"Inside Out", the Disney-Pixar animated film, winner of the Oscar in 2016 for the Best Animated Feature Film, is much more than a fable composed of bizarre colorful characters that populate the head of the young protagonist Riley. Created in collaboration with psychologists and other experts in the function and expression of emotions, the film directed by Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen is an essential lesson on how the integration between every emotion - positive and negative - guarantees human beings that range of expressions necessary for their balance and psycho-physical well-being. But what is going on in every child's head, especially in Riley's mind? The original plot of Inside Out features a11-years-old girl named Riley that struggles …show more content…
These same messages can already be found in the world of fairy tales, which has always captured the attention of children, igniting their imagination and stimulating their imagination. The task of the fairy tale is to communicate and transmit the dynamics of human life to the child, preparing it for them (Hurley). This theory is also shared by Bruno Bettelheim, a student of child psychology, who emphasizes how fairy tales are able to open the child's mind, to open the way to emotions such as happiness, anger, fear, sadness and surprise, and has the function of anticipate the most important events of its growth (Heike vom Orde). These emotions drive our perception of the world and even our moral judgment about what is right or wrong. That's why the role played by Disney movies is so important because stereotypes are transmitted and rules that will shape the minds of children. Just think of the model of "princess" transmitted in the different Disney movies that reinforces the idea of supremacy of the white race and that identifies the "whites" with the good and the "blacks" with the bad guys, or the educational model that sees women as passive, unable to change their destiny, which have as their sole purpose to find love (the Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella) and attend household chores even in the homes of strangers (Snow White) or in films like Dumbo or the Jungle Book that make fun of the African-American community
Bruno Bettelheim’s “The Uses of Enchantment” claims that fairy tales help expand the development of children. Although more adult topics like death are never specifically talked about, they tend to deal with other kinds of everyday problems. Children read stories like where the hero overcomes a series of obstacles in order to achieve their happily ever after, and then find a way to connect to that. These kinds of fairy tales help teach children understand difference between right and wrong. Fairy tales are in a way a child’s first teacher, they essentially mold the mind and help convey ideas that would otherwise be difficult to understand at such a young age.
Bettelheim believed that fairy tales must be left for a child's own interpretation in order for them to apply these tales to their own life as they begin to understand their conscious and unconscious selves. Bettelheim states that “the vagueness of the tales [is] pedagogically suited to these tasks in that it engages the child's imagination to fill in the details and invest his interests on whatever level he finds himself” (Heisig). The tales commonly deal with universal problems that everyone faces, and children are able to easily apply these universal problems and messages to their own lives. Children comprehend that although the tales are untrue, they are not unreal, so they apply these tales to their own beings (Heisig). Furthermore, the fairy tales engages a child's imagination, and this allows him to sort out his conscious and unconscious self. A child must overcome the psychological problems of growing up by coping with his unconscious self, and fairy tales allows children to familiarize themselves with their unconscious mind by fitting unconscious content into conscious fantasies, enabling him to cope with that content (Tatar 270). In the process of relieving his conscious and unconscious pressures, children must work through these psychological problems by themselves, and “in
Bettelheim and Tatar both explain that fairy tales have certain effects on children at a young age, but they way they explain their effects are quite different from each other. Bettelheim uses his psychological studies to draw a deeper understanding on the effects of these stories. He shows us that the unconscious mind
Bruno Bettelheim, the author of Uses of Enchantment, has constructed an evaluation that fairy tale’s offer insight to the child’s psychological life. He believes such literature depicts underline meaning to ways in which the child develops and deals with real life conflicts. Undertaking such a strong controversial topic for the first time,
When raising children, it is necessary to understand how to navigate their questions on life in a manner that is both appropriate for their age, yet is acceptable in their eyes in terms of an actual answer. According to Bruno Bettelheim, fairy tales are told to children as a way to allow them to symbolically address issues and challenges they might face. These fairy tales employ the use of characters and plots that children can place themselves in, thus allowing them to identify with the situation described. However, over time, some adaptions of the fairy tales differ from their subject matter. Jean Cocteau’s version of Beauty and the Beast differs from Walt Disney’s version, as it retains many of the theories that the Disney version omitted. Jean Cocteau’s version and Disney’s versions of Beauty and the Beast differ in their message by changing aspects of the symbolism and characters’ personalities.
Bettelheim’s theory is centralized on his argument of the importance of fairy tales on a child’s development. This argument was proposed through The Uses of Enchantment, he suggested that fairy tales provided images to the children and with these images they could structure a better direction to one’s life. Bruno Bettelheim felt that the use of fairy tales for child’s development represented good versus evil clearly, these stories helped children deal with problem of an inner self, the description of the heroes/heroines going out into
In the short Pixar Disney film “Inside Out” it discusses the life of a young girl by the name of Riley. The film shows five different emotions as they follow her through her growing stages of life. The five emotions consist of Joy, Fear, Sadness, Anger and Disgust. These five emotions help to make up young Riley’s personality. They also assist Riley in making each and every decision she makes.
Fantasy allows children to stimulate their imagination, develop abilities, clarify emotions, and understand the difficulties in life, while at the same time suggesting solutions to problems. However, it is impossible for “realistic” stories to do the same. These lifelike stories are often uninteresting, complicated, meaningless, and do not provide their readers with psychological contentment. As a result, authors like Bruno Bettelheim deeply express the importance of fairy tales for children and kids alike. Therefore, in my estimation, a child might be comforted and experience growth and awareness through the viewing of fantasy stories like The Wizard of Oz due to the
Bettelheim insists that fairy tales bring awareness, expand a child's imagination, and offer solutions in a way that a child can understand. In Bettelheim’s views, “Fairytales are unique, not only as a form of literature, but as works of art which are fully comprehensible to the child, as no other form of art is. As with all great art, the fairy tale’s deepest meaning will be different for each person, and different for the same person at various moments in his life.” Bettelheim emphasizes that fairy tales have important meanings but the personal meaning will be different ass it applies to a person's
When dissecting the movie Inside Out a variety of psychological concepts are discovered within the story line of the children’s animation. The concepts that come to mind after watching the film are emotions, false memory, and long-term memory. In psychology, and emotion is often defined as a complex state of feelings that result in psychological and even physical changes that can influence your thoughts, actions, and behaviors. An example of emotion could be whenever you watch an ASPCA animal rescue commercial you may feel sad and driven to help those animals. Secondly, false memory is described as a fabricated and distorted memory of an event, memories are not always an accurate recollection of event.
The thrill and excitement created in fairy tales are ideal for entertaining young children. Important life lessons may seem subtle in fairy tales, but if one pays attention closely, there are obvious messages a story is communicating to the reader. In the article “Fairy Tales and Modern Stories” by Bruno Bettelheim, Bettelheim provides a series of examples of the effect fairy tales have on a reader. The sole effect a fairy tale has on a reader is based upon which story is read and the challenges in life the reader is struggling with. Another article, “An Introduction to Fairy Tales” by Maria Tatar, introduces the basic principles and themes brought across from fairy tales. Tatar also interprets how the plot of the stories is educating young children to adopt similar characteristics to those of the protagonist. In addition to Tatar’s and Bettelheim’s article, Elizabeth Danish wrote the article “Influence of Fairy Tales on Children,” which is a summary of different possible outcomes a fairy tale may have on a reader. Although she focuses mostly on the negative aspects of fairy tales, Danish briefly covers some positive consequences that fairy tales might have on an adolescent child. A similarly named article to Danish’s, “Influence of Fairy Tales on Children” by Rave Uno, concentrates mostly on the positive aspects of fairy tales. Uno, unlike Danish, is biased towards fairy tales having unmistakable benefits to a youthful reader and indicates many well thought out opinions.
Fairytales are given the assumption they belong strictly to realm of the young and naïve. Involving a “magic of a peculiar kind” (Tolkien) that entertain these adolescents and distract them from reality that encompasses the world around them. It transforms this reality into grandiose stories and characters who engulf the minds of the children exposed to these stories which is discussed in the in the writing “On Fairy Stories” by J.R.R Tolkien. Tolkien explains the values and parts of these stories that truly embody their purpose especially for children. While on a contradicting hand author Bruno Bettelheim’s “Fear of Fantasy” reveals to us the context in which adults view the use of fairy stories in child development.
As children, we dream of being the princesses and princes that occupy the scenes of fairy tales. Society magnifies the importance of these fairy tales in one’s childhood because, not only do they entertain the imaginations of youth, but they also teach important lessons on bravery, honesty, correct integrity, good morality, etc. Every child dreams of one day having their ‘happily ever after’. Every little girl dreams of one day having a Prince Charming sweep her off her feet, and every small boy dreams of one day being the heroic knight who swoops in and saves the damsel in distress. Although presently fairytales serve the minds of children, these stories were not always written for children to build their dreams on. Folktales were originally filled with horrendous action and gruesome thoughts and clearly not for a youthful mind.
The movie Inside Out is linked to psychology in multiple ways. Inside Out if from the Development unit; the topic is memory. The emotions displayed in the movie (Joy, Anger, Sadness, Disgust, and Fear) are five out of the sevenuniversal emotions, with the others being surprise contempt. The five emotions live in Riley’s brain in a place known in the movie as headquarters. The emotions use a control panel to help guide Riley in her emotions.
Fairy tales have been around and retold for hundreds of years, ranging from enticing situations and imperative morals to teach and warn people of all ages. Many have overlooked the underlying message of these beloved tales and deem them to be farfetched, but these stories are critical to child development. On the Telling of Fairy Stories written by Bruno Bettelheim, the strong belief presents the notion that verbally exclaiming fairy tales leaves a lasting impact on adolescent minds well into adulthood.