20 of the most unforgettable Pixar moments
By Casey Nalley
Sadness saves the day – Inside Out
For the most part, all any of us wants is to be happy, and in Pixar’s Inside Out, that is what Joy wants for Riley. The problem is that she wants her to be nothing but happy all the time. However, we can’t be happy during every moment of our lives (although that would be great, wouldn’t it?), and Joy learns that the hard way.
When Joy realizes that it takes more than happiness for Riley’s life to realign, it is Sadness who saves the day by convincing Riley to change her mind and not run away.
For a children’s movie, Inside Out is incredibly mature, and while all of the Pixar films are noticeably made to include adult viewers, the content of this movie, and this particular scene, are the most obvious sign of this.
Having moments of mixed emotions is something kids experience more and more as they grow, and something we adults know all too well. By showing audiences that sometimes even the two most extreme emotions — Joy and Sadness — need to team up sometimes, Pixar was able to help viewers understand themselves a little bit more than before.
Happy memories changing to sad ones and sad memories having the slightest glimmer of happiness, perhaps after some compromise has been made or someone in the room cracks a joke to amke a smile bloom through the tears, is something we have all lived, and Pixar knows it.