Inside Out 2

Inside Out was one of the most impactful Disney/Pixar movies to date. Lately they have been falling flat, not just in quality but in marketing. However because of the success of the first movie they seemed to put a lot more effort in the promotion of Inside Out 2. I am a big advocate for coming of age stories for young women because there simply aren’t a lot of them. So I was personally excited for this movie. Let’s see if it meets expectations.

A second movie where Riley is a teenager was a genius idea. So much changes especially for young women from adolescence to the teenage years and documenting that with new emotions was really smart.

Having friendship island just dwarf family island was correct. Once you turn 13 friends become so much more important and they are so integral to how we grow up. Details like this are why Pixar movies are so incredible.

The introduction of Riley’s belief system was great, because what happens as you grow up? You start to become a person with thoughts and opinions and those things help inform all of your decisions. God these movies are so important to show kids as they are going through things. I can’t imagine how much easier things would have been if we actually understood what puberty felt like. These movies should now be required viewing in all age appropriate health classes.

I know there was a lot of speculation about Riley’s sexuality after this one came out, which also got a lot of backlash. To anyone saying “keep sexuality out of a kids movie” kindly go fuck yourselves, I was definetley bisexual growing up and I couldn’t admit that to myself till I was 22 years old. Again, if I had had this movie maybe I wouldn’t have hated myself and tried to die 3 times before I turned 20. The anxiety she feels when she talks to Val isn’t just anxiety, it is gay panic. Riley absolutely feels 13 year old attraction to this girl. And I have talked to many of my gay friends about this, being bisexual through puberty is so much more complicated than realizing your gay or just having a crush. Because we already feel confused and everyone is telling us we’re just confused and everything is on fire and it's terrible.

“If I’m good at hockey I’ll have friends”...wow. Anxiety is tying her sense of self to being good at something. This movie feels very pointed at me. These coming of age stories are very well done, they are a little too real.

Riley’s sense of self now being that she isn’t good enough is actually devastating. Being a teenager is so damn hard. I’m not sure what age people forget that, but being a teenager sucks. You are so full of hormones, nothing makes sense, you aren’t in control of anything and there is a lot of crying. It’s terrible.

Inside Out 2 was an incredibly accurate depiction of what it feels like to grow up. This movie is so important it really should be required viewing in 8th grade health. From the introduction of anxiety to the end where her emotions overwhelm her. It was front to back a perfect depiction of how puberty feels. These coming of age movies hit super close to home because the last 2 or 3 years we have actually gotten a lot of young women coming of age stories and I remember it all too well. 10/10 the movie will obviously be nominated for the best animated film Oscar.