no place in the life of the hostess - Joy has usurped control of Riley's life. This does not lead to anything good, because there are no unnecessary emotions, and if you reject any for too long, you can run into unhealthy consequences.

As shown by a fleeting visit to the heads of parents, where their emotions also live (but how else), behind the imaginary remote control of each person, one of them will always be the main one. If Riley has Joy, then her mother has Sadness, and her father has Anger. This does not mean that her parents are either crying or screaming, rather, this is a metaphorical image of the temperament of a person in general. Based on this, the girl's mother asks her usually cheerful daughter to support the family in a difficult period and not to fall apart - to smile "for the sake of dad." Even a normally easy-going person will be pulled to the ground by such a duty - what can we say about an 11-year-old child, on whose shoulders a heavy load suddenly fell. Riley's parents find themselves in a trap that our culture still lives in: smile no matter what happens, and then everything will be fine, and if you feel bad, then most likely something is fundamentally wrong with you.

The tyranny of Joy, fortunately, is not eternal. The audience and characters of Inside Out are gradually beginning to understand that for a balanced life, regardless of temperament, all emotions are needed, even if one of them makes you cry. All Pixar cartoons work to evoke the maximum emotional response from the viewer, and in Inside Out the whole general line is devoted to this process. Riley's emotions learn to exist with each other as partners, and the viewer tries the situation on himself, realizing that it's normal to be sad.

Adults watch Pixar cartoons almost more than children, who are not yet able to appreciate Amy Poehler as Joy, a moment of complete cartoon deconstruction, or all the comedy of an imaginary boyfriend ("I'll die for Riley!"). In this ability to please absolutely everyone lies the great and difficult to repeat success of the studio. The general paradigm of the entertainment industry is that everyone needs to be entertained all the time, not letting them catch their breath. One can only guess how important a lesson against this background is taught by a cartoon about the naturalness of sadness. "Puzzle" allows children to feel that they are not alone on this difficult path.

Riley's sadness helps her learn to cope with difficult events, not to close in on herself, but to seek support from loved ones. Sadness teaches her to appreciate more what she already has and highlights truly joyful moments; it helps her to empathize with others, evolving into empathy. The vulnerability discovered through Sorrow makes the main character closer to her parents and helps her better understand her own inner world.

The events of "Inside Out" take place on the eve of Riley's puberty, so there is no question of omnipotent hormones here, and the heroine's emotional decline does not go so far as to call her state of depression. The creators, however, make it clear that even the most cheerful people can get themselves into this situation if they never give themselves the time and space to grieve and simply allow themselves to feel what they feel. Inside Out co-creator Jonas Riviera says part of the film is about "you can't be eight forever." Emotional maturation is inevitable, and it will not be superfluous to remind both parents and children of this. Part of this process is accepting your nature and your emotions. If we do not forget about this, then perhaps we will all, although not happier, but in a general sense, be happier.

From time to time, films appear on the screens of cinemas that leave an indelible impression on the audience and then do not go out of memory for a long time. Pixar's new cartoon, Inside Out, is one of those.

Inside Out focuses on a young girl, Riley, whose life changes dramatically after her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. Viewers of the film are brought into Riley's head and shown what emotions guide her as the action unfolds: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust.

In this post I have collected the most interesting facts about the cartoon.

1. Director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera have previously worked on the studio's other film, Up, and they know exactly which buttons to press to make the viewer feel emotional.
2. The plot of the film is based on the idea of ​​director Pete Docter. He was interested to understand why people giggle for no reason or hum a bored tune under their breath.
3. Joy - Riley's main emotion - is originally voiced by Amy Poehler, an American comedian, screenwriter and actress. In the Russian dubbing, Joy was voiced by the singer Natalie.
4. In the original, comedian Bill Hader (Orville Adam “Bill” Hader) voiced Fear, Anger was voiced by stand-up comedian Lewis Black, Sorrow was voiced by actress Phyllis Smith, and Disgust was voiced by comedian and actress Mindy Kaling. . Phyllis Smith and Mindy Kaling are familiar to many viewers from the famous American TV series The Office. In the Russian version, Vladimir Epifantsev, Dmitry Nagiev, Olesya Zheleznyak and Ksenia Sobchak gave their voices to the voice acting.
5. Rashida Jones of Parks and Recreation makes a small cameo appearance. She voices the emotions of the tough girl in Riley's class.
6. Kyle MacLachlan, best known for his role as Agent Cooper on Twin Peaks, voiced Riley's dad in the original.
7. When Mindy Kaling was shown the script, she shed a tear. She commented, "I think it's great that you decided to make a movie about growing up being hard and there's nothing wrong with being sad about it."
8. To make the structure of the little girl's emotions more believable, Pixar consulted with neuroscientists, child psychologists and psychiatrists. The studio changed elements of the film more than once and even abandoned one of the intended characters.

   

9. Initially, 27 emotions were conceived in Riley's head: Logic, Reason, Pride, Love, Hope, Schadenfreude ("Schadenfreude" is a German word that means joy when others are hurt, a kind of gloating). Surprise deserves special mention. As planned, he (Surprise) was supposed to scream in surprise when someone opened his mouth, but the filmmakers abandoned him.
10. They originally wanted to call Joy "Optimism", but then director Pete Docter discovered that optimism is not an emotion.
11. In the original version of the script, Joy and Fear were to return to Headquarters.
12. Young Riley's experiences and emotions are based on the film's director's daughter, Ellie. She already has experience in voice acting. Ellie, she gave her voice to the little namesake from the cartoon "Up" (2009). Pete Docter began to notice that she used to be active and cheerful, but as she grew older she became quiet and closed.
13. The soundtrack for the film was composed by Michael Giacchino. This is Michael's fifth collaboration with Pixar, having previously worked on Up, Cars 2, Ratatouille and The Incredibles.
14. The film was announced in 2011 as The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind.
15. The teaser for Inside Out featured pieces from every Pixar cartoon except Cars 2 and Toy Story 2.
16. Before every cartoon from Pixar on the wide screen there is a short film. This time, the short from the makers of Toy Story and Brave is about the love between two volcanoes, Uku and Lele. Unusual.
17. In the US version of the trailer for the movie, the emotions in Riley's dad's head are watching hockey. In the English version of the trailer, they are watching football.
18. Emotion design is based on a specific shape. Joy is based on a star, Sadness is based on a tear, Fear is like a nerve, Anger is like a brick, and Disgust is based on broccoli.
19. Frank Oz and Dave Goelz voiced guards Frank and Dave in Riley's subconscious. Sami Frank and Dave are veterans of The Muppets puppet show.
20. In the film, the rink where Riley plays hockey is located on the site of the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.

    

    

21. In Riley's flashback spheres, scenes from "Up" can be seen, specifically scenes from Carl and Ellie's life together.
22. According to director Pete Docter, the hardest part of working on Inside Out was creating a new and original world.
23. In one of the memory spheres, little Riley can be seen riding the children's slide. The same slide was in the cartoon "Toy Story 3" (Toy Story 3) in the kindergarten "Sun".
24. Work on the "Puzzle" lasted 5 years.
25. During a family move to San Francisco, the adorable birds from Pixar's popular short film "For the Birds" can be seen on the wires.
26. In early versions of the script, Riley got into her own head and got to know her emotions.
27. Riley's last name, Anderson, is borrowed from Pixar employee Darla Anderson and Toy Story 3 character Bonnie Anderson.
28. Riley's father works for a company under the strange name "Brang". The writers at Pixar thought that this could be the name of another startup in San Francisco.
29. In Imaginationland, you can see a blue box with a clown fish and the words "Find me" written on it. An obvious reference to Nemo from Finding Nemo.
    
30. The characters of the five emotions were inspired by the seven dwarfs from the fairy tale about Snow White.
31. There's a scene in the movie where the family is sitting around the table, Riley's dad is thinking about hockey, and all of a sudden the wife asks, "Isn't that right, honey?" to get his attention. According to the director, this scene often happens in his life.
32. In scenes in Minnesota, Riley is almost always between her father and mother. In the San Francisco scenes, this happens much less frequently. Such a contrast shows that the family has a difficult period in life.
33. In Riley's imagination, Minnesota is always bright and colorful, while San Francisco is dull and faded.
34. The hardest part was animating Joy's large and expressive eyes.
35. Inside Out is Pixar's fifteenth film and the studio's potential fifteenth blockbuster.
36. The bassist of the famous rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea (Flea) voiced the cop Mike in Riley's subconscious.
37. According to director Pete Docter, the character of Sadness came to his mind when he went for a walk and his thoughts flowed to the dark side. It seemed to him that he could be fired and he thought about how he would miss his friends and colleagues. Then he realized what role Sadness should play in the film and that Joy should understand that sometimes succumbing to sadness is not so bad.
38. Pete Docter voiced the Anger in Riley's father's head.
39. Phyllis Smith was brought in to voice Sadness after producer Jonas Rivera saw her play in a Cameron Diaz film, Bad Teacher.
40. The Blu-ray edition of Inside Out will include a featurette titled "Riley's First Date".
41. Trying to convey the movement of emotion in space, Pixar animators depicted them as moving particles of energy. When emotions move, you can see small flying particles.
42. When director Pete Docter was asked why Riley's imaginary friend Bingo Bongo is made of cotton candy, he replied, "Because I like cotton candy."
43. At first, Disgust had a purple dress and long hair. In the early stages, she was even conceived as a male character.
44. Based on the film, there is a game called "Puzzle: Balls for Rollers", available in Russian in

She is 11 years old, and she does not want to hear from anyone that this is the most beautiful age in life. Why does Riley, the heroine of Inside Out, forego the joys of childhood to immerse herself in the sorrows of adolescence? What's going on in her head? How are emotions born and developed? How is memory organized and what role do memories play in our psyche? This is exactly what the new Disney / Pixar film is about. “For the starting point, I took the moment of the loss of childish carelessness: in my opinion, this is a real tragedy. As we grow older, we lose something very important. We all feel this: adults - because they are able to experience empathy for themselves-child, and teenagers - because they are living this loss. When I saw Ellie, my cheerful and sociable daughter, withdraw into herself, I wondered what was happening to her, what was going on inside her. This film was born from my questions, from my attempts to find answers, from my desire to keep in touch with her and see her happy,” says director Pete Docter, who worked on this project for 5 years.

Based on his reading of the classic texts of Freud, Jung, the latest research in neuroscience and psychology, and consultations with emotion specialist Paul Ekman, Pete Docter and his film crew created their own map of the brain universe. “I wanted to explore the essential rather than the physiological side of its functioning,” explains the director.

All disciplines - neuroscience, psychoanalysis, cognitive and behavioral psychology - work to create a holistic vision of our mental space. Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust - the five emotions that rule Riley's life - are embodied in amusing characters with the same names, who walk through a world full of dangers, painted in purple tones. Circle roads lead them to secret corners: the zone of abstract thinking turns you into a flat, broken drawing by a cubist artist; in the film studio "World of Dreams" posters of the movie "I Can Fly" hang on the walls, and a rainbow unicorn reads a newspaper. Forgetting is an abyss, long-term memory is a game of Candy Crush in acid colors, Imaginary Friend is a pink elephant with a tail like a raccoon. The unconscious shows its fantastic pictures in the form of vague shadows. The train ride (the materialization of the "train of thought" metaphor) is reminiscent of Miyazaki's Journey of Chihiro and Dali's surrealistic worlds, while the landscapes passing by are reminiscent of Tanga's paintings.

Perhaps it is this creative and scientific madness of production designer Ralph Eggleston (Ralph Eggleston) - the reason why the viewer is so enthusiastically immersed in this adventure, in comparison with which reality seems insipid. Pete Docter, too, of course, had a hand in this amazing space. His entire filmography reflects the attraction to parallel worlds - whether it's the world of toys in Toy Story, the sky in the movie Up, nightmares in Monsters, Inc. His real life is what happens somewhere else. In this case, within us.

1. The five emotions that drive us

Why are only five emotions chosen, while researcher Paul Ekman lists six primary emotions? For greater coherence, for the sake of the plot of the story, so as not to “lose” the viewer, and most importantly, so as not to move too far from scientific reality, Pete Docter assures. Riley's inner world lacks surprise: "We removed this emotion because it was too close to Fear, and the characters would have turned out to be similar in their properties." So the girl is driven by five emotions that determine her mood, behavior and relationships with people.

2. When Anger Takes Control

“We wanted to show what emotions do for us, what their role is,” says Ronnie Del Carmen, animation director. - But there is a difference between an emotion as such and what you do with it when you experience it. You may seethe with hidden anger. Therefore, we had to clearly distinguish emotion from its external manifestation. It was necessary to emphasize the explosive nature of Wrath. The animators presented it as a red rectangle, which symbolizes the density, heat and strength of this emotion. There are flames above his head, because he is ready to burn everything in his path, make him lose control of himself, and also burn you from the inside when you suppress him.

3. Ball of memories

Joy stood at the control panel in front of the Brain Control Center (and next to her were her partners, Fear, Sadness, Disgust and Anger). She shows a happy flashback of Riley skating while holding her parents' hands. But nostalgia approaches, and Sadness threatens the girl: she has just left her native Midwest and moved to San Francisco. The gray city walls suppress it.

4. Before the islands of personality

Five emotion characters watch the islands that make up Riley's personality structure: Friendship, Family, Honesty, Hockey (synonymous with self-confidence, because the girl is into it and collects prizes), and Mischief. But Riley's balance is in jeopardy: at the beginning of the film, the islands shine with lights, but gradually crack and are about to collapse completely.

5. On the edge of the abyss of the Unconscious

Joy and Sadness got lost in the back alleys of Riley's brain. They will have to find their way through long-term memory, where the storehouse of memories is located. Each memory is a ball painted with the emotion associated with it (yellow - Joy, blue - Sadness, green - Disgust...). Under the feet of Joy and Sorrow hides the Unconscious, our inner poetic theater brilliantly portrayed by Ralph Eggleston. It was inspired by the English artist David Hockney with his multi-coloured sets for Puccini's Turandot and Francis Ford Coppola's From the Heart (1982), where the masterly use of scenery, lighting and visual effects transforms reality.

The main characters in the cartoon "Inside Out" will be the emotions of the girl Riley (we will also be shown the emotions of other people, but Riley's emotions will be the most important). This cartoon as a whole will be devoted to the role of emotions in our lives, how important they are and how they can be controlled.

Joy
Joy's main goal is for Riley to remain happy in any situation. She is carefree, optimistic, and determined to find the good in any situation. Joy sees opportunities in Riley's life challenges (to learn something new, to change for the better...), she believes that all paths lead to something better. As long as Riley is happy, Joy is happy.

Fear
Fear is responsible for Riley's safety. He always studies the situation for potential dangers and threats. There are very few activities in Riley's life that Fear considers safe and non-fatal.

Anger
Anger wholeheartedly stands up for justice in everything that concerns Riley. He has a short temper and can literally catch fire when things don't go according to plan. Sometimes he reacts too quickly and he does not have an iota of patience.

disgust
Disgust is very stubborn, very honest and helps Riley avoid poisoning, both physical and "social". She has control over the people, places and things that Riley comes into contact with - whether it's broccoli on pizza or last year's fashion. Disgust always acts with the best of intentions and holds the bar of its standards very high.

sadness
None of the other emotions fully understand what role Sadness plays and why it is needed. Sadness would like to help others make Riley happy too, but she has a hard time thinking positively. Sometimes she likes to just lie on the floor and cry properly.

All children grow up, grow up, but parents do not want to notice that their beloved children are no longer such small children, and they have their own interests and desires. So the heroine of the cartoon "Riley's First Date", the girl we already met in the movie "Inside Out", had a period of growing up when she was no longer interested in toys, and a new hobby appeared - playing the guitar. And today she warned that she would go to the skating rink, without her parents, and that her friends would come after her. Well, adults didn’t expect to see on the threshold of the house not the daughter’s cute girlfriends with whom she would ride, but an eccentric curly-haired boy in a cap named Jordan.

Here the father of the family, calm Billy, all the emotions started up, escalated. What was going on in dad's head, how all thoughts behaved! He began to find out everything about the boy, his desires, his hobbies. The parents were not at all ready for the growing up of their beloved daughter, and the thought that Riley might have a boyfriend generally shocked them. So how will their girl's walk with an unknown guy end? True, the parents' fears were completely in vain, because they still have to go through Riley's real first date!
Genre: Cartoons , Movies 2015

Watch Riley's First Date (2015) online for free in good quality.