Inside Out 2 Will Disappoint Me

I always try to find a way to appreciate anything I watch - even the worst films can redeem themselves with enough passion behind them. When I say that Inside Out left me feeling bitter and disappointed, then, it’s a big deal. As someone who moved around a lot as a kid, the film’s ending was far too much of a happy ending for me, completely ignoring the long-term psychological effects of such a huge change in a child’s life. When I saw the trailer for Inside Out 2, though, I thought there might be a chance that Disney would fix its mistakes… But that one-minute and 30-second long video was all it took to convince me that the sequel would be just as disappointing as its predecessor.

The first major issue I saw in the Inside Out 2 trailer was how it seemed to rewrite the rules of its universe in order to introduce new characters, creating more questions than answers. In the trailer, something happens to Riley that causes her brain to undergo “renovations”, after which a new character shows up : Anxiety. Given that we’re also shown Riley celebrating her 13th birthday, it’s pretty easy to assume that these renovations are a result of puberty and that the film will be dealing with the extreme emotions that teenagers are so famous for. Anxiety is unlikely to be the only new addition, of course, with hints at Ennui and Embarrassment also making an appearance as Riley enters adolescence. In truth, puberty is a reasonable topic to explore in a children’s movie, but choosing to introduce entirely new characters to tackle is a huge misstep.

The problems with these new characters are obvious - How is anxiety anything but a different kind of fear? What is embarrassment if not self-disgust? Worse yet, even if we let these be standalone emotions, why haven’t we seen them in anyone else’s brain? If Riley were diagnosed with anxiety as a mental health condition it might make more sense, but you don’t go to a psychiatrist for ennui. Given that we haven’t seen the emotions in other people’s heads, does that mean they never feel ennui or embarrassment? Are those feelings something to destroy and overcome, or do Riley’s parents have the emotional complexity of children? As I said, puberty and its associated emotional changes are interesting topics that suit the film’s universe, but it could have been handled much better. Rather than creating all new characters, having the existing emotions undergo a sort of “puberty” of their own, allowing fear to manifest as anxiety, disgust as embarrassment, and sadness as ennui, would be much more powerful as Riley’s internal world mirrored her external world.

Speaking of internal and external worlds reflecting each other, though, what irritates me more than anything about is that Inside Out 2 is almost certainly going to avoid the topic of gender identity. I didn’t even have to think about Inside Out much to begin questioning Riley’s gender - the fact that she is the only character whose emotions present as male and female seems like an obvious clue that she might be trans or non-binary. I’m not foolish enough to think that this implication is entirely intentional - it’s Disney after all. They almost certainly chose to make Riley’s emotions a mix of male and female in order to appeal to a broader audience and avoid being labelled as a “girl” or “boy” movie. The queer undertones are just a bonus, a way to get LGBTQ+ people interested in the film and earn just that little bit more. Unfortunately, exploring this in any kind of depth is a near impossibility, as it would get the film banned in a few countries and harm Disney’s financial interests, which is obviously unacceptable.

Still, having the film be about Riley going through puberty is the perfect setting to explore the question of gender. Her body will be changing, so the film could examine how she feels about that and whether it causes dysphoria for her. Puberty is a universal experience, but in the modern day, so is gender dysphoria - there’s no way to exist without at least hearing about it. As such, Inside Out 2 is the perfect opportunity to start discussions so that kids can start learning about gender diversity. Unfortunately, thanks to how sensitive the topic is these days and the fact that Disney is basically just a machine that prints money by making inoffensive, family-friendly content, it’s never going to happen. Not only that, some of the “grosser” parts of puberty in a female body, like menstruating and sexual harassment, are also certain to be left out for the same reason. In the end, we all know Disney is too greedy and cowardly to create anything that actually challenges societal norms, and it’s a real pity.

No matter how I look at it, Inside Out 2 is shaping up to be an uninteresting, plothole-filled continuation of the first film. For all the money and talent that Disney and Pixar have, the company still can’t make something truly groundbreaking because they simply don’t have the courage. It’s a shame that such interesting concepts as female puberty and gender identity are so easily cast aside for the sake of mass-marketability and, in the case of the new characters, probably merchandising as well. Perhaps the next film could feature a story about finally learning to be brave for once… Then again, it isn’t looking likely, so it looks like the newest addition to the Inside Out universe is just going to have to be disappointment.