Turning Anxiety Inside Out: A Review of Inside Out 2

All your favorite emotions made a long-awaited commotion in the box office this summer, delivering Pixar’s intelligently funny, visually stunning and slightly gut-wrenching comeback movie, “Inside Out 2.”

Upon watching Riley navigate teenage milestones such as puberty, I was pleasantly surprised with this film’s entire production after Pixar’s streak of lackluster-at-best-films. I’m looking at you, “Elemental.”

From its playfully stunning, deeply poignant score to an electrifyingly profound, charmingly comical storyline, “Inside Out 2” has something for everyone.

If you have seen the film, you are already well-acquainted with a very hectic, very orange leading character who introduces herself as Anxiety, one of Riley’s newest emotions. Now, for most of us, this is not an unfamiliar emotion as, according to Forbes, “an estimated 31.1% of U.S. adults experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.”  Through this unpredictable character, Pixar creatively visualized how it feels to experience anxiety and the complications that come with it.

In perhaps the most compelling scene of the entire movie, we watch as Riley experiences an anxiety attack. Cedar Counseling & Wellness comments, “The film does a remarkable job of illustrating how Anxiety, while initially meant to be protective, can become overbearing and disruptive if not checked.”

A myriad of responses to the anxiety attack scene mirror this same point of view. Reports by The New York Times and CNN both express a sense of empathy and relatability towards Anxiety’s character. But how have Christians responded to Maya Hawke’s flurried character?

The Christian side of social media absolutely raved about the scene where Joy ends Anxiety’s overtaking of Riley’s mind by telling her, “You need to let (Riley) go.” Many Christians have claimed there is an underlying biblical message in Joy’s approach and praise the film for the way Anxiety is represented and confronted by Riley’s other emotions. Christianity Today describes the most pivotal scene as a “winner-take-all-battle” in which Joy and friends, “help Anxiety find her place in Riley’s complex emotional life.” The paragraph concludes with this statement: “Anxiety’s positive contributions can belong without allowing compulsive desperation to take over.”

However, Anxiety is too normalized and accepted for teenage Riley.

It is evident, through scripture and through this film, that giving anxiety any leeway can allow it to take over your mind.

Though this film is not explicitly Christian, it does a great job of antagonizing Anxiety. However, “Inside Out 2” still has a sense of glorifying Anxiety — making her into a brightly colored, sometimes laughable cartoon.

This film does not do justice to what the Bible teaches about worrisome thoughts. According to Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Christians should not be discouraged by this movie’s representation of anxiety because at the end of the day, God will always be there to listen, and he will provide comfort and peace even in the darkest of valleys.

Schoonover is an arts and culture reporter for the Liberty Champion.