The New Core Emotion Who Stole The Spotlight: Anxiety in Inside Out 2 Spoilers

A supporting character who I think took the centre stage and taught the audiences an important lesson is Anxiety from Inside Out 2, voiced Maya Hawke. Inside Out 2 is the sequel movie to the first film which captured so many people's attention. Whether they were children, parents, young adults, and grandparents; this film easily hooked anyone watching since Anxiety is a character who displayed a phenomenal visual representation of what it feels like to experience anxiousness. In the first film, we were introduced to five main emotions – joy, sadness, disgust, anger, and fear. As viewers, we witness these five emotions take part on Riley's life, they helped her conquer many challenges and make all kinds of memories associated to a certain emotion. In Inside Out 2, Riley grows up and experience life a little differently as a teenager. This meant abundance of unfamiliar instances and emotions. This is where we were introduced to four other emotions via second film– anxiety, envy, embarrassment, and ennui. As these four other characters enter the emotion headquarters, the five other emotions were then kicked out of headquarters while Anxiety took over Riley's mind.

Now, how exactly does Anxiety makes a lasting impression? From a personal standpoint, I believe that everyone experience different levels of anxiousness and this brought out the realism to the film and how easily relatable it is. When we are anxious, it is extremely difficult to stay focused and in control of our entire self. To Riley, this was the unknown, and to Anxiety, the audience witness her try to cope with the feeling by twisting and avoiding many circumstances. Anxiety's role in the film brought bigger conflicts, impacting Riley's life in school, at home, as well as her relationship with everyone around her. Anxiety became the main controller of Riley's mind which conditioned Riley to overthink and hurt the people she cares about. I think that Anxiety resonated strongly with the audience because of she expresses hidden fears that are usually hard for many people to speak about. The way Anxiety from Inside Out 2 was rendered onscreen definitely sparked reflection and evoked strong emotional response from the audience, including myself!

When the audience is first introduced to Anxiety, a first impression is that she was the antagonist who only brought chaos to everything. However, I believe that Anxiety intentions were not at all bad. Anxiety exists to protect us from harm and/or incoming danger. A lesson that I think Inside Out 2 was trying to show is that there needs to be a healthy balance between all emotions. When Joy in the first film and Anxiety in the seconds tried to control Riley's mind, it ended up hurting Riley and themselves. By incorporating all emotions, it implements growth and overall good health. Secondly, avoiding situations because of the discomforting feelings that comes with challenges is not the answer. We grow and experience because of these challenges; it makes us who we are!

Overall, Anxiety portrays a character that resonates to many people of different ages which is why I believe Anxiety is a supporting character who totally stole the show!