Inside Out

Inside Out

Pixar Animation Studios

Film released 2015

Directors: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen

Writers: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, and a couple other peeps

Starring: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias

Rated: PG

SPOILER WARNING! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK! SERIOUSLY! ALL THE SPOILS!

Grade: 5/5

I’m back! Did ya miss me? Well, I missed you. Where else am I supposed to channel all of my suppressed inner queer child feels? Speaking of feels (perfect segue?)…let’s take a big queer look at Pixar’s newest installment in their hopelessly lost and miraculously found series: Inside Out!

If you live in a box in the middle of nowhere, then you probably don’t know what the movie is about. I’m here to help all the poor queer misanthropes out there.

Our story begins with Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), a happy little girl who lives in Minnesota, loves hockey, her family, her friends, and lives a pretty darn joyful tomboy life. 

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Cue the actual subject matter of the movie: Riley’s inner emotional life, literally. Pixar introduces us to Riley’s emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). Joy is the ruler of Riley-land and she’s loving life bossing around the other emotions and making sure Riley stays – you guessed it – joyful. 

Left to right: Anger, Disgust, Joy, Fear, Sadness

That is until Riley’s parents decide to uproot and move to San Francisco for Dad’s new job with a startup. The move throws Riley’s emotions totally out of whack and Sadness starts to challenge Joy’s chiefdom, which she does not take sitting down. When Sadness touches a core memory (I would explain this but it’s complicated and you should just watch the movie dumdum) and it turns from a joyful memory to a sad memory about missing her old life in Minnesota, chaos ensues leading to Joy and Sadness getting accidentally ejected from headquarters and they end up between the shelves of Riley’s long term memories. Riley is left without the ability to feel either Joy or Sadness and Anger, Disgust, and Fear can’t hold down the fort. Joy and Sadness meet Riley’s old imaginary friend, the awesome BingBong, and try their darnedest to get back to headquarters before Riley runs away from home! 

They can't tell I'm running away to a spoken word open mic, can they?

Okay, whew, that’s the basic plot. Let’s get into the queer stuff.

First! Major points for female representation! We have not one, not two, but THREE female protagonists (depending on how you categorize protagonist in this movie)! We’ve got Riley herself, Joy, AND Sadness all presenting as female. This movie is only Pixar’s second with a female protagonist (Brave was the first, duh) and they’re going whole hog this time a-round. Despite most of the story and writing team being almost entirely male (ugh, Pixar, get with the program already), the female characters are complex, well-imagined, and all around relatable depictions of women. You go Pixar!

Second. There’s been a lot of internet talk about how gender factors into the movie. We get a sneak peak at some of the emotional inner life of the other characters in the movie (primarily Mom and Dad, but there are a ton of others too) and the genders of everyone’s five primary emotions seem to align with the characters' genders, except for Riley’s. For Riley, Joy, Sadness, and Disgust are female while Anger and Fear are both male. People have taken to the internet to discuss what this means. Is Riley trans? Queer? Genderfluid? Genderqueer? Non-binary? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!? Well, I hate to burst your hopeful little queer bubble but here’s a quote on the topic from the one and only Mr. Director Pete Docter, courtesy of the IMDB trivia page:

When asked about the genders of the emotions, Pete Docter said, "It was intuitive. It felt to me like Anger's very masculine, I don't know why ... Sadness felt a little more feminine and Mindy Kaling as Disgust felt right ... with Mom and Dad, we skewed them all male and all female for a quick read, because you have to understand where we are, which is a little phony but hopefully people don't mind!"

Womp womp womp...But I still think there is hope! Docter is basically saying that he only made everyone else's emotions one gender because of exposition...But I think it’s actually way more nuanced than that, even if he doesn't know it. But I don't completely agree with the discussions happening online either.

Disclaimer: This opinion is mine and mine alone as a cis gender woman who does not have a mental illness. Please feel free to chime in with your opinion if you disagree with the following theory. 

That said, here’s my take:

I have found that my gender identity is not at all tied up in my emotional life. My emotions have a much stronger connection to my gender expression rather than my identity. I am and always will be a tomboy. I am happiest when I get to live comfortably within that expression. I am unhappy when I’m forced out of that comfort zone and, for example, am forced to wear a dress, skirt, or anything like that. Gender identity and gender expression are two totally different things. I am a woman but I tend to wear mens clothing. That doesn’t make me trans*, that makes me a tomboy, as per my personal preference for that label. I am a female and I am a tomboy. That identity and that expression are not contradictory or in conflict, they actually compliment each other quite nicely. I think that the genders of Riley’s emotions represent femininity vs masculinity instead of female versus male. Riley’s emotions are personifications of concepts and concepts inherently have no gender. They are actually genderless (so they are actually, technically non-binary). But they present as either feminine or masculine. Rather than her emotions representing Riley’s gender identity, I think they are a manifestation of her gender expression, aligning with her clearly identifiable tomboy proclivities. Riley is a girl with a slightly masculine expression, that’s why 2/5 of her emotions present as masculine. As for the other characters, their emotions’ gender ratios align with their gender expressions. Mom dresses femininely and her emotions are all female presenting; dad dresses masculinely and his emotions are all male presenting. This idea applies to all the characters whose emotions are shown, even the dog!

Okay, there’s a lot to unravel in there. I’m gonna leave it at that for now cause I could write a thesis on that topic alone.

Moving on. This is a big one: mental health. This movie is basically a giant PSA for kids that growing up is hard and it’s okay to feel your feelings, even when you are sad, or mad, or happy, or scared, or disgusted, and that KIDS’ FEELINGS ARE LEGITIMATE. So often kids’ emotions are disregarded because young people are just that, young. But young people are also people with rich inner emotional lives. And because kids are also people with these huge inner emotional lives, they also need to take care of their mental health, the same way adults should. Riley can’t function properly or process the huge change that is going on in her life because she can’t feel either Joy or Sadness. Both are equally important. And Joy’s journey throughout the movie, coming to accept that Sadness is a necessary part of Riley’s emotions is SO IMPORTANT. Everyone needs a good cry every once in a while, am I right? This movie is putting mental health front and center in an incredibly accessible way. I really hope this helps kids who are depressed and have serious mental health issues identify what is happening to them and get them to seek help, knowing that it’s okay to talk openly about their feelings.

You're future looks...sad

And last but certainly not least, THEY MADE A TASTEFUL EXPLICIT GAY JOKE! I can’t remember the exact quote but Fear says something about being scared of bears attacking Riley, and the other emotions are like, “there aren’t any bears in San Fransisco,” and Anger says that he saw a bear walking down the street earlier and I almost died of shock/happiness/laughter. This joke was 1) hilarious, 2) super casual and nbd, and 3) AN EXPLICIT GAY JOKE IN THE MIDDLE OF A HUGELY GROSSING PIXAR MOVIE THAT MILLIONS OF KIDS ARE SEEING AROUND THE WORLD! This. Is. Huge. And while the joke will most likely go over most kids' heads, parents will certainly catch it and that’s enough for me. One small step for gays, one giant leap for gay-kind.

MVQ: BingBong. He’s my hero. Also, his flying wagon is powered by rainbows, which is just the best thing Pixar has ever thought up.

BingBong BingBong

OTP: Joy and Sadness. The perfect yin-yang. They’d make a well-balanced couple, maybe?

Favorite Moment: I lol’ed so hard when Sadness, Joy, and BingBong were in the abstract thought chamber. That was some seriously funny intellectual humor and I’m a total sucker for nerdy stuff like that. I’m really glad they put that in a kid’s film.

Brave

Brave

Pixar Animation Studios

Film released 2012

Directors: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell

Writer: Brenda Chapman, Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Irene Mecchi

Starring: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson

Rated: PG

Grade: 3/5

I was in Scotland all last week so it felt appropriate to take a look at Pixar’s BRAVE!

 

SO MANY SHEEP

Guys, this came out in 2012. How crazy is that?!? Pixar’s first and only (up until this summer’s release of Inside Out) female-led film. I love you Pixar, but you really need to get better with the whole representation thing…

Anyway, so this movie…I’m curious what other people have to say about this one. I wish it was my favourite Pixar movie, truly I do. But, it’s just not. That’s not to say that it’s a bad movie. By all standards, it’s a good movie. The animation is gorgeous (as always) 

Now how do I get back down....

and Merida is such a rebellious bad-ass. But it’s not great. And I don’t expect anything less than greatness (in terms of storytelling) from Pixar. It’s good, but it’s not as good as you want it to be. I’ve been trying to pin point why I feel this way, and I’ve maybe found an answer. Let’s start at the beginning.

I love the first part of this movie. It’s super feminist and interesting and queer and breaks all kinds of stereotypes. You’ve got this mother/daughter thing, dealing with the old versus the new. Merida is this adventurous, tomboy teen (although I wish she didn’t always have to wear dresses, that would have bothered me as a kid) who goes around shooting stuff with her bow and arrow, climbing mountains on her horse, drinking from the waterfall of fire, and generally kicking major ass. 

I'm ginger and I know it

Her mother, on the other hand, is steeped in the tradition of her people, although she definitely has her own moments of queerness. Here’s where they differ: Merida is all about freedom and adventure and expressing herself with her curly ginger locks blowing in the gales, while her mother channels those same impulses through the strictures of her tradition. She adheres to the normative code of what princesses and queens should and should not do and tries to confine Merida to those rules. Momma queen is able to take those rules in stride and totally dominate within that world. The mother/daughter feud that springs from their old versus new ways is the common struggle of the generations, particularly between generations of activists. Think Act Up Fight AIDS and their aggressive campaigns versus today’s Marriage Equality movement which wages its battle through politics and policy pushing. It’s not a perfect parallel, but I think you get the idea.

Merida, the patriarchy is everywhere, there is no escape

THEN we get to the whole heteronormative marriage tournament thing. I really love the visual metaphor here of her hair getting covered up by that weird hood thing she has to wear with her confining fancy dress, and she keeps pulling one tiny ringlet of ginger curl out from under it even though her mother keeps tucking it back. Brava, Pixar. 

BO-RINGLET

Strong metaphor for Merida’s personal expression and individuality. The tournament itself is your typical patriarchal BS, but then Merida wins her own hand through a sneaky loophole and some insane archery skills. WHICH IS SO AWESOME AND FEMINIST AND I WISH THIS MOVIE CAME OUT WHEN I WAS A KID!

And then the movie gets eh…

The bear doesn't like its own plot twist #meta

Merida gets mad at her mom and tries to find the Will of the Whisps (magic stuff) to get her to understand where she is coming from. And then she accidentally turns her mom into a bear…While she does visit a witch-ish character, that just doesn’t really make up for how much I dislike this plot “twist.”

From a storytelling perspective, I just don’t think they introduced the magical aspects of the world very well. And they completely drop the really interesting feminist/queer stuff in lieu of this bear-transforming thing that happens. The plot had so much potential! And they just drop it all because they want to do this weird mother/daughter oops I turned you into a bear and now we need to undo the thing that I did so you can be human again plot. Ugh, boring. Do any Pixar movies even explore father/son relationships? No, I don’t think so. (Well, they kind of do in Finding Nemo but that still manages to be an awesome adventure story and Nemo and Marlin are barely on screen together.)

If Pixar had chosen to do a different Viking film with a male protagonist, he would have been going on adventures and doing cool Viking stuff, not turning his mom into a bear and then trying to undo that mistake. That’s probably why How To Train Your Dragon is the better Viking movie.

Here’s my alternative version of the movie: Merida runs away from home after the tournament to fight dragons (or bears, whatever) and and see the world and do everything a boy can – skipping all the bear-transforming nonsense and actually meeting people on her travels and finding out what it is like to be an independent woman in this world and making some self-discoveries along the way - and then when she gets herself in too much of a pickle, her mom would show up to save the day and reveal herself as the bad ass she truly is and female empowerment and bridging the generations and YAY. It would end the same way, with the marriage thing chucked out the window and Merida would let her hair fly free as she rides with her newly liberated momma by her side. That would have been an epic movie.

And they all lived happily ever after

Got a better alternative version?

Also, did I mention that Merida is totally a lesbian?

MVQ: Her dad! He’s awesome. And his impression of Merida is spot on.

OTP: Merida and her badass self.

Favorite Moment: The split screen talk between Momma Queen and Poppa Viking and Merida and her horse. Brilliant.

Toy Story

Toy Story

Pixar Animation Studios

Released: 1995

Director: John Lasseter

Story: John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Joe Ranft

Writers: Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen

Music & Lyrics: Randy Newman

Rating: G

Grade: 4/5

Oh man. This movie. This is THE animated movie. It launched Pixar’s epic reputation. It convinced me that my toys led double lives. It’s. Just. Incredible. Genius. Beautiful. Heart warming. All the things!

Let’s see if it’s queer.

As much as it seriously pains me to write anything resembling a negative comment about this movie, I have to acknowledge that there are only two female characters in the whole movie (according to my very diligent watching). Bo Peep (ugh, not very feminist) and Andy’s Mom (whose name we never even learn). Major deductions for lack of diversity. Pixar generally needs to get better at gender representation.

Moving on.

The norm versus queer thing is a bit weird in this one. Pixar has lots of fun when it establishes norms in worlds that are primarily non-human. To figure out the norm here, we have to look at our position as viewers. The norm here is our world’s norm: the human perspective. Even though humans are not our primary characters, they still control the world of the toys and everything is dictated by their reality. Toys are a vulnerable population, their fates determined by human whim. Even though the toys make up the primary characters of the story, they hold a queer position in the human world. Their aliveness is an interruption, a deviation. In the normative world that we know, inanimate objects do not walk, talk, think, let alone feel love. So the idea of toys being alive: totally queer.

Let’s talk about Buzz. His character arc is real queer. He arrives in Andy’s room believing he is an actual astronaut. He believes in this fiction with his whole being. The fiction here is not only that he believes he is a real astronaut, but the nuance that he believes he is a real human astronaut. His ignorance is bliss. He believes he can fly. He believes he can touch the sky. For most of the movie he lives in his happy, bubbly normative world. Then reality finally hits when he sees his commercial and the bold letters, “THIS IS NOT A FLYING TOY.” I well up every time he tries to fly through the window and smashes to the ground. 

:(

Poor Buzz. This realization is Buzz’s queer Ah Ha! moment (I talked about this in my Prince of Egypt post). In this moment he realizes his queerness. He realizes he is not a real (human) astronaut. He is a toy. He is a queer toy. And in this he realizes the hierarchy of queer versus norm and that being just a toy is lesser than being a real astronaut.

But what’s great about this story is the message the movie drives home: THEY ARE NOT JUST TOYS. Being a toy, being someone’s toy is an incredible thing to be. Being queer is an incredible thing to be. Flying is not as cool as falling with style.

I'm the king of the world!

Don’t believe me? Let’s look a bit closer at the Woody versus Buzz tug of war over Andy. Bear with me on this one. I want to liken kids’ relationships with their toys to romantic relationships. Think about it. You love them and they love you unconditionally, even if they are alive. You take them everywhere. You sleep with them (not like that, get your head out of the gutter).  Andy even plasters his walls with posters of them and tons of merch. I’ll confess: my relationship with my Teddy bear is the most stable romantic relationship of my life. Yes, I am a grown woman who still sleeps with her childhood teddy bear. And now the internet knows way too much about me. When Buzz replaces Woody as Andy’s favorite toy, the storytelling treats it like a break up. There’s a whole montage of Woody’s heartbreak. Woody tosses Buzz out the window because he’s the jealous ex. 

Who THOT?

Rewatch the movie and try to tell me its not structured like a classic rom-com love triangle.

Linking the queerness of toys to the toys’ romantic relationship with their kids shows us that queer relationships are no less important than norm relationships. The story flips the queer versus norm hierarchy on its head prioritizing queerness and queer relationships. That being someone’s toy is a special thing to be. “Being a toy is a lot better than being a space ranger.” Cool, right? Is the ending secretly pro-polyamory? I’ll let you be the judge of that one.

I also want to mention Sid’s toys. 

We come in peace!

A queer subplot? I think so. At first they seem weird and totally terrifying, but they end up being really nice! They fix Buzz! Their story hits home the toy versus human, queerness versus norm. Sid’s toys are totally an oppressed population. No contest. Interesting to note that this Toy Story movie is the only one in the trilogy (soon to be 4-parter!) where toys reveal their aliveness to humans. Not sure what that means. Just thought I’d point it out.

Something I had never noticed before my recent rewatch is that the movie represents alternative family models and it’s totally NBD. There’s never any sort of mention of Andy’s dad, or lack thereof. Andy’s Mom is a single mom raising two kids and it needs no explanation. I’ve watched this movie many times and this is the only time I have ever noticed it. What a cool queer discovery!

AND finally, Rex is a total sissy. But I think that’s probably the most obvious queerness in the movie. I just love that this supposedly terrifying carnivorous dinosaur is the least ferocious character ever.

TINY T-REX ARMS!

MVQ: Buzz gets the queer struggle.

OTP: Woody and Buzz, obvi.

ummmmm....

Favorite Moment: When Buzz and Woody fly. I have so much nostalgia for the first time I ever watched that scene. Incredible storytelling/animation moment.