Will Guide

For starters, when Riley is born, I like how they turned the phrase ‘little bundle of Joy’ into a way for the emotion Joy to be created first. The first moments of your life can be happy and joyful, until your needs overwhelm you, and make you cry, which is when Sadness shows up. As you get older, other emotions form and affect the way you think about thinks happening then and happening now. And of course, that’s when memories are made. The console in the movie started out as a simple button, because Riley’s movements and thoughts weren’t as complex, being small and young. 

But as she grew older and had more emotions, the console was enhanced and complicated more and more, but when used correctly, it could help in a situation that needed part of that console’s functionality. And something to note is that depending on the emotion touching the console, it’ll change to that emotion’s color, and however Riley acts will make a memory combined with that emotion. This, we know. But memories aren’t just little balls of emotion. They change and affect how we see the past, the present, and the future. 

For example, Riley has a happy memory of playing ice hockey with her friends in Michigan, and if I recall correctly it’s become a core memory, a memory that makes the person who they are. In the present during that time, Riley felt so happy and at home with her friends and family. But moving away didn’t instantly change that memory to a sad one because she could remember the happy times she had. But when the thoughts that she wouldn’t see them again, and that she would have to adapt to a new place caught up with her, this could be represented by the touch of Sadness, who turned that memory into a sad one, resulting in Riley breaking down and missing her friends. 

The emotions don’t just make that memory a generally affected memory. Sadness doesn’t make the hockey memory completely sad and droopy. Instead it affects how we see that memory when we think of how special it felt, how we hoped  it would positively last forever. But Sadness made Riley realize how much she missed her old home, friends and family, and she broke down crying. The fact Joy couldn’t change the memory back represented the heavy, overwhelming emotions surrounding that memory, and how special it was before could affect how much it affects the person when changed, and how difficult it is to fix if something goes wrong with it. The sadness was too overwhelming to be  undone. It’s also worth noting that in Riley’s mind, Honesty Island could be a part of sadness, because when you break down crying, you’ll likely want to be truthful with how you feel, although it could be out of your control sometimes. Sadness and Honesty Island can go together, and it can work. 

Riley broke down at the end and admitted she missed her old home, and friends and family, finally opening up about how the move affected her. But it then showed in that moment that you truly can’t be yourself without Sadness. The film portrays Sadness as the accidental troublemaker, but in reality, Sadness is a difficult thing to work around. All of the emotions are. They’re not all completely out of control. Sometimes they take the helm for good reason, other times they take action resulting in a positive or negative outcome. And one emotion could lead to a better moment than could be expected. 

We all have emotions in us. They affect how we think, act and, of course, feel. They help us make our own memories and parts of our personality - the islands in our mind. And this movie very well portrays how emotions can affect a situation. 

They're in caw-hoots with each other