The director of Inside Out 2 has weighed in on how he changed his mind about the seemingly negative emotions joining the fray in the new movie. The new movie, which is already a record-breaking smash hit, is a sequel to the 2015 Pixar movie, which followed the lives of the anthropomorphized emotions inside the head of a young girl named Riley, specifically Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. The new roster of Inside Out 2 emotions that arrives to shake things up once Riley enters puberty in the sequel include Anxiety, Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment.

Collider recently sat down for an interview with Kelsey Mann, the director who took the reins from Inside Out director Pete Docter to helm the sequel. When asked about why all the emotions other than Joy are negative, including the four newcomers, he reflected that “I see them as positive now.” After doing research on how emotions affect human psychology in real life, he came to understand that emotions that seem negative at first blush are “there to love and take care of us,” even though they’re also capable of harm. Read his full quote below:

It’s probably more conflicting because I see them as positive now. We’ve done a lot of research, and, like I say, even Anxiety, she has the potential to do harm, but really, she’s trying to help. All of them are there to love and take care of us, which is why we have the emotions that we have, even Envy. She started off as a negative one, too. But now, I guess because I’ve done the research, I see them as all positive emotions. It’s just learning how to manage them properly and how to lean into the help that they’re trying to give us.

Kelly Mann’s Research Mimics The Character Arc Of The Original Inside Out

The Original Pixar Movie Explored The Gray Area Between Positive And Negative Emotions

Mann’s realization about the new characters joining the Inside Out 2 cast makes sense. One thing that is reflected in the movie is that emotions don’t necessarily have an inherently positive or negative attachment, particularly when they are present in moderation. In fact, this realization is the same one that Joy herself made over the course of her adventure in the original 2015 movie.

The original movie saw Joy (Amy Poehler) fighting back against the idea that some of Riley’s memories were beginning to be tainted by Sadness (Phyllis Smith). However, after an arduous adventure through her psyche, the reality of Riley growing up and facing a difficult move finally sank in for Joy. Rather than fighting against Sadness, she learned to work together with her and the other emotions – including Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and Fear (Bill Hader) – in order to help Riley have a more well-rounded emotional life.

This arc, both on and off the screen, seems to continue to resonate with audiences. At the time of writing, the Inside Out 2 box office has been breaking records after earning the second-best opening weekend for an animated movie in history with $154.2 million, followed by record-breaking Tuesday and Juneteenth hauls. Audiences also gave it a 96% user score on Rotten Tomatoes. Although Mann’s realization and the way it’s reflected in the sequel’s story are reminiscent of the original movie, the emotional truth at its core has proven to continue to be a huge draw.

Source: Collider