Inside Out 1

Much of Pixar’s work keys into a certain emotional wavelength that other animated films (at least in Hollywood) fail to register. With this summer’s Inside Out, they went broke down this aspect further, creating an entire feature based on the inner workings of one’s feelings. Today now brings a great video essay which looks at the theories behind the construction of bringing these emotions to life.

Coming from NerdWriter, it looks at a Disney short that inspired it (which we discussed here) and Paul Ekman, the influential psychologist whose research was the basis for the scientifically sound model employed in Inside Out. The 10-minute video essay also goes much deeper, exploring how the latest neuroscience informs the film, and how director Pete Docter didn’t offer up deeper complexity for good reason, as well as the overriding theme of emotional intelligence.

Check out the video essay below and listen to our in-depth discussion here.

What do you think of the theories presented in the video?

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