It was hard not to fall in love with the emotions of Inside Out – Joy, Anger, Fear, Sadness, and Disgust. Plus Bing Bong made me feel a mixture of emotions. With Inside Out 2, we get new emotions – huzzah! As Riley has grown into a teenager, so has a new batch of feelings. Meet Embarrassment, Anxiety, Envy, and Ennui.
Director Kelsey Mann said the idea for Inside Out 2 came from research about what happens in our brains at that teenage age. He said, “There’s a lot that goes on. And it gave us everything that we kinda need for a Pixar movie. There’s a lot of drama that goes on. But also it’s really funny.”
So how did Mann choose the new emotions? Well first he watched the screenings from the first Inside Out to see if there were any emotions that were cut that he could bring back. During the first screening for Inside Out 2, there were actually 9 emotions! But he realized he needed to simplify. “There were so many emotions and they all canceled each other out because you
couldn’t keep up with everybody,” Mann said.
He asked for assistance from Dacher Keltner, a professor from Berkeley, and the emotional expert on the first film. Mann had a list of emotions that he was thinking about using during development and asked Keltner which emotions felt right for a teenager.
Keltner answered that it’s all the ones that are the self-conscious emotions. At this age (teenagers) is when we’re hard-wired to be self conscious. When we’re kids, we have parents to take care of us. Then as we start to grow up we push our parents and caregivers away to start to be able to take care of ourselves and become more independent. This is when you start asking yourself, “How do I fit in? Do you like me?”
In order to get inside the head of a teenage girl, Mann also consulted with Dr. Lisa Damour, a clinical psychologist, an author, and podcaster. And of course, he had Riley’s Crew, a group of 9 teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 19. Every four months they would show them the movie and get their opinions and notes on the new emotions and whether they were getting it right with Riley’s friend group. They really wanted to get it right.
After watching about 30 minutes of footage of Inside Out 2, the filmmakers seem to have gotten it right. Even as an adult I can relate so much to the internal struggles of different emotions pushing and pulling me in different directions. As a mother of teenage girls, I can relate to this film even more. Whew, the mood swings.
Joy, Sadness, Disgust, and Anger are not that happy when the new emotions want to take over Riley’s head. Aren’t they the new guys? Now it’s even a bigger struggle. They all care about Riley and want what’s best for her, so I can’t wait to see how it all works out.
Many people I’ve talked to are really excited about Anxiety, who is voiced by the incredible Maya Hawke. I think it’s because we feel anxiety on a daily basis. But don’t count out the other new emotions. You’ll see how much you can vibe with them as well.
Embarrassment is voiced by Paul Walter Hauser, Ennui is voiced by Adele Exarchopoulos, and Envy is voiced by Ayo Edebiri. They really nailed the voice talent in this film. What is Ennui? The state of feeling disinterested in one’s surroundings, having nothing to do, or feeling that life is dull. Or it can be described as a feeling of dissatisfaction from a lack of excitement. Teenage angst is like a combination of all these emotions, hence the making of Inside Out 2.
As a parent often feeling like an outsider in my teenager’s mind, some scenes really hit my heart. The journey as we discover our emotions can be bumpy, but sometimes we need to navigate it with humor and grace…and even anger and anxiety.
At the heart of it, Kelsey Mann wanted to make this film because we worry so much about what others think about us at Riley’s age. “It kind of turns on, and it kind of never goes away.” We have to manage it.
Inside Out 2 is in theaters June 14, 2024!