At The Movies: Inside Out 2 & Anxiety

A few years ago, Jill and I had a free day in Orlando when we were attending a conference. We didn’t have any kids with us, but we still took advantage of our time and location to go to Disney World. True confession: we honeymooned there, so it was fun to go back with just the two of us again. We had these park-hopper tickets that had one day left on them from our honeymoon, so we went to three or the four parks in one day. One of those parks was Hollywood Studios and a now-repurposed attraction called The Magic of Disney Animation.

The Magic of Disney Animation was a backstage-pass-kind-of-tour that showed how all of these Disney animated movies were made and the different stages they went through in their development. I’m actually really sad it’s gone because it was so cool to see how the animators could take a story, or sometimes just an idea, and create an entire world. When Jill and I were at Disney World, there was a movie just like this still in the conception stage. 

The tour guide told us that Walt Disney Pictures, through Pixar, was working on a movie that would anthropomorphically show the emotions inside our bodies. I looked at Jill with speculation that maybe these people at Disney had finally bitten off more than they could chew. I wrong. What resulted from their idea was an incredible movie called Inside Out.

Released in 2015, Inside Out still holds up with a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’d probably give it a 100%. Like, who in the world are those 2%? Do they even watch movies? I remember sitting in the theater with Emily when she was five years old. It’s the first movie we watched where we laughed and cried together. It was like watching what we knew was going to happen as she grew up and neither one of us could do anything to stop it. It felt so creative and yet so obvious at the same time. It was literally like looking into your head, and that’s exactly what the writers, animators, and computer programmers did in Inside Out.

The movie would jump from the experiences of the human characters to inside their heads and the way these emotions were driving them. I love how they did that in this one scene where Riley and her mom were arguing at the dinner table. In the middle of the argument, the mom attempts to get the attention of the dad to get him to take part in his parental responsibility. The camera hops into Mom’s head as her emotions give the command to cue the husband. We see a look of confusion and fear on Dad’s face as he realizes he is being talked to but wasn’t listening at all. Instead, he was replaying a hockey game in his head.

That scene was one of my favorite scenes in the movie. I have to admit the older I get the more that I feel it becomes accurate. It’s probably not hockey, but there’s a good chance I’m replaying an IndyCar race or a basketball game in my head at any moment. It’s honestly maybe a bit too accurate, especially how the emotions take over. Instead of addressing the moment with care and compassion, his anger emotion puts the foot down, high fives the other emotions, and heads back to his fantasy of hockey. 

Now, the writers of Inside Out didn’t just dream up this stuff. They consulted with psychologists and neuroscientists to try to accurately portray the inner workings of the mind in cartoon form. That just seems like a crazy idea but they pulled it off in an incredible way. Whether we are 5 or 95 or somewhere in between, we all deal with emotions that can sometimes be complicated and messy. How do we learn to manage them and how they interact with each other? The first movie was all about this. But this isn’t an issue only posed by this movie or the consultants who worked on it. In fact, we find this concept in scripture.

Romans 12:12-18

12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Perhaps one of the biggest struggles we have is learning to live at peace, not with others, but with ourselves. Maybe what we need to say to ourselves is that sometimes it is okay to be complicated. We can feel different emotions and learn to respond in various ways.  We have to learn to permit ourselves to feel our emotions. For example, it’s okay to mourn and also be joyful. This idea was the whole concept of Inside Out. Joy refused to give permission for Riley to feel Sadness. She eventually does and, by the end of the movie, Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger, come to a place of integration—just in time for puberty to show up with its complicated emotion called Anxiety at the start of Inside Out 2.

Inside Out 2 shows Anxiety showing up and taking over as she literally bottles up the other emotions forcing Riley to form a new sense of self based on anxiety-based-beliefs. Now, I think it’s important to recognize that this movie isn’t addressing clinical anxiety. If you feel persistent worry impacting your ability to function at work, enjoy hobbies, or fall asleep, I want to encourage you to talk to a professional. I know something about this because that’s what I did. I’ve been on anti-anxiety medication for about a year. I know I’m not the only one in our church who has sought help like this, but I think it is important for me to share my journey and normalize the importance of professional help. But if this movie isn’t talking about clinical anxiety, what might anxiety look like that we can address? One place we find a definition is found in the words of Jesus. He calls this kind of normal anxiety worry.

Matthew 6:19-21

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…

Our focus can end up being set on things that don’t last but give us some kind of feeling of security. It could be money, an unhealthy job, or even a relationship with a person or an organization you know you need to end. Jesus addressed this as a symptom of worry.

Matthew 6:25-30

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 

I don’t think Jesus is throwing shade at people who are struggling with faith. He identifies with our authentic struggles. He is saying we get stuck there, but there is a better way. We see that in as we keep reading in this chapter.

Matthew 6:31-32

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

The reference to pagans here is interesting. Early followers of Jesus were accused of being atheists because they didn’t believe in what we would call the gods of Olympia. This use of the word pagan is a reference to that reality. As all these people went to all these different gods to satisfy their needs, the writer shows us that Jesus says we don’t have to do that. We don’t have to worry about if we did enough to deserve God’s attention. In fact, Jesus went on to say that worry actually causes us to focus on stuff that doesn’t matter at all, stuff we can’t change, and it causes us to change what we can. We will worry, but let’s worry about the right stuff. Jesus said it this way. 

Matthew 6:33-34

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

When we stop allowing worrying or anxiety to impact our desires for tomorrow, we learn to fully participate in what God desires for us today. The Apostle wrote about this way of being as he passed this along to a group of followers of Jesus in the city called Philippi.

Philippians 4:6

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Just like in the first movie, Inside Out 2 ends with Riley looking inside herself and coming to a place of integration with emotions. This ability to acknowledge, process, and name our emotions is a huge part of wholeness, life, and peace. We find that same concept in the words of Jesus and here with Paul. Rather than push away what we’re feeling, we discover and present, why we are feeling what we are feeling, give that to God, and experience this:

Philippians 4:7

7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The impact of this integration through process and prayer brings us to a place of wholeness where we can live out what God wants us to be in this world as we help others in their journeys to discover through our love, grace, and mercy, the peace God brings.

Philippians 4:8-9

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

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At The Movies: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hell