Upon its initial release, “Inside Out” taught us all a lot about our emotions and how we
interact with those around us. Being able to see through the mind of someone who is
embarking on a new chapter in life is both relatable and comforting. It shows us that
we’re allowed to feel the way we feel, and sometimes it’s out of our control.
That being said, the idea of emotions being characters
has left a lot of questions regarding their ethics. Unlike our usual good-to-evil videos,
there are no true evil characters in “Inside Out,” so today, we’ll be ranking them based on
their morality alone. It is important to note that we will not be including Riley in this ranking,
as in the film, her actions are derived from her emotions’ doings. It is also important to
mention that when we rank emotions, it is based on the character and not the emotion itself.
I’m Brad with wicked binge, and this is “Inside Out” least moral to most moral.
Starting off with our least moral character, we have Anger. Just like the emotion itself, Anger
is brash and rude. He tends to act on impulse purely due to emotion and lets his temper get
the best of him. After Joy and Sadness get locked out of headquarters, Anger tries to
take charge and ends up being responsible for many of Riley's poor decisions. On top of this,
Anger’s quick irritability causes every single one of Riley’s core islands to collapse.
The destruction of these islands also causes Joy and Bing Bong to be trapped in the memory dump,
which indirectly kills Bing Bong. Anger makes Riley tell her parents to shut up during dinner
and later comes up with the idea for Riley to steal her mom’s credit card and run away from
home. However, despite Anger’s impulsivity and poor decisions, he seems to be a misguided emotion
that typically means well. While “Inside Out” does not have a true villain, Anger proves to be
a leading factor in a lot of the movie’s chaos. Our second to least moral character may come as
a bit of a surprise to many, but it’s Joy. You may be wondering how a character that embodies
happiness ends up this low on the list, but we have our reasons. While being the protagonist
of the movie, Joy is also regarded by many as the main villain due to her selfishness.
It’s obvious that she cares a lot for Riley, but it seems that Joy only trusts herself to
protect her. She doesn’t truly realize the importance of the other emotions until the
end of the movie, most notably, Sadness. Although Sadness can be a burden, Joy treats her poorly on
several occasions; from keeping her confined in a small circle, neglecting her manual knowledge,
as well as notoriously leaving her and Bing Bong behind in an attempt to save Riley on her own. For
the majority of the film, Joy believes that she is always right and that she is the only person
who can help Riley. Thankfully, Joy eventually makes a complete turnaround and comes to her
senses, allowing Sadness to play the role in Riley’s life that she was meant to play. Even
Joy agrees that it’s okay to be sad sometimes. Next up is Disgust. Judgmental and sarcastic,
Disgust does what she can to keep Riley in good standing amongst her peers, both physically and
socially. She is well-intentioned and keeps up to date with the latest trends to have Riley fit in
and keep her safe. However, she can be snarky and rude at times, making the other emotions
feel as if they aren’t intelligent enough to keep up with her. She does demonstrate
this intellect though most notably by aggravating Anger so he can use his fire
to burn through the glass, saving Joy and Sadness. Speaking of Sadness, she lands next on our list.
Sadness tends to do what she wants and chooses to ignore Joy’s requests to not touch any memories,
nor the control panel. This eventually leads to the first blue core memory. She also eventually
runs away from Joy and makes Joy drag her around by foot. However, we’ll give her the benefit of
the doubt, as it’s tough to be told to stay in your “circle of sadness” and to rarely be given
the opportunity to contribute, especially when you know what you can bring to the table. Despite her
occasional laziness and refusal to listen, she has her good moments too. She notably consoles
Bing Bong when he cries, as well as eventually being the reason Riley could find happiness again.
Sadness proves to be very intelligent with extensive knowledge of the brain manuals.
She knows where everything in long-term memory is, as well as which parts are too
dangerous to walk through. Even with this knowledge, Joy chose to ignore her,
which definitely can be frustrating on her end. Next on our list is Riley’s mom, Jill Andersen.
Jill cares a lot about Riley and is sure to thank and acknowledge her maturity in such a
tough situation. She tries her best to understand Riley and is able to empathize with her emotions.
Overall, she does what she can to help her family stay positive during their big move to
San Francisco. Although she’s compassionate by nature, we do have to knock her down a
few points for her recurring fantasies of being with the Brazilian helicopter pilot.
Eventually, she comes to her senses and realizes that her husband is the only one for her.
Now, we reach the bronze medal of morality with Fear. Fear’s main job is to keep Riley safe
and out of trouble. However, this also means that he likes to stay out of trouble himself.
He tries to quit his job at headquarters until he realizes that it’s impossible for emotions
to do so. While Sadness and Joy were gone, Fear was the one to try and convince Anger
that it would be a bad idea for Riley to run away from home. Although he didn’t do
enough to stop the idea, which was most likely out of fear, his care for Riley is evident.
Our silver medal of morality goes to Riley’s dad,
Bill Andersen. Although he is frequently occupied by his job, he does what he can to care for his
family. Even though it takes him a while to notice Riley’s struggles with the big move,
he eventually tries to make amends with her after sending her to her room at the dinner table.
He knows his boundaries and when it’s appropriate for his daughter to have alone time. Despite his
mind going awry when thinking about sports, he is very supportive of Riley and his wife Jill. He
even comes up with the idea to wear the colors of Riley’s new hockey team at her game. Overall, he’s
a good and supportive dad with a busy lifestyle. Finally, our gold medal of morality goes to
Riley’s imaginary friend, Bing Bong. Part cat, elephant, dolphin, and cotton candy,
Bing Bong spends most of his time collecting his favorite memories in Long Term Memory. That is
until he is spotted by Joy and Sadness. Although scared at first, once he realizes who they are
and notes their significance to Riley, Bing Bong does what he can to get them back to headquarters.
Despite unintentionally getting the three into dangerous situations, Bing Bong’s efforts and
care for Riley don’t go unnoticed. He tries to teach them shortcuts he’s learned to help
them reach headquarters as quickly as possible. After falling down into the memory dump with Joy
due to the crashing of Family Island, Bing Bong performs the most heroic act in the entire movie;
sacrificing himself by jumping off the rocket wagon so Joy can reach headquarters and make Riley
happy again. Although Bing Bong, unfortunately, fades away and becomes forgotten in Riley’s mind,
we all will remember his sacrifice for the greater good. This makes him well deserving of our final
spot on the list as the most moral. Now that we’re done with the list,
it’s time to award some medals. The Darwin Medal goes to Bing Bong,
for being unable to tell the difference between “danger” and “shortcut.”
The Pride Medal goes to Joy, who for much of the movie thinks that
she’s the only person who can truly help Riley. The Sloth Medal goes to Sadness for wanting to be
dragged around by foot through long-term memory. The Wrath Medal goes to Anger,
which goes without saying. And lastly, the Lust Medal
goes to Jill Andersen for her recurring memories of the Brazilian helicopter pilot.
Let us know in the comments below if you agree with our ranking! Who do
you think is the most and least moral? Let us know what we should cover next,
and be sure to hit that notification bell and binge our Good to Evil playlist,
where we break down the morality of the characters in your favorite cartoons,
shows, and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked!