Grade:

Transfiguring Adoption awarded this movie 5 Hoots out of 5 based on how useful it will be for a foster/adoptive family. [Learn more about our Hoot grading system here]

Movie Info:

• Rating: PG (Mild Thematic Elements and Some Action)
• Genre: Animation, Kids & Family
• Runtime: 94 minutes
• Studio: Disney/Pixar

From the Cover of Inside Out (2015) by Disney/Pixar:

“Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it’s no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions – Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley’s mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley’s main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.”

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Transfiguring Adoption’s Overview:

Inside Out (2015) is a perfect addition to any family film collection, but especially of any therapeutic foster or adoptive home! Children struggle with abstract concepts until young adulthood even outside of the context of trauma’s influence on development, so Disney/Pixar providing personified emotions onto the big screen can be a seriously incredible tool for children who have endured trauma and struggle with connecting their (understandably) big feelings to their behavior. Plus, this film is appropriate for most ages! Little ones will enjoy the bright colors and fun humor while teens can enjoy the more subtle situational humor bits. I do advise that this film be viewed as a family though so that the most benefit can come through the bonding experience of enjoying a family movie night as well as provide a safe adult to answer hard questions that may arise. Grab your popcorn and tissues and enjoy!

** Spoilers Could Be Ahead **

How Is This Relevant To Adoption & Foster Care?

Riley is a joyful child enjoying life in a small town with her parents, hockey teammates, and best friends. Though she has a mix of experiences in childhood, this is the only life she knows and so Joy primarily takes the helm of Riley’s experiences and memories. And then suddenly Riley moves to a large, lonely city away from all of her friends and hobbies. Her mother and father are wrapped up in the stress of the move and Riley tries her hardest to put on a brave face in the face of all the change and uncertainty. Deep down though, Riley longs for the only life she’s known and “home”. Sound familiar, caregivers?

This film can be a fantastic resource to foster placements who can identify with Riley’s feeling of displacement and grief. Even though all the changes worked out in the end (complete with a new hockey team, new friends, and a stronger relationship with her parents) Riley could not come to terms with everything until she was given the opportunity to grieve once Joy stepped aside to allow Sadness to express herself. The personification of Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust allow a child to see the feelings that often overwhelm their senses and see the process in which they influence behavior, which is a huge step in both honoring emotions and choosing how to best express them. Caregivers of all sorts will benefit immensely from this film experience, especially if their children struggle with connecting feelings to behavior and identifying emotions.

Discussion Points:

• Emotional Regulation
  A common misconception in several cultural contexts is that happiness and joy should be the primary mode of perception and expression in all circumstances. Not only is this potentially damaging to a child’s mental and emotional state but this does not allow children to learn how to identify their emotions and choose how to appropriately express them or express help in regulating them. Just as a person cannot reach acceptance without moving through the grief cycle, children will not change behavior in a permanent or meaningful way if they cannot learn to process and regulate their emotions and connect them to their behavior. Now, most children (especially younger children) cannot do this alone and will need an adult to help with identification of feelings and connection to behavior. However, some older children may also need this help as they have never been taught to examine the cause of the internal and the effect of the external. “When you feel angry, did you notice that you clench your fists and have a red face? How else do you respond? Do you feel warm on your face?” We sometimes do this without even thinking, but it’s important for a caregiver to be on the lookout for this need for emotional co-regulation. Remember, emotions are not “bad”. All emotions should be considered and validated, and then examined so a choice may be made.
• Self-Esteem & Identity
  Riley is seen throughout the film as losing pieces of herself through the “death” of her islands, which portray parts of herself. These “deaths” occur in times of great stress, doubt, and loneliness. Foster Care as a culture has several points that are very different from the culture of an established or biological child in the home, including, but not limited to: agency/government involvement, differences in child rearing, differences in religion, differences in interests, different family compositions, different community ideas, etc. Caregivers should be mindful of how the removal from family/community of origin can be identified as highly traumatic and how a child’s self-esteem and self-identity can be negatively affected when compared to another cultural context as “wrong” or even “other”. Caregivers should find ways to celebrate the unique parts of their children’s cultures and this is a part of who they are. If we ignore or put-down their cultures, we are in a sense putting them down. As we see at the end of the film, it is never too late to build up a child’s sense of self-esteem as Riley is able to grow more islands (or, positive supports and interests) as she matures in a more stable, therapeutic environment in which she can process her perceptions and emotions in a healthy manner with her caring parents.
• Transitions
  As the movie kicks off with Riley moving to an unfamiliar place it is pretty clear that change and transitions are a major plot point in the film. However, Riley’s physical move to a new community is not the only difficult transition the audience can identify. Notice the transition as Riley is able to integrate Joy and Sadness and then other emotions into different memories and experiences internally. This is a huge shift for Joy to recognize Riley needs Sadness. It’s a huge internal transition for the emotions to learn they can share memories, adding layers and complexity to emotional ties to memories and perception. Even at the conclusion of the film, the audience can see where the emotions receive a new emotional control panel with all new functions brought about by puberty. Whether it be from external changes in circumstance or the influences of trauma or growth, children in care will experience many transitions to their peers. Caregivers should be prepared to address the changes as they come and be prepared to look beyond the behaviors (or lack of as initially seen with Joy-driven-Riley) to identify when their child needs guidance in the face of change.

Cautionary Points:

• Moving to Unfamiliar Place
  Riley, with little notice, is moved far away from her childhood home to an unfamiliar and lonely place. This may not affect children initially, but this theme may retraumatize children in care who have been moved suddenly from home to placement. It’s important for caregivers to be sensitive to how a child may have perceived entry into care or transitions between foster/adoptive homes.
• Bullying
  Throughout the film Joy is constantly bullying Sadness. This in part is due to Joy (and the other emotions) not understanding Sadness’s role and having little interest in trying to find out. Throughout the film Sadness is blamed for accidents and denied participation in Riley’s experiences, creating an exclusionary and somewhat hostile environment. Children may be affected by this due to feelings of isolation and being “unable to do anything right” in spite of their best efforts.
• Deep Emotions
  With processing through intense emotions such as Sadness and Anger (and even Fear) children may be triggered due to their own unresolved feelings. Some children may need some discussion to help best understand what they are seeing and what they may be feeling.
• Bing-Bong, An Imaginary Friend, Dies
  I’m still not over it as an adult. The loss of a good friend, even if imaginary, is hard and this character death/disappearance may trigger feelings of grief associated with loss in a child’s past and present. Caregivers should be aware of the potential for retraumatization.

Discussion Guide:

1. How did Riley’s emotions cooperate before the move from Minnesota to California? What happened during and right after the move?
   Caregiver Note: This question is a good way to start the conversation as well as to see what your child has perceived in the film. If your child struggles to remember some parts feel free to help with a little prompting. Some older children may pick up on more subtle themes but be prepared to help with connecting the emotions to the ways they showed response through Riley’s behavior. Try to focus more so on how Joy drives the emotions before and during the move, but after is able to work with her team to help Riley express all of her emotions in meaningful ways.
2. What things before the move from Minnesota help Joy maintain the most emotional control? What people or activities helped Riley cope when she did feel Fear, Sadness, Anger, or Disgust taking over?
   Caregiver Note: This question will help children identify strengths and supports before processing further. Help children identify strengths and supports such as Riley having her parents’ attention and love, Riley’s talents, Riley’s ability to try to find positives/humor in situations, close/trustworthy friends, lots of hockey time, cultural comforts from her small town, etc. This will help them practice doing so when they need to think about their own strengths and supports.
3. While it was frustrating that all the family belongings ended up in Texas, Riley had needs that may have been more important during the move to California. What did Riley need the most when she moved?
   Caregiver Note: This is a great discussion point that can move to discussing what your child specifically needs from you. Children in care may see themselves in Riley, lost in a place of unfamiliarity and in need of a caring adult to help sort them out. Oftentimes a caregiver may play detective to decipher feelings and behavior but sometimes children need reminders that they can also directly tell caregivers what they need. This will help children to express their needs in an appropriate manner.
4.  How could Riley’s parents have helped with Riley’s experience of moving?
   Caregiver Note: Change can be a highly stressful time for a family, even if the change is welcomed. If change is not welcomed, this can compound the stress and trauma perceived from the event. This is another question that can help allow a child to process emotions with a caring adult and practice expressing those needs appropriately. Common answers can include giving Riley more attention/special time, helping Riley meet new friends, helping Riley keep contact with her old friends, having favorite meals, getting involved with others like Riley, etc.
5. ACTIVITY: Create Your Emotions – Draw your 5 biggest emotions and give them names. After you’re done, explain what they look like and how they drive your control panel in your brain. Caregiver Note: This is a fantastic activity to allow children to express their own emotions and have you, as a caring adult, give them names. Sometimes just identifying an emotion is a huge struggle even for adults! After identifying the emotions, ask your child how each emotion drives their control panel and help them think of a beneficial way to express that emotion and ask for help. Emphasize that these emotions are not “bad” and that it is how we choose to express these emotions that will lead to various consequences.
6. Why did Joy try so hard to keep Sadness away from memories and the control panel? Was that okay to keep Sadness from her role?
   Caregiver Note: While Joy is fun every emotion needs a chance for expression in Riley’s life. Joy genuinely thought she was helping Riley by suppressing Sadness, but even with her good intentions was making a mistake in not allowing Sadness (and often the other emotions) to have their time to shine as they each had a purpose to help Riley. This is a great question that can ease into discussion about doing what’s right vs. doing what feels good and how these can be two different things.
7. How did Riley respond when the emotions competed for control and didn’t work together? What happened when each emotion was heard and allowed a place at the control panel?
   Caregiver Note: Children are often familiar with overwhelming emotions and the feelings that can bring. Draw this question out. Does it feel good when there are too many big emotions and not enough space to think? Probably not! Allow them to identify how Riley was affected by the competition and how much better Riley thrived once each emotion was able to be honored and work together for Riley’s overall well-being.
8. Do memories have to be one feeling or can they have many feelings? When was a time when you had more than one feeling at once? Caregiver Note: Caregivers should note that children may not be aware that it’s okay to feel more than one emotion at once. A good example is children in foster care who may love their foster parents but very much miss their family of origin. Often times children in care may lash out at foster parents upon realizing that loving their foster parents may contradict the love and sadness they experience for their parents. While this may or may not be the exact example brought up by a child it is important for caregivers to be prepared if bigger emotions like this come up. Also, make sure to communicate with your child’s therapeutic team if it seems that your child needs more support.
9. How can we help when words for feelings are hard? How can we support your needs when your emotions need names or you need help with competing emotions?
   Caregiver Note: This can be a great practice for developing an emotional regulation routine, which is similar in concept to a traditional Safety Plan. A Safety Plan is a place utilized by a team for a child in care to help keep a child safe before, during, and after crisis. With making a plan before something potentially occurs, a team is better prepared to tackle an issue. Allow the child to give the most input to your plan as they will be more likely to participate in their plan if they author it. Include a discussion on appropriate ways to signal for a need for support. Remind the child that they will not be in trouble for feelings and that you are there to help them so that they can make better choices.
10. Island-Craft: Have your child draw up two maps of islands. Help your child identify islands of interest and personality from the past for one map and current interests and personality traits now. Think of this as a strength-based activity and help your child think of items if they struggle to find positive islands. Make sure to make it fun with lots of colors or craft supplies. Caregiver Note: This activity is a fun way to promote a positive sense of self-esteem and identity. Talk about the different islands and use this as an opportunity to bond and learn more about your child as they learn about themselves. If this goes well you can also have the child help you come up with a map of your own islands. It can be beneficial with this to see how a child perceives you and help you identify anything that may need some support as well to better communicate love and support with your child.

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NOTE: Inclusion on these lists does not necessarily mean endorsement. Furthermore, with all our resources, we highly recommend you preview them first to determine if there are any trauma triggers that your child may not be ready to handle. Transfiguring Adoption does not intend for its reviewers nor its reviews to be professional, medical or legal advice. These reviews and discussion guides are intended to help parents to better be able to connect and understand their children who come from traumatic backgrounds.