FIELD TRIP WORKSHEET: FILM

B CORE 119A Habits, Addiction and the Brain 

Spring 2016

(20 points)

 

STUDENT NAME: Emma Haeusel

 

FIELD TRIP DATE: 5/22/16

 

FIELD TRIP LOCATION: At my house

 

FIELD TRIP: Inside Out

 

Questions:

1. Expectations: What is the topic of the film (habits, addiction, or the brain)? What attracted you to this film? (2 pt)

 

The topic of the film (Inside Out) is the brain, more specifically mental health and dealing with change. I love Disney movies, and while I had seen the movie before I had never watched it while looking at it through a mental health standpoint. I was also interested to see how an animated film could express mental health issues.

 

2. Describe aspects of the film. (10 pt)
3. Who is/are the main character(s)? Give their names and their roles in the film. (2 pt)

 

There are two “worlds” in Inside Out, that of the real world, and that of this girl Riley’s mind. In the real world, a little girl, Riley is the main character. She is the one dealing with moving to another state and that is where you can see the mental health aspect.

In side Riley’s mind however, the two main characters are Joy and Sadness, two of her emotions that go “missing” to try and bring back what makes Riley herself, and because both Joy and Sadness are missing, she can’t feel those emotions.

 

1. What is the setting—the geographic location, date, other features that give the film it’s particular flavor. Is the main character isolated or part of a social group? If the latter, does the group reinforce the addiction? (2 pts)

 

It was made in 2015 and it is an animated film. In the real world it is set in San Francisco, but her mind is what is really cool about the setting. She has “islands” in her mind that make up her personality and everything is very colorful, from their “headquarters” to long term memory to “Dreamworks Productions” it shows the mind in a way that a child would think of it. The main character is isolated, because she is at a new school and this reinforces her feelings of fear and anger at her situation.

  

1. Describe the central plot in 2-3 paragraphs. If the film concerns addiction, include a description of the events that led to the addiction, the complications that arose from it, and any aspects of treatment or recovery that were important to the plot. If the film concerned mental illness, describe how the illness was manifested (the symptoms), the complications associated with it, and how the people involved coped (or didn’t cope) with it. (6 pt)

 

 

For this assignment I watched the movie Inside Out, the Disney animated feature. The film opens with a new born baby, and inside her mind the audience sees her first emotion, Joy, soon joined by Sadness. As she slowly grows up, Joy and Sadness are joined by Fear, Disgust, and Anger. She makes new memories every day, many of them happy memories, as Joy points out, and some of them “core memories” those memories that contribute to the different facets of her personality. These parts of her personality are in islands, for example, she has a family island and a goofball island, two things that make her who she is. She lives in Michigan until she is 12, playing hockey, making lots of friends and being generally happy. When she is 12, her dad gets a job in San Francisco and they move away from everything she knows, and that is when she starts going through mood changes.

            As Riley gets to San Francisco, Joy tries to keep Riley in a good mood by making her look at the positives and giving her back good memories. But one day, not long after she moves, Sadness begins affecting her memories. When Sadness touches one of Riley’s memories, it permanently turns blue, or sad, instead of yellow, which is happy. While Sadness is messing around, one of Riley’s moments in school becomes a core memory, but one that is sad. Joy doesn’t want Riley to have a sad core memory and by trying to prevent it, Joy, Sadness, and all of Riley’s core memories end up in “long term memory” a long way from headquarters and leaving Anger, Fear, and Disgust to control Riley’s emotions.

            Because she no longer has Joy and Sadness- who are on a long quest to try and bring her core memories back- or her core memories, important facets of her personality go away and she becomes angry and fearful and hurts her relationships. With those emotions at the helm, the audience can see a look into what may be going on when people move or have an especially tough situation. Anger puts the idea in Riley’s head that she should run away back to Michigan, and she decides to take a bus. Meanwhile, all of Riley’s personality islands are falling apart and Joy and Sadness are trying to get back to headquarters. Joy finally gets Sadness back to headquarters and asks her to take over the controls, because she learned that Sadness is an important emotion, without it someone can’t be comforted, and it is important to feel sad about things, and to listen to someone when they are sad, not just try to make them happy. When Riley gets back home, a new core memory appears, one that is both blue and yellow, and in the final scenes the audience sees many new core memories, all with multiple emotions, instead of just joy. She learned that other emotions are very important and helps someone be a complete person. Fear is good in some situations, as well as anger and disgust. Someone can’t just be happy all the time and Joy sees that.

 

3. What was the most interesting or surprising thing about this film, and why? Summarize in 2-4 sentences. (3 pts).

 

One of the most surprising things was how much I enjoyed watching an animated film. I love all Disney but this one was so different from a lot of other films. It was also surprising to look back on having watched this before and looking at it from a new perspective and seeing change as something that can contribute to a mental health issue.

 

4. Describe one thing that you understood better as a result of taking this course or that you would like to learn more about during the course. (2 pts)

 

I understood the brain as a whole better, I had not learned much about it before and it was very interesting to see the different parts, and to see which aspect of the brain controlled which part of my body.

 

5. Reflection: (3 pts) Write 1-2 paragraphs to describe briefly how this field trip enhanced your interest in or understanding of habits, addiction, or the brain. Would you recommend this film to others? If so, why? If not, why not?

 

            This film was interesting to me because I related to it a lot. I moved many times when I was younger, and I have lived in four different states. It was never easy for me and it was so fascinating to see how the directors chose to portray going through that experience. It was a fun way to look at the brain, but I also relevant. It’s important to know that feeling isn’t a bad thing, it’s a good thing, and changes can be good as well. I think in today’s culture feeling a lot is somewhat looked down upon and I think we as a culture need to change that and be more aware of others feelings and of mental illnesses that people can’t help but have. I would definitely recommend this movie. It was very cute and funny and highlights important issues in today’s world.