Deanna Zdunich

COMM 1050-425-SP16
Reel Paper
Instructor: Holly Huntington
7 May 2016
The I and Me in the movie Inside Out
The Theory of Symbolic Interaction (SI) helps us to see that individuals are active, reflective
participants in their social context.

In other words, we each develop meaning through

intrapersonal and interpersonal communication as we process things internally and externally

when making decisions and interacting with others. The Disney PIXAR movie, Inside Out is a
great example of this theory in action.

It takes us on a journey in the inside of the

Headquarters of the mind of an 11-year-old girl named Riley. Rileys emotions are personified
through 5 distinct beings: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger.
The Mind is central to SI Theory because it reflects and creates the social world and is the
way we internalize society. It is how we make sense of the world we live in. The concept of
thought is the main plot of this movie. Thought is considered to be the inner conversation that
we have. Thought in the movie is portrayed by these 5 characters. We see how Riley formulates
her thoughts through these characters before communicating and how she reacts according to
how the 5 characters think or behave inside her mind.
The story begins as Riley is an infant and the first emotion to appear is Joy. Joy is in charge of
the Headquarters until Sadness appears and Riley begins to cry. One assumption in SI is that
infants are said to have no self-concept and individuals develop self-concept through
interactions with others. Rileys parents help her to develop who she is. We see them building

core values (called Core Memories) displayed in Islands of the mind. Rileys Islands are made
up of Family, Friendship, Goofball, Hockey and Honesty Islands. One very symbolic interaction
between Riley and her parents is when her dad calls her Monkey and makes the sound of a
monkey. Riley also imitates the monkey sound and they have a shared understanding that it is a
symbol of their love for each other.
In SI, meaning is modified through an interpretive process.

We engage in communication

with ourselves and then put it into the situation we are dealing with at the time. According to SI,
having a self (imagining how we look to another person) means that we have to really think
about how we act and respond instead of just acting out selfishly. We have an I that is the
inner spontaneous feelings and the we that is the outward and reflective person. Riley does
this communicating in the Headquarters of her mind. Her emotions discuss things and decide
how to respond to situations.

When Rileys family has to move to San Francisco, she

experiences fear, anger and disgust.

Rileys first day of school demonstrates the Looking-Glass Self as she worries about what the
students will be thinking of her. She is asked to introduce herself and talk about Minnesota to
her classmates. As she talks about playing hockey, Sadness takes over Headquarters and
causes Riley to cry in front of the class. Fear takes over and worries about what the others will
think of her crying in front of them. She is embarrassed and when she gets home is very upset.
She then communicates her feelings of the day by acting out in anger towards her parents.
Meanwhile, in Headquarters, Joy tries to stop Sadness from touching the core memories turning
them to sad memories. They get accidentally transported to the stored memories of the brain
instead of being in headquarters. Anger, Fear and Disgust are left to drive Rileys thoughts and
emotions while Joy and Sadness are gone.

Riley gets so upset with her situation, that she decides to run away. She wants to go back to
Minnesota. Her mother attempts to call her, but because Anger is driving her thoughts, she
doesnt pick up the phone call. (Ignoring a phone call is also a form of communication. It
controls the communication by not allowing it to happen.)
When Joy and Sadness finally make it back to Headquarters, Joy realizes that all the emotions
are important in developing the self. In order for Riley to communicate her feelings with her
parents, Sadness needs to be allowed to speak. Riley is sad and wants to go back to her parents.
Riley thought that her parents only wanted her to be happy and she thought that made her weak
in their eyes. She felt hurt based on those self-feelings. (Looking-Glass-self) Her parents shared
their sadness due to leaving Minnesota and they joined in a group hug. They also found comfort
in each other and that brought Joy back into their lives. Their interpersonal communication was
vital for Riley to process her feelings.
This movie was directed by two gentlemen from PIXAR studios, Pete Docter (Born: Oct. 9, 1968
in Minnesota) and Ronnie Del Carmen (Born: Dec. 31, 1959 in the Philippines). They had lived
in the same community as neighbors and both had daughters. The story came about as Pete
Docter watched his daughter, Ellie, change from a happy, bubbly person (Joy) to a withdrawn
and sad teenager (Sadness, Disgust and Anger). He wanted to know what was going on inside
her head. Ronnie Del Carmens daughter actually used to babysit Ellie and he wanted to help
Pete to understand that people never see all the conversations going on inside a persons head.
Together they have directed the movie UP and individually worked on great films like
Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and Ratatouille. (Ellie was the voice of the character Ellie in
the movie UP.)

I am not sure if they knew specifically about Symbolic Interaction Theory when they wrote the
storyline, but they seem to have the concepts very well displayed on the film. The movie
definitely demonstrates that we process our society internally first before sharing it outwardly.
It was very interesting to watch a movie with the perspective of a specific
communication theory. I really enjoyed the new outlook on the movie and
how it demonstrates the complexities of human communication. At the end
of the movie, there are little vignettes of the headquarters of different people
and animals. Each one of them had their own set of emotions and attitudes
pertaining to the Looking-glass self. One girl that they show is working at the
pizza place and was one of the popular girls. As the movie zooms inside her
mind it shows Disgust saying, Were a total fraud. Fear then adds, Do you
think they can see through us?
Symbolic Interaction Theory is very interesting and helps me to understand
that everyone processes information differently and according to their
perspective or Core Memories. We shape our views of society from our
own internal reality.
In conclusion, Rileys world takes on new meaning after Joy, Sadness,
Disgust, Fear and Anger learn to navigate Headquarters together instead of
individually. Riley can value a more complex world. In fact, one of the new
islands in her mind is called the Friendly Argument Island. She will be able
to

have

her

intrapersonal

conversations

as

well

as

interpersonal

communication become more sophisticated as she develops her Symbolic

Interaction skills.

Finally, towards the end of the movie, Joy says, Mom and Dad are pretty
cool.

Disgust, in true teenage fashion, joins in by saying, Yeah, but we

cant show it!

Works Cited:
IMDb.
Pete
Docter.
Web.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0230032/

Accessed

May

2016.

Jussino, Teresa. The Mary Sue. Web. 5 November 2015. Accessed 6 May 2016
http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html

West and Turner. Introducing Communication Theory. McGraw-Hill.

New York, New York.
p. 76-91

2010.