The inspiration behind the main characters of Inside Out, a Disney Pixar film, was found in Paul Ekman’s study of emotions. Ekman is an expert psychologist in the study of emotions and deception. He created the theory of Six Basic Emotions, which identified that people have “six basic emotions; anger, fear, happiness, surprise, sadness, and disgust” (Betancourt Lopez, 2017). The Six Basic Emotions theory is clearly used throughout the film in the form of five prominent characters whom represent different basic emotions. Instead of the Six Basic Emotions all being represented, Disney Pixar created the following characters: Joy (a combination of Happiness and Surprise), Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger. Each character of emotion held their
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Disgust can do so by upholding Riley’s standards and personal values. In the film, Disgust was portrayed as being straight-forward and very honest in her opinions, as seen in her personal evaluation of people within Riley’s social setting at school. Anger was responsible for ensuring Riley was treated fairly, however, he was known to explode or overreact rather quickly. In the film, Anger, Disgust, and Fear begin to lose control over their ability to maintain Riley’s behavior and reactions. During a dinner scene, Anger caused Riley to scream “…just shut up!” at her father for no justifiable reason. Within each of their minds, both Riley and her father’s Anger emotions conflicted, causing both Riley and the father to react with hostility toward one another. It was this dinner scene that we are shown that each person is being controlled by their six basic emotions, although happiness and surprise were combined as one character for each Riley, the mother, and the father. I found it interesting to see that different emotions were in control of each; Joy was in control of Riley, Anger was in control of the father, and Sadness was in control of the mother. This scene supported the connection to Ekman’s Six Basic Emotions theory, as each shared the same basic
Disgust can do so by upholding Riley’s standards and personal values. In the film, Disgust was portrayed as being straight-forward and very honest in her opinions, as seen in her personal evaluation of people within Riley’s social setting at school. Anger was responsible for ensuring Riley was treated fairly, however, he was known to explode or overreact rather quickly. In the film, Anger, Disgust, and Fear begin to lose control over their ability to maintain Riley’s behavior and reactions. During a dinner scene, Anger caused Riley to scream “…just shut up!” at her father for no justifiable reason. Within each of their minds, both Riley and her father’s Anger emotions conflicted, causing both Riley and the father to react with hostility toward one another. It was this dinner scene that we are shown that each person is being controlled by their six basic emotions, although happiness and surprise were combined as one character for each Riley, the mother, and the father. I found it interesting to see that different emotions were in control of each; Joy was in control of Riley, Anger was in control of the father, and Sadness was in control of the mother. This scene supported the connection to Ekman’s Six Basic Emotions theory, as each shared the same basic