“Oh, my gosh! I’m Anxiety! Where can I put my stuff?” enthusiastically cried Anxiety, the new character of the 2024 Pixar movie Inside Out 2. Anxiety suddenly appeared on the screen amongst the five original emotions (Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness) from the beloved 2015 film. Because of her wonky bright hair, insanely wild smile, and her explosive personality the other emotions were immediately put off by the presence of Anxiety. A put-off feeling that many of us experience when met with our anxiety, creating a sense of relatability early on in the film. Anxiety appears with arms full of an excessive amount of luggage (thus, her “stuff”), and this symbolizes the amount of weight and baggage that can come with our anxiety. This is just one of the many sly additions of symbolism and mental health accuracies that director Kelsey Mann included in the movie.

If you have never watched the 2015 movie Inside Out, I would highly recommend it. Without giving away any spoilers the Inside Out movies follow a young girl named Riley and the colorful eccentric emotions that live in her brain and how those emotions impact her behaviors and life. The 2024 sequel again follows Riley’s experience, but Inside Out 2 welcomed a new set of abstract emotions as Riley hits puberty. These new characters/emotions brought to us by puberty are Ennui, Embarrassment, Envy, and of course, Anxiety.

This movie allows for a greater conversation about mental health and complex emotions. Children, teenagers, and adults alike can all find pieces of this narrative that stick with them and offer new perspectives on why other people act and react the way they do. Furthermore, this movie gets the conversation going about normalizing, and learning how to live and cope with these natural emotions.

I immediately resonated with the character of Anxiety, and I adored her chaotic yet compassionate persona. The movie almost portrays her as a villain, until the audience can understand the good intentions she does have. Anxiety is spot on for how I would’ve characterized the emotion, and by the end of the movie, you can’t help but adore her.

Inside Out 2 was a meaningful movie that held a powerful message that all people, young and old, need to hear. Every emotion that humans have is natural and serves a substantial purpose. Anxiety is an emotion that many people struggle with in different levels of severity. While society has stigmatized it, anxiety does have important functions. Let this movie be a testament to society that all emotions are good and purposeful, and the continuous conversations revolving around them are ways we can make a positive difference in this world.

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