50 influential fictional women in nerd history

Riley

Inside Out was one of the most important Pixar movies to date. For years, girls didn’t have the “coming of age” story we deserved. We weren’t told that having these changing emotions were okay. If anything, girls were taught to hide our feelings because if we didn’t, then it just proved that we’re too emotional for things.

Inside Out changed that. Seeing Riley feel for her friends back home, watching as she played hockey and missed the life she had to move from, we, as women, can see the story we needed to hear growing up.

So many of us are moved from our friends or quit talking to certain people, and we don’t understand why or how to fix it. But with all her emotions going on this journey, it shows us in a weird way that sometimes, we can’t control the change in our emotions — but we can accept ourselves as we grow older.

Riley wanted to play hockey and have fun with her family, and though she changes throughout the movie, we still get to see her coping with her changing mind and creating new things to love. And that’s important for girls everywhere, especially those the same age as Riley.