Most modern media leaves me rather bored, confused, disgusted (bathroom humor is not an art form, thank you very much!), or in danger of neuronal apoptosis, but occasionally I stumble across something worth watching, not just once, but again and again. This applies especially to much of the animated fare coming out of the major studios, each one is exactly the same story, just with a different species as the main character and a slightly different setting. Occasionally they do produce a gem worth watching however, and 'Inside Out' is just such a movie, and yes, I am well behind the curve, it has been out for several years and I only watched it the other day. What did they do right? They told a story worth telling, whereas most such movies are stories for story's sake, this is a story with a great big important point that our society and culture desperately need: life is not all about being happy all the time, people and their thoughts/emotions/behavior are complex and multifaceted, and if we overlook or forget that, we fall apart.
Reacting to our feelings, letting our immediate emotional responses determine our behavior, especially when many of us hardly have any control or understanding of why we react the way we do, is like letting your toddler drive because he's really excited about it and just knows he can. But that is so normal in our society we hardly think about it. We vote emotionally. We shop emotionally. We date emotionally. We eat emotionally. We write horrible things on social media emotionally. Even our educational, legislative, and justice systems are now driven by emotion. The facts don't matter, the truth is relative, it is all about how it makes us feel and our immediate reaction thereto. We are so much a part of 'the mob' that we are losing our individuality. Our loves, our hopes, our fears, our hates, our desires are all dictated by what 'they' think is appropriate, good, bad. They being the media, the culture, our friends, our peers, etc.
But why? That's the beautiful thing about this story, there comes a 'hitch in the giddy-up' forcing us all to ask, why? Why the anger, the silence, the pain? What's the point? What are the consequences? Why can't we all just be happy? There can't be a place for sadness in a healthy life, can there? While almost every other modern story tells us to 'follow our dreams and be happy all the time,' this one pauses to ask, 'can we?' And the truth is, no, we can't. Sorrow is as much a part of life as joy, grief clouds all our happiest days, and if it doesn't, we probably have some serious emotional soul searching and healing to do. This movie acknowledges that and asks us to ask those questions of ourselves. And that is hugely countercultural. And very refreshing.
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