Disney Pixar’s “Inside Out” (2015) and Memory

"Inside Out" is a Pixar animation that delves into the emotional world of a young girl named Riley, exploring the interplay between her emotions and memories as she navigates a pivotal move with her family. The film offers a very accurate and creative portrayal of how core memories shape an individual's identity and emotional well-being, making it a valuable narrative for understanding child psychology, particularly the development and significance of memory in shaping personality and coping mechanisms during childhood transitions.

In the movie, the memory dump represents forgotten memories that fade over time. This is a concept that mirrors what has been found in developmental research (Schneider, W., & Ornstein, P. A., 2015) Schneider found that memory, especially in the early stages of childhood, is subject to decay. The research highlights that young children’s memory, including autobiographical memory, is not just about the retention of information but also about a retention process, in which some of the memories become the core identity, or foundations for identity, while others don’t hold importance are discarded or forgotten. This dynamic in the film accurately depicts how children encode, store, and or lose. To understand the portrayal of memory in “Inside Out” better, it’s important to understand that short-term memory serves as a temporary storage for recent information which is crucial for immediate processing and reaction when it comes to our everyday tasks and long-term memory encompasses a more permanent repository. This repository stores vast amounts of information from past experiences that shape a child’s identity and behaviors. The film showcases those memories, both happy and sad, that shape and influence Riley’s personality and emotional states. This narrative aligns with research depicting the complexity of memory and its significant impact on identity formation and emotional intelligence (Indahsari, M. P., Putri, E. J., & Firdaus, I., 2022) and fits the film's portrayal of memories being able to evoke a spectrum of emotions, and the integration of these experiences contributes to a more nuanced understanding of oneself and helps children to develop strong, mature emotional responses.

Autobiographical memory is memories of specific episodes from your own life, encompassing emotion and contextual details. It’s a type of long-term memory that helps to form your sense of self is very important in early years in forming a sense of personal identity development and is essential for understanding the way that individuals relate past experiences to their present self. "Inside Out" seems to serve well as an exploration of autobiographical memory. It depicts the intricate ties that memory has to identity as the core memories were fundamental to the formation of her identity. (Fivush, R., Habermas, T., Waters, T. E. A., & Zaman, W. ,2011) This mirrors theoretical perspectives on autobiographical memory’s function and showcases a little of the evolution of autobiographical narratives from early childhood through adolescence, emphasizing the role of social interactions and cultural narratives when it comes to the task of shaping a child’s memory and self-concept. It showcases the evolution of autobiographical narratives from early childhood through adolescence, emphasizing the role of social interactions and cultural narratives in shaping memory and self-concept. Whilst the film got its portrayal of memory close to the reality, and definitely a great way of explaining it to children, I think it did miss out on some really interesting key aspects of memory like the reconstructive nature of memory was maybe discussed and how each recall can slightly alter a memory. Additionally, showing how memories integrate with the senses like smell or taste, to create stronger recall.

Acknowledgments

• -Indahsari, M. P., Putri, E. J., & Firdaus, I. (2022). Text analysis: Microstructural dimension of the inside-out animated movie 2015. IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, 10(1), 63–78. https://doi.org/10.24256/ideas.v10i1.2433
• -Schneider, W., & Ornstein, P. A. (2015). The development of children’s memory. Child Development Perspectives, 9(3), 190–195. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12129
• -Fivush, R., Habermas, T., Waters, T. E. A., & Zaman, W. (2011). The making of autobiographical memory: Intersections of culture, narratives and Identity. International Journal of Psychology, 46(5), 321–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2011.596541