Movie Review: Inside Out

Pixar has shown itself supreme in the field of animated motion pictures. Blockbusters such as Toy Story (1995), Finding Nemo (2003) and Cars (2006) have transformed animated pictures from strictly kid-friendly to ingenious lessons for the whole family. Pixar seeks to strengthen its already positive filmmaking legacy with Inside Out (PG, 2015). In the fiction masterpiece, directors Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carman explore the inner workings of the human brain with humor and wit. With its endless creativity and relatability to viewers of all ages, Inside Out is yet another Pixar home run.

No teenage girl enjoys leaving her home and friends for a strange new town, and eleven-year-old Riley is no exception. Always happy-go-lucky, Riley’s emotions are put to the test when her parents inform her that they are moving from Minnesota to San Francisco. Much of the movie is set inside Riley’s brain, where five self-explanatory personified emotions struggle for control of her behavior: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader). Throughout Riley’s coming-of-age journey, the characters controlling her brain struggle to preserve the silly, happy nature Riley once maintained so effortlessly.

From the outset, the inventive plot of the film sparks interest in the viewer. The idea of bringing the human brain to life through a whole new world is inspired and heavily intriguing. For example, the “Islands of Personality” control Riley’s core traits like family, friendship, hockey, honesty and silliness. As Riley grows older and loses her innocence, these Islands get destroyed and Riley’s behavior changes in real life! The masters of Riley’s mind are perfect foils of one another; for instance, Joy and Sadness are opposites, and their levels of control over the brain will largely determine Riley’s behavior. The main conflict of the story—Riley’s depression—begins when Sadness accidentally infects her core memories, turning happy recollections into grim reminders of past misery. The viewer is left with eyes wide open at the movie’s ability to capture the abstract in a such an entertaining way.

The most fascinating element of the movie is the collision of two worlds, one real and the other figurative. What happens to Riley throughout the movie is grounded in common, everyday life: the new kid moves into town, she gets embarrassed at school, she struggles to make friends, and in turn her family relationships deteriorate. However, what happens inside her brain is a revelation to all in the theater, and Pixar does an excellent job of interplaying these two worlds. For example, Joy and Sadness visit “Dream Productions,” the figurative center in the brain where dreams are formed and played out by real characters. The last thing they want is to wake Riley up with an excessively scary dream. The film switches back and forth between the dream being directed inside the brain and Riley’s sleep being affected by the dream she is having. This perfect synthesis of two worlds is an essential element of Inside Out’s greatness.

Finally, Pixar’s hit, much like its others, holds something to gain for all ages. The humor and wackiness of the film appeals to children. Tweens will be able to relate the most as they witness one of their own struggle with the experience they know all too well. They will enjoy Riley’s first date, one of those awkward middle school get-togethers where parents reluctantly step back as they realize their little one is growing up too fast. Finally, Riley’s is not the only brain that is explored in the movie. Riley’s parents are extremely protective in her fragile emotional state, and daddies and mommies watching will surely have a laugh as they see themselves on the big screen: overprotectiveness, love, and commitment that goes mostly unappreciated.

Pixar’s Inside Out is an absolute must-see. With its humor and picture-perfect animations, it is a true crowd-pleaser. Next time you’re planning a family night, Inside Out is sure to bring smiles to the whole crew!

Book Review: The Things They Carried

War is a traumatizing and life-changing experience. In The Things They Carried (1990), Tim O’Brien brings the trials and tribulations of war to life and attempts to convey both the physical and emotional burdens of the battlefield. O’Brien seeks to show his readers the side of war we seldom hear about; the indelible emotional scar of death and loss that continues long after the dust of battle is cleared. O’Brien’s journey, loaded with the emotions of war and the strength of brotherhood, makes this novel one you won’t want to put down.

Imagine being forced to risk your life. Now imagine being forced to risk your life for a cause you do not even agree with in the first place! This is the plight of Tim O’Brien in 1968, when he receives his draft notice to join the US military’s Vietnam effort. O’Brien relays the stories of the Alpha Company, the platoon of soldiers in which he fights.

How can one properly relate the true experience of war? When attempting to accomplish such a task, it is difficult to fit into the concrete genres of literature (fiction, nonfiction etc). O’Brien’s novel is a masterful first-person narrative that finds it somewhere in between. While the setting of the novel—a jungle during the Vietnam War—renders the book grounded in real events, the characters, emotions and events that take place are far stretches from the truth. The resulting genre is metafiction. Additionally, O’Brien utilizes a stream-of-consciousness style to accurately portray the experiences of the soldiers. This technique, heavily utilized in the "Speaking of Courage" tale, provides the reader with a beautiful, uninterrupted peek into the natural workings of the mind and feelings of a soldier.

War is not fun. It is dirty, bloody, and unforgiving. O’Brien uses profanity as a symbol of the emotions and attitudes of the soldiers in his platoon. They are tough and full of grit, and the dirty language they use aligns perfectly with the dirty life they live. This makes the novel fun to read, because there is no sugarcoating and there is no mushy gushy. It is war in its pure nakedness. The reader is particularly struck by O’Brien’s use of contrast, paradox and oxymoron, all of which give the writing some umph! and highlight the confusion that comes with being a soldier. The reader learns that war can turn one into a man but can also kill him. The depth of the novel is truly fascinating and intriguing, provoking salivation as the reader anxiously flips through the pages.

No book is perfect, however, and The Things They Carried is no exception. An off-putting element about the novel is it’s lack of continuity. It is confusing and frustrating to be heavily immersed in a heart-wrenching story, only to be interrupted by a new narrative, the relevance of which is not readily recognizable. For example, the rapid and unexpected transition from intense wartime to calm lakeside driving that happens from the chapters “Style” to “Speaking of Courage” may leave readers begging for answers. However, while this can be disconcerting, it is but a single negative element that is clearly outweighed by the various positives of the novel.

Finally, the component of the story that makes it so appealing and relatable for readers everywhere is the overarching idea of unbreakable friendship through difficult times. During the war, nothing comes easy. The men in the Alpha Company must rely on and trust one another in order to survive. At this point in their lives, the soldiers have little to fall back on: no parents to offer love, no girls to provide comfort, and no stable shelter to provide protection. What they do have, however, is one another. For example, soldiers Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk make a deal: if one of them sustains a bad enough injury in battle, the other would kill him to put his out of his misery. When Kiowa dies, the emotional impact it has on O’Brien bleeds through the pages. Years after the war, O’Brien visits Kiowa’s grave to pay homage to the friendship they had. After so long, the thing that leaves the biggest impact on O’Brien is the bonds he creates in the heat of the war.

Friendship, however, is only one piece of the puzzle. Tim O’Brien gives the audience the full range of emotions that come with war in his novel. The ideas conveyed in The Things They Carried are reminiscent of the “Lost Generation” of 1920s, when authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis wrote about their disillusionment of society after First World War. O’Brien leaves the reader with mouths wide open, wondering how war can be so “thrilling,” “drudgery,” and “fun,” all at the same time.