Sadness with a side of Joy

Before watching the Inside Out together as a class, I had watched the movie in theaters with my family but had never thought about the deeper meaning behind it. When watching the movie this past Friday night I was able to pick up on the small scenes which I use to not pay much attention to. Everything occurring in the movie seemed to have a purpose and a deeper meaning to it. The first time I watched the movie, I watched it in Spanish so I was not able to fully grasp the movies meaning as a whole. This time everything seemed to make sense and it was all pretty eye opening. Joy was controlling and wanted everything to go her way. This can be seen throughout individuals on the daily when we try to "fake it till we make it". As human beings, we tell ourselves we must be happy and fail to acknowledge that not everything is sunshine and rainbows. We must experience anger, disgust, fear, and even sadness in order to fully acknowledge and appreciate joy. These other emotions which were practically being oppressed by Joy while they were what gave Joy meaning and significance. It's like the saying goes, "you can't have a rainbow without a little rain", you can't have joy without anger, fear, disgust, and sadness. The movie specifically pointed out how sadness is the most crucial emotion that leads to joy. One must acknowledge sadness in order to accept it and move on to become happier. An example that stood out the most was when Bing Bong's rocket was thrown out and he was upset because he would no longer be able to take Riley to the moon. As Bing Bong became nostalgic Joy pressured him to forget his sadness and tried to get him to fake happiness. Sadness sat by him and acknowledged his hurt and while at first, it seemed to make things worse, it actually helped Bing Bong move on. This scene led to a realization in which being sad isn't always a bad thing. By acknowledging your sadness and letting it all out you are able to accept it and move on while if you hold the sadness in you tend to be more upset about it in the long run.
One of the scenes that made me cry throughout the film was when Riley returns home and confesses the truth to her parents. I fully related to Riley and was able to understand what was happening to her and therefore I was able to understand the deeper meaning of this scene. When Riley is sad and begins to cry her parents acknowledge her sadness and relate to her. They hug her and suddenly Riley sighs in relief and she finally has a sense of joy once again. Joy was an effect of sadness all along.