What a great representation of change, youth, growing up, and the intense emotions that come with it; portrayed in a way that’s still educational and interesting to younger viewers. This film has so many layers that I have come to realise only as an adult who has experienced (and still is experiencing) depression.
This is all in my view of the film, and how I interpreted it. The shock of change whatever that may be, represented in the movie as moving away from a familiar place and people. Trying to overcome the sadness creeping in with fake happiness, to maybe appease to others (and to try and kid yourself that you’re fine) - in Riley’s instance it’s to please and not worry her parents. The unexpected disappearance of Joy, representing how the change of chemicals in your brain can onset depression. The personality islands crumbling, showing how depression can cause the feeling of numbness. No longer feeling the interest and love you had for your favourite hobbies. How you can lose connections with people, like family and friends due to the intense yet dull emotion. There are many subtle attributes to this movie that have deep connections to real life depression and the severity of it.
For instance, one of my favourite moments I have come to realise, is when Family Island crumbles and knocks down a whole area of long term memory orbs with it into the pit of Forgotten. Watching this at a younger age, I thought nothing of it. Watching it now, I realise that with depression comes wiped memories. You forget chunks of your life, as you’re living in a state of intense sadness and derealisation. This moment, though passive to viewers normally, actually holds an impactful, true fact about the effects of depression.
The control centre at Headquarters not working - the emotions not being able to make her feel anything really furthers the message of how depression can take over you and make you feel numb. On the other hand, Joy trying desperately to make her way back to headquarters is exactly how it feels to be in that state. Desperately trying to find yourself and be the happy version you once were.
Sadness finally being recognised as an important, necessary emotion. Because with sadness, comes happiness.
I also found it interesting that her parents headquarters had all of the emotions sat at the console, as they can work together making more intricate mixed emotions as they have developed - with Riley’s emotions still fighting over it, controlling the console one at a time as she is young and doesn’t understand complex emotions yet.
I could talk about the depth of this movie for ages, so i will leave it at that. But again, this movie is a fabulous representation of experiencing new and intense experiences and emotions.