INSIDE OUT THEORY: Riley’s Brain Tried Deleting Joy 

This also explains why fear can't go through the tube while joy and sadness can at the beginning of the movie. Thank you for solving the mystery that I have been thinking for ages about. P.S I didn't think it was obvious!

Aren't the obstacles also...kinda also clinical symptoms of depression? Think about it: inability to recall happy memories, loss of concentration, instability of relationships, lack of interest in things/activities/people once enjoyed?

have you ever wondered if the emotions have little emotions too. and those emotions have emotions and it just goes on forever.

For me, the lowest point in my depression was when I lost the ability to cry, so I agree that sadness is incredibly important

Are we not going to mention how Joy's hair is blue tho? Sadness = blue This meant in order to have joy, you must have sadness. (Edit) Same with Disgust, Disgust has a small purple ascot, purple = fear Disgust is disgusted through a small form of fear, she is scared of what it causes or what it will cause.

If you notice, her mom's Brain the lead is sadness. However, in the dad's brain the lead is anger.

So basically Joy is the villain and Riley's brain is getting revenge for it

World war 3 is starting: I sleep No one tells me the theorizer uploads: You say what?

I always thought that sadness turning the memories blue, represented how you can look back at a memory or event from your past sadly, even if it was happy at the time.

Kinda makes sense that, after so long of sadness being repressed, the brain COULD be trying to show Joy Sadness's importance

i think the destruction joy sees mirrors rileys loss of sanity just something i observed.

Something a friend told me, "you can't always be happy." It made me think of the ying and yang symbol, which basically states that you have to have a little bad in the good and vice versa in order to have life. In order to live, you HAVE to feel sad, those things NEED to happen no matter how much one may hate being sad or crying, it has to happen eventually.

I always thought that sadness/joy's lesson was that in order for Riley to grow she had to grieve. I never really thought about the brain itself being a key factor because it doesn't really seem to have a "mind" of it own

So... Joy is the villain? I like it

It turns Riley into and EMO! Thanks dude. Are you saying I have no emotion? 😂

Did u see the Carlin Brothers Toy Story video?

I always thought that the memories turned sad because of that feeling of, 'Man, this was awesome, but I won't get to do it again. I miss this time.'

Another freaking amazing theory and video. Keep it up please it is just phenomenal

Speaking of crying, this movie is good at making people do that.

the movie told us that the brain is a machine controlled by tiny organisms "made up of" emotions (too far fetched, i know) but according to your theory the brain is itself an organism which is like the zordon in power rangers (but unlike power rangers, its supposed to make sense) and that would defeat the purpose of all the emotions if the brain is basically controlling them.

I have JOY because this video came out! I am a cringy pun factory

Joy is what you call toxic positivity. Toxic positivity is when you try to make everything positive and suppress all other emotions. Had Riley felt sad and told her parents, dh3 probably won’t have been as upset. As you can see in the movie, had Joy just shut up and let sadness talk, like they did at then end, Riley would have been able to be happy.

I personally moved across states at the age of elevan and I can tell you that the reason her memories are turning sad isn't to compensate it's because thinking of those memories literally makes you want to cry. It feels like you'll never have friends again. I have moved many times in my life but moving as a preteen was by far the worst. You become numb inside which is what the movie was trying to portray. You block everything out and it isn't until you truly feel that you can accept what has happened and move on. Remember that at that time you don't understand your own emotions either. I don't think there is a theory behind sadness she is simple what she is... Sadness.

Why dose joy have blue hair while all the others have the hair color they represent

wait wouldn't the core emotions (Riley's emotions) have emotions inside there head since they have feel things physically and emotionally witch are all caused by the brain and since joy cries it means she has sadness and other emotions.

THE BRAIN IS GOD AL HAIL THE BRAIN!

i didnt know abt this until know but get it... HEADquarters

This makes so much sense! When I was in high school I suffered from depression due to excessive bullying... my teachers all told me that the more depressed I act the worse I'll likely get bullied more... so I pushed down my depression... my sadness.... and pretended to be happy... I was so miserable and felt I had no one to really talk to so I shut it all off and became extremely withdrawn... the bullying did stop because I just stopped feeling everything and what fun is it to bully someone that doesn't feel... my mom took me to talk to a professional therapist and everything came pouring out over the last year.... it's been over 10 years now and I encourage my children to show every emotion because I know first hand how it feels to bury your feelings.... thank you for this video! Spot on!

i get it. we want to be happy when we need to be sad and when we're close to feeling happy there's obstacles, either mental or physical, that stop us till we realize we need to feel sad in order to feel joy again. like acceptance. just like in the movie all of rileys core memories started off sad but became happy. damn where do i apply for your job theorizer

Joy was such an annoying brat, she always treat all the emotions like they were expendables and she was the only onw that matters

Love ya theorizer!!! ❤️❤️

Joy has blue hair, she needs to use the part of her that is sadness. And that's how you can make everything make sense is this theory.

This is less of a theory and more so a fact.

My theory is that Rileys subconscious tried to kill Joy because she was actively damaging Rileys psyche but was excepted back because she became functional.

I always disliked Joy in the movie and never really knew why,because she was supposed to be the good one, and I absolutely HATED her in the scene where she forced Sadness to stay in the little circle and just constantly degraded her. This video really explained a lot,and I'm glad that I was right about the fact that Joy is not really good, in fact you could say she's the villain- since this is one of the only kids movie without a clear villain, I'm pretty sure Joy was meant to be. It's amazing how everything is so symbolic in this movie. However, one thing I really wish they did was give more importance to the other three emotions- the whole movie was just about Joy and Sadness. Especially I think Fear should have been more important, since that's what she would have felt in a lot of scenes.

"the keyboard literally turned Riley into an emo" yo i laughed so hard 😂😂😂facts tho

"Memory board literally turns Riley into an emo" Well at least she can listen to Twenty One Pilots without being judged.

In my opinion: Riley gets depression from being forced to be happy all the time, something I can relate to. Her parents rely on her for her happiness (I just realized that her parents named her Riley and they RELY on her. Seems too coincidental). She feels complelled to always be happy because she does not want to make the people she loves more upset than they already are. That is why Joy has suc a tight grip on her emotions. Her other emotions are suppressed in the background and only joy is being expressed. This is why she gets depression and "goes emo" towards the end of the movie. She feels trapped within herself, unable to express who she truly is, and goes numb. Wandering around on the instinct that maybe if she goes back to where she last felt free that she would be able to feel better again. Notice how she seemingly snaps out of it once she is able to express her emotions again. She has come back from her numbness. Also, sending Joy and Sadness into the abstract thought chamber is not a coincidence. Abstract thought is thinking about non-physical topics, such as emotions or religion, basically anything philosophical. She is literaly breaking down what sadness and joy are and why she is having such a hard time balancing them. She is going through a depressive period of self exploration as she contemplates why she acts the way she does and if it is ok for her to come out, be honest, and tel her family how she has been feeling Which she does in the scene when she returns home and cries to her parents. They realize that she is not ok and that they eed to stop depending on her so much, and she realizes that she does't have to be a perfect poster child for her parents anymore.

6:55-6:58 is the best

Imma going to watch Inside Out now

I tend to struggle with not crying. I suffer from depression and I actually don't feel anything anymore. I just feel nothing. I want to cry but there's nothing coming out of my eyes. So idk I just wanted to say that sorry. Also I'm about to turn 17 and this started when I was 10 and a half.

A theory I have is that when the memories first arrive to headquarters they are yellow which happens to be Joys color. So by default Riley feels joy in her life. But as soon as another emotion touches the memory it turns the memories to their color thus making Riley feel differently about her treasured memories.

This is so good! It is true, sadness and crying is actually relieving and it releases those negative emotions instead of bottling them up and being insensitive, like how Riley was unable to cry. It's so cool how they incorporated a deeper meaning toward a kids movie instead of it having no purpose.

Thats really cool. I aggree with your theory about sadness. I also think that this purpose of this film is to make joy understand that every emotion is important not just her. What i dont think is the one that doing it all the time is the brain itself. Really cool! Keep making videos!

Very logical theory my friend

I'm Right on time! :D

Cool Idea btw that makes a lot of sense!

And this was thought by the guy who called the elder guardian from minecraft "a neptonian fart"

The Explorers’ music in the back makes me happy (:

hey therizor im requesting a theary that is a little bit...unordinary its one for the plants vs zombies(i know its wierd) but im therizing that crazy dave is evil/ a sycopath. here are my points in the first game crazy dave tells you how to fight the zombies and he numeroulsly gives you a break down on the zombies your about to fight so he clearly knows how to fight the undead...but we never really see him do any him self like he is reling on you to fight for him . my 2nd point is more clearly spoken in pvz 2 its about time when dave has a delicous taco but when he eats it he gets his time travalling rv with you to go and eat the taco again. in this time he forces you to go from time zone to time zone macking you fight for him . when you get farther into the game you see how daves actions begin to become more apparent .., when you reach modern day time has collapsed with zombies of all ages apering then zomboss of all peaple trys to stop dave in a last dich attemp to make things normal again calling dave a manic a beggin him to stop but dave KEEPS pushing even when his rv named penny even told him to so thats my evidence hopefully you do see this and make a new theary

Riley brain : You think you are the boss joy haha Time to show you an lesson..

When the memories turned blue when sadness touched them,I just thought that it was supposed to be like Riley rethinking that memory and realising that it wasn't as happy as she thought it was.

PLEASE READ THIS. (I'M SORRY IT'S A LONG COMMENT:( ) Also do you know why the brain makes Bing Bong fall in the pit too? It is because Bing Bong is Riley's imaginary friend and "imaginary friend" is actually a part of psychology too. An "imaginary friend" mostly happens to children that are on age 3~11. And as you see in this movie Riley is 11 years old. So her imaginary friend Bing Bong must be gone so Riley can mentally grow. At the scene when Joy and Bing Bong is trying to get out of the pit by Bing Bong's "rocket" they fail everytime. This is planned by the brain, too. Not a coincidence. Because Bing Bong is riding in the "rocket". Bing Bong noticed that and sacrified himself for Riley..... The moment he said to Joy "Take her to the moon for me." means "Help Riley to achieve her dream." So Bing Bong is the most touching character in this movie. Let's not forget him....😢

I was hoping you'd do a video on inside out. Also im early, I want a cookie.

I don't think that it is a representation of loss of sanity but the fact that joy and sadness leave headquarters together is a representation of depression. People with depression often describe a numb feeling, neither feeling happy nor sad but still having the capacity to feel anger disgust and fear. Joy being put in the memory dump is symbolic that without sadness taking the wheel sometimes she could lose her capacity for joy all together.. sadness would eventually return to headquarters if Joy never got out of the dump or she may wander the memories tainting a lot of them blue, thus sort of a progression of the depression. Rileys age is perfect for the onset of depression and of course the circumstances give that push as well.

Holy mother of hell! I _love_ Inside Out! It's my favourite Pixar film ever!

Do something on wall-e.

This movie is a masterpiece!

This theory makes a whole lot more sense into the movie! I always thought that Joy was always too ruthless to sadness. I mean, all the memories that were shown at the beginning were in fact happy. And it’s almost suspicious why joy would forbid sadness to do anything. Great video by the way!

i feel like if sadness were killed off, riley would become one of those teens that constantly hide off their depression with binge eating or something that makes her feel happy

5:47 sent chills down my spine, because I think and feel those exact words all the time. Sometimes I think I've lost the ability to shed tears over the most painful memories I have. And I've gone through quite a bit; with an emotionally abusive father and a brother-in-law who isn't any better. Also, "creating a structure of WTF" I died

The theorizer can you please make a theory on Matilda(you know that old movie) if you do make it, Here are some theory suggestions example:Who killed Magnus or who is Mr's honey's mother if you do I will greatly appreciated it (like if you agree)

Is there anything you can say about Inside Out's subplot about what seems to be Riley's father starting a business?

I have never commented on any video but this one is AWESOME. I totally loved the explanation.

Last time I was this early I wasn't

first one to eat a chicken hole

It explains why the sad core memory gets sent to another tube when Sadness & Joy get sucked out of headquarters

I'll be straight honest. If Riley were without sadness, she would go crazy like a joker

Do emotions have emotions and those emotions have emotions or do the emotions those emotions incarnate?

How did you miss the fact that Joy had a blue aura suggesting sadness is integral to her ?

The way you explained it made my mind blown! Inside out was something I didn't pay much attention to, and enjoyed it....but this video.....woah,......im speechless

"You can't control your emotions, your brain and soul are different entities, They make their own world" - Me

Hey Therorizer have you ever tried making a theory about the confusing thing called Vocaloid? Just asking.

.... So Reilly was a slight psychopath before shit went down? Makes sense.

Yo, this really makes a lot of sense because when you are sad, but can't cry it really does drive you insane

Sadness is *EXTRA THICC*

Notice me Senpai

I've been compelled to cry before but couldn't. It's an awful feeling because you don't understand why you can't cry, you feel the emotional pain but you can't let it out, it's almost as if something is trying to prevent you from crying or anything. So it builds up inside of you, and continues to build up until everything bursts like a dam releasing a flood of emotions all at once. Then once you're able to let it out you feel better, but it creates damage that you don't feel like you can fix because you now live in fear that this is something that will continue to happen for the rest of your life. It's a very scary thing to experience. You feel like somethings terribly wrong with you but you have no idea what. So you try to deal with it the best you can even if it doesn't truly work

its also symbolism of losing all your hobbies. its what happens when youre depressed. also bipolar develops commonly in adolesence.

When I first watched this movie, I thought that it was metaphorical for trying to say that Riley was experiencing depression. Obviously this would be suspected had only Joy been the one absent from the control room. But since Sadness is with her, most probably dismissed this idea. Many believe depression to be directly linked to sadness. Thinking depression is being overwhelmed with sorrow. Riley vaguely reminds me of me. I have bipolar depression. My depression, moreso described in my own words as I have experienced it, is void of sadness. Its mostly a concoction of self loathing and anxiety. This can be more accurately categorized as mixtures of forms of Disgust, Anger, and Fear. Sometimes no emotion at all. As depicted, when in Headquarters, Joy constantly attempts to look at the bright side of things. Trying to make Riley irrationally optimistic. I have also experienced this. Its like trying to convince Riley that she has no need to be sad, there's always a brightside. But this is bad, seeing as there have to be negative reactions to certain things. Her irrational approach to the big change in her life caused what I see as a bout of depression. She has a breakdown in the middle of class. Both of her emotions, Joy and Sadness, battle to take control of her. She had experienced joy for so long her state of mind attempted to take the natural reaction to what occurred. When she loses all her core memories, I saw this as a metaphor that Riley had forgotten what made her happy and what made her sad. She had forgotten what really made her who she was. As seen, when they get sucked up the tube, Riley suddenly stops crying all together and sits down. This is her descent into depression. She becomes void of all emotions, not knowing how to cope with what has occured and thus deciding not to. With Joy and Sadness absent, the other emotions try to fill that void. This causes the negative actions to occur and a sense of hopelessness to wash over her. She can no longer enjoy what she used to enjoy without all of her emotions properly intact. Which is why she avoids her father when he tries to make her feel better. One by one her islands of personality fall, she slowly slips farther in until ultimately Anger decides to come up with the idea of running away. This is her irrational optimism being fueled by her negative desire to experience happiness again. Depression. Trying to make the best out of it. This is of course just my take on it. Its flawed. But I agree with what you said. She needed to be sad first if she was ever going to find out that happiness was not always the answer.

what if Riley's emotions have emotions! we do see joy cry! and we saw at some points in the movie saddness and joy had fear!!

Crying is incredibly hard for me. It's only happened once in the last 15 years or so. Sadness is important, but joy being lost entirely is unfortunate.

Woah, this is really mind blowing !! I love how you use psychological evidence to back up your theories!!!

5:38 buddy that’s just my depression

You have a point. A healthy balance between emotions is important.

I've been thinking about inside out a lot lately it really is my favourite Pixar movie...so relatable. So relieving.

The Theorizer: For me the movie helped me to understand why sadness was so important and how too much happiness could destroy you emotionally and mentally. Also I have been thinking about violet incredible from 'the incredibles' and was wandering if it was possible that violet and syndrome may be related. I have no real theory on this so it's just a thought. I understand that violet is younger and the age difference is great but I thought it was an interesting idea. If possible you could please do a video on the idea of syndrome and violet being related or not related? By the Way I liked your Coraline theory videos. They made watching Coraline even better. Keep up the good work.

please make a sequel on why anger, disgust and fear didn't really try to get joy and sadness back, but just continued trying to manage without them

3:13 I.... KNOW WHAT IM DOING!!!!! IM GOING BACK TO MINNESOTA SO THAT I DONT HAVE TO BE AFRAID OF LIVING HERE!!!!!! I WANNA GO BACK TO THE WAY THINGS USED TO BE I DONT GIVE A HECK ABOUT THIS PLACE!!!!!!!!!!! - riley

I noticed how the brain is trying to get rid of controlling Joy. Joy prevents Riley from expressing Sadness, which she still feels, as seen in Sadness trying to make Riley feel sad by subconsciously touching the memories, but Joy wanting Riley to always be happy causes Riley's brain to reject Joy from headquarters. Riley can still express anger, fear and disgust because she still feels them. But they cannot replace either joy or sadness so the only thing that works is the implanted idea to get the Joy and Sadness back from her hometown. Notice how Joy is the fondest of young kid Riley? There are hardly any memories from 11-year-old Riley that Joy likes because Joy wants Riley to be a happy kid. But Riley is growing, her brain needs more complex emotions and islands of personality. Bing Bong getting erased from Riley's memories is also no accident - normal teens and grown ups don't have imaginary friends. The problem created by not being able to express sadness when needed moved the necessary maturing of all the emotions forward, thus we get bitter-sweet core memory as well as more complex panel. Riley is growing up and her emotions are growing up too.

Have you noticed the hair? Each emotion matches their skin: Disgust, green hair and skin, Anger, bald, but that doesn't really matter because he has fire on his head when gets angry, Fear has purple hair and skin, Sadness, blue hair and skin, but Joy, she has yellow skin and blue hair just like Sadness.

Basically tried to mask everything with joy until all the sadness catched up and had an emotional breakdown, like me XD

“You have to have dark to have light. If all you have is light, you have. If you only have dark, you basically have nothing.” -Bob Ross

i really appreciate the quality of these videos

Cab we also take note of the fact that disgust has green hair like her body, sadness has blue hair like her body but joy doesnt have yellow hair, she has blue hair, possibly further emphasising the need for sadness to work with joy, and maybe why joy cries when she falls in the void, maybe she has a sad streak herself because sadness and joy cannot exist without each other, if you never experience sadness you cant fully appreciate joy and if you never feel joy then all you understand is sadness and cant feel joy (you become clinically depressed). So maybe joys blue hair is symbolic of her need for sadness to work with her, not against her?

I figured Riley was turning into one of those people who have no joy nor sadness, who are nothing but rage, fear, and disgust. They are all too common these days.

You know I can't wait until he makes a insane theory for inside out 2 with the brain again.

The sound you make at he end of the video is just great

Wow... you have seriously amped up you Video Editing game since the last time I watch one of your videos... good theory!

Awesome video! I've always enjoyed your content.