Newsletter Entry #4 - Narrative Analysis

Building off of the stylistic choices that place viewers into Riley's struggles, Inside Out 2 continues to build off the discussion of mental health through its narrative structure by ultimately exploring that anxiety is not something that can be defeated. Like most movies, Inside Out 2, sticks to the normal three-act structure. However, unlike the first Inside Out where there was no villain, Inside Out 2 introduces Anxiety as the antagonist who thinks she's bringing peace but brings chaos instead. The first part of the movie sets up the disruption as the existing emotions from the first film are essentially pushed to the side to make room for Anxiety and the other new emotions. The second act introduces us to the rising conflict as Anxiety begins to take full control of all of Riley’s decisions leading her to believe she must impress her hockey teammates. This leads to the main conflict during Riley’s tryouts where the pressure becomes too much and causes her to have an anxiety attack. Finally, the conclusion of the movie resolves the conflict by not eliminating anxiety but by accepting her as an emotion that can’t be gotten rid of.

One of the biggest storytelling choices that Pixar makes in Inside Out 2 is how it presents the conflict. Unlike typical animated films that have fast-paced action-packed scenes during the climax such as The Incredibles, Inside Out 2 creates an internal conflict for Riley through her personified emotions. The first Inside Out avoids a traditional villain, and centers the conflict between Joy and Sadness. However, Inside Out 2 introduces us to Anxiety who ultimately works against joy thinking that she is helping when things are only getting worse with her. This is seen as Anxiety repeatedly says she's trying to help Riley throughout the film. This continues into the second act as Anxiety continues to gain influence as Riley tries to impress her hockey teammates and experiences an anxiety attack which is where the narrative and stylistic choices play a large role in pulling viewers into her emotional battle.

Instead of having a traditional conflict resolution where the villain or source of the conflict is defeated, Inside Out 2 gives Riley a more realistic resolution. In many animated films, the protagonist experiences hardship and the film concludes with order being restored. However, Riley never gets rid of Anxiety but her emotions learn to work with anxiety and prevent her from taking over. Pixar uses this premise as a way to show that all emotions serve a purpose in making up who we are and raising conversation about mental health. Inside Out 2 uses these emotions to ultimately show that even emotions that we consider as bad have a purpose and we can never truly eliminate these negative emotions but can control them.