Inside Out 2: A Reformation of Self-identity; a Journey of Self-growth

Inside Out 2: A Reformation of Self-identity; a Journey of Self-growth

I recently went to watch Inside Out 2, its previous movie being one of my favorites. It was quite unforgettable how amazed the little me was after realizing a human mind contains many cute creatures, and they help sort out your life.

So I immediately went to watch Inside Out 2, not only due to my personal favoritism, but also because of the heartwarming story it tells.

This blog will be a debrief of the first movie for better understanding, and then we’ll further into Inside Out 2 where the storyline connects.

The Inside Out was released in 2015 and directed by Pete Docter. It introduces us to our human protagonist, Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias), and the protagonist that lives inside her mind. In the world of Inside Out, the human mind consists mainly of five emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). These five emotions are the small creatures that control a person’s way of thinking and feelings, as one paves through life, The same goes to Riley. Her life is greatly affected by these emotions, as well as the many mind workers that do minor but important tasks in Riley’s head.

Inside Out gives us a sight of Riley’s life as she grows from a baby to the start of her adolescence. Throughout the first movie, Riley and her emotions comprehend the idea that all emotions are neutral feelings and not to be defined as positive or negative. Sadness, who is previously judged as a harmful emotion to Riley has her label taken off as she and Joy experiences a journey outside of the headquarter (emotional responses of Riley is transmitted in headquarter); Joy finally realizes that Sadness is not what Riley doesn’t need, but part of what she needs to be the Riley she is. Joy and Sadness eventually come back to the headquarters as Riley, too, drops her plan to go back to Minnesota and instead runs back home. As Riley is faced by her worried parents, Riley releases her tears as Sadness transfers a message from the headquarters for the first time, with no one stopping her to do so. Both Riley and her emotions (or just Riley herself) learns to face and accept their thoughts, and be more open-minded about life.

With a complete debrief on the first film, let’s now talk about Inside Out 2. I have only two words to describe my feeling when I finished the film: Amazement and Appreciation. Inside Out 2 brings us a very significant stage of Riley’s life, or everybody’s life, and that is puberty. Puberty is like waves of high sea tides that constantly knocks you but not really trying to kill you. It is a life phase where many begin building their consciousness and become aware of outside influences (such as peers and their social environments). It could be a tough transition growing up, however it is inevitable. So the moment Riley enters puberty, she finds herself facing difficult challenges. Mood swings, body odor, overly-observant of others, wanting for attention and being included in a cool social circle, Riley experiences all of these phenomenons brought by puberty. As for her emotions, Joy and her four friends are woken up in the middle of the night by the puberty alert, The headquarter gets a forced and unfinished reconstruction, and new emotions move in…a lot of things happen overnight, and Riley’s world is flipped upside-down. I personally really appreciate the perfect depiction of puberty by Disney Pixar. They did a fantastic job at visualizing such abstract concepts with lively character movements of 3D-animation, which makes the scene quite chaotic and adorable at the same time. Once again I owe my compliments to Pixar for the stunning performances of their animations. Back to the film, Anxiety in lead takes control of Riley’s mind and abandons everything Riley previously owned that built her first sense of identity, as well as the five old emotions. It’s not hard to understand the core concept of Inside Out 2. It is just like its first movie, to face one’s true self with no judgment. Inside Out 2 is indeed another stage of Riley learning and accepting herself again. However, it is a different experience, and I believe a lot more people sympathize with Riley than they do with the first movie. Inside Out 2 discusses a common phenomenon that most people have or had in their young teenage years. Riley is taken over by anxiety and desperately seeks attention in order to feel secure. I once felt the same way, too.

Inside Out 2 is definitely on my recommendation list right from the moment I finished watching it. A story of comedy, anxiety, sadness, joy, and teenage moments, you won’t regret trying Inside Out 2. 

Thank you for reading. 

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Evil Does Not Exist: the Ambiguity of "Evilness" (no spoilers)

Evil Does Not Exist: the Ambiguity of "Evilness"

How does one define the meaning of “evil”? It is not in the category of verb or noun. As an adjective word it is ambiguous to use, and forever subjective. Based on various experiences, the definition of “evil” is different and unique for every human being. Let’s pretend a person is robbing a bank because he has no money to aid his family. Some might say that this robber is “evil” because his act disrupts the balance of fair competition in the economy, and is rather violent. But some may say that the robber has a reason for his actions, therefore he is not necessarily evil, but neither is he kind. Evil Does Not Exist is a wave that pushes and encourages us to think relatively to the question of “evilness,” considering the world is not just black and white, but shades of gray. The director Ryusuke Hamaguchi does a perfect job at veiling the deep waters of Evil Does Not Exist. The atmosphere of the film can almost trick you into thinking that it is merely a simple story happening in a rural Japanese village. When the quiet, yet slightly unsettling, opening credit begins playing, it’s already difficult to escape the illusioned tenderness, and the ending is unexpected as if testing the depth of water with two human feet. 

Thank you for reading this article

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Azure Dust: The Tragedy of Chernobyl

Azure Dust: The Tragedy of Chernobyl 

One of the most disastrous human failures occurred on a day of 1986–a radiation explosion that was expected before its coming took place in Chernobyl, Ukraine (at the time part of the Soviet Union. Thousands of lives and numerous cities were significantly influenced due to Soviet Union authorities' problematic control of radioactive substances. People died, not knowing they have ingested contaminated air, those who lived suffered permanent damage for the rest of their lifetime. Directed by Volodrmyr Rybas, who is well known for the documentary film, Azure Dust guides its audience to the long desolated exclusion zone of Chernobyl, as it is no longer inhabited, frozen in its own time. 

Pripyat, a city in Ukraine two kilometers away from the radiation explosion power plant, was the dream city where young Soviet Union people pursued to take residence in. Carnivals often took place and the neighborhood was friendly, crowded, and eventful. On April 26, 1986, as reactor 4 of the power plant safety drill was misconducted, an enormous amount of radioactive materials exploded into the air, carried by the wind, and into cities including Pripyat (the radioactive material later covered most of Europe as well). After 36 hours of the explosion, Pripyat residents were evacuated without a specific explanation from the Soviet Union Authorities; they were informed to leave the city for just three days to a week for the government to fix the situation. Most people packed little personal belongings, left their pets some food and water, thinking that they’ll be back to their home in a short amount of time. Many began to show fatal sick symptoms after a week, due to the radioactive waste they breathed in during those 36 hours, the living ones weren't in better condition, either. Aside from covering the fact of radioactive material leak, the Soviet Union Authority carried out forced abortion on pregnant women that came into contact with the toxic substances. One of the survivors from Pripyat, Maryna was interviewed in Azure Dust to talk about her experiences with the forced abortion. She replied that she received IV (intravenous injection) that she thought was used to reduce the radioactive waste existing in her belly, however  made her five month old baby at the time reacting very strongly. Maryna was later informed that she will be aborting her child with no choice. She decided to leave the hospital immediately with her husband. The next day she found herself wanted by the Soviet Union Authorities. According to The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, “an estimated 100,000-200,000 wanted pregnancies were aborted in Western Europe.”

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine article: https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/jnumed/28/6/933.full.pdf 

The tragedies never happened enough, broken families, declining health, irresponsible measures taken by the Soviet Union government, those who lived the days in the nuclear wastes have either vanished, or have no choice but live under the shadow of the traumas. Volodymyr Rybas’s Azure Dust depicts the horrifying history of Chernobyl, and the sorrows of victims. Pripyat now lives as a ghost city, the insides of buildings under the accumulated dust and deteriorating ceilings. But I feel grateful seeing Volodymyr Rybas and his team bringing us the sight of Pripyat today. And that, someday, cities like Pripyat would be able to experience the same joy it once possessed forty years ago. 

Thank you for reading 

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Paprika: The Balance Established by Dream & Reality

Paprika: The Balance Established by Dream & Reality

Dreams, free of all physical forms and logical thought system, is an unpredictable yet imaginative experience that occurs in bits of our lives. The film Paprika released in 2006 is a masterpiece directed by Satoshi Kon, as it jumps back and forth on the boundaries of real and imagined worlds. Following the sight of Paprika, or Dr. Chiba Atsuko (Megumi Hayashibara), we get to witness different dreams of many characters as their minds rip away from reality, and dive deep into a complex conspiracy. 

Launched by Dr. Chiba and her colleague Dr. Kosaku Tokita (Toru Furuya), the dream device DC Mini is invented and in development for purposes of dream psychotherapy. DC Mini gives those who are connected to the device the ability to enter one’s dream, which allows the patient and therapist to be in the same dream created by the patient’s subconscious mind. Such a therapy method was introduced in the beginning of the film, when policeman Konakawa and Paprika dives into his dream relative to his pursuit of a criminal. 

Interestingly to say, Paprika’s motif on the topic of dream and reality penetrates throughout the entire film; the boundaries of reality and dreams are meant to be the reflection of one’s self, the outer mind and inner mind. Neither can be dismissed. 

Let’s observe Chiba Atsuko and Paprika, they originate from the same person, which is Chiba herself. But the way they talk and interact is apparently distinct from each other. Chiba is an attractive woman that speaks stoically. She barely smiles, and tends to distance herself away from everyone else except Tokita. Her dark blue hair is clipped up as she always walks fast like the wind. Ever before the end of the film Chiba stands as the definition of permanence. Same suit, same High heels, same attitude to almost everyone around her. If anyone were to be the “antonym” of Chiba, it would be Paprika. She exhibits an expressive kind of beauty, making her a lovely and friendly woman just from her appearance; the color of her bright red blouse t-shirt makes her someone attractive and a tolerant figure like the sun. But is it really possible to say that they are not the same, and should be judged as two different figures? 

Paprika: “Leave that irresponsible fatso!”

Chiba Atsuko: “Why won’t you listen to me? You’re a part of me!” 

Paprika: “Have you ever thought that maybe you’re a part of me?”

Here comes the paradox, Paprika and Chiba are different people, but similar enough to call each other the reflection of themselves. Just like what we previously said, Paprika originates from Chiba, nevertheless, Paprika prefers to be identified as herself, and not Chiba. In fact, Paprika never once says that she is part of Chiba, and she sees Chiba as another individual: “If anything happens to Atsuko, use the…” is what Paprika tells Dr. Shima (Hori Katsunosuke) in dream of finding Tokita’s consciousness. Therefore, Chiba and Paprika both sense the difference between them, and does not consider their existence presents because of the other’s presence; they live with their own minds. 

The lack of logic is perfectly explained by the imperfect yet powerful imagination of dreams. Which eventually concludes a paradoxical message regarding dream and reality. They stand as two sides, having their pros and cons, and inseparable or one another.

Thank you for reading.

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