By ignoring one important character from the first movie,Inside Out 2confirms a harsh reality about Riley’s life since moving to San Francisco.Inside Outis a Pixar franchise that follows an adolescent named Riley through the difficult parts of life, exploring the emotions and brain processes that influence her perception of the world. After seeing Riley cope with a move across the country in the first movie,Inside Out 2shows Riley changing with the introduction of new emotions, including Anxiety.
Inside Out 2confirms many harsh realities, such as the fact that anxiety can cause people to develop perfectionism and negative self-esteem. The movie includes one of themost accurate depictions of an anxiety attackto appear onscreen. It also becomes apparent that Riley doesn’t know how to handle the change of her friends going to a new school. Still, one deeply painful truth inInside Out 2is never overtly stated but made clear by the movie ignoring a significant person in Riley’s life from the originalInside Out.
Inside Out 2 Indicates Riley Is Not Friends With Her Minnesota Friends Anymore
Meg And Riley’s Other Minnesota Friends Aren’t Ever Mentioned In Inside Out 2
At the start ofInside Out 2, Riley has new best friends in San Francisco, andthere’s no mention of Meg or anyone else she knows from Minnesota. Since the narrative spans only a few days in Riley’s life, it could be argued that they perhaps just didn’t speak during that time. Still, it seems like, in a movie focused on friendship, she would have at least mentioned her Minnesota friends or interacted with them by direct message at some point. There’s also no visual indication on Friendship Island that she and Meg are still friends.
She might feel like she had been abandoned by her old friends, triggering her anxiety about it happening again.
Additionally, Riley has a particularly negative reaction to the fact that her friends are going to a different high school. Her response would make even more sense if she had lost touch with her friends since she moved away. She might feel like she had been abandoned by her old friends, triggering her anxiety about it happening again. This would also explain why anxiety makes her act so out of character in that situation.
Long-Distance Friendships Are Difficult To Maintain
One of the saddest but most realistic parts ofInside Out 2is the fact that Riley lost contact or at least became distant enough from her Minnesota friends that she doesn’t mention them in the movie. They still stay in contact through video calls in the first movie, but Meg is never mentioned again after Riley gets jealous and hangs up on Meg. It’s unclear whether their friendship recovered from the conflict. While most people want to imagine that friendships will last forever,sometimes best-friend breakups occur, and that’s just a painful part of life.
Anger
Nostalgia
Even if they did get past that low moment, Riley has seemingly moved on byInside Out 2because she’s in a different state and can’t see her Minnesota friends like she could before. Research by social psychologists and gestalt psychologists has repeatedly affirmed the accuracy ofthe proximity principle – the idea that individuals are more likely to become friends with people physically closer to them than those who are farther away. Children typically have friendships of forced proximity because they attend school for long periods of time. When moving away, that proximity and time are taken away.
Inside Out 2’s 10 Best Moments With The New Emotions
From Envy to Anxiety to Nostalgia, Inside Out 2 introduced a bunch of new emotions in Riley’s mind — and they each had their share of great moments.
Even with social media and the best technology,it makes sense that Riley would struggle to maintain friendships with people she never sees.This is especially true if she’s doing afterschool activities like hockey, which would take up her spare time that she could spend talking to her Minnesota friends. Considering psychologists consulted onboth Inside Out movies, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that the sequel leaving out Meg was a conscious decision made based on the proximity principle. After all,Family Island being smaller in Inside Out 2accurately reflects developmental psychology as well (viaVox).
How Inside Out 3 Could Bring Riley’s Minnesota Friends Back
Inside Out 3 Could Show Meg And Riley Reconnecting After Time Apart
There are numerousstages of lifeInside Out 3could followif Disney and Pixar decide to do the threequel, and some of them could reintroduce Riley’s Minnesota friends. SinceInside Out 2briefly introduced Nostalgia, the third movie could include Riley traveling back to Minnesota for the first time since moving to San Francisco. This storyline would offer the opportunity to reintroduce Meg and Riley’s other childhood friends as well as Riley’s extended family. If she was towards the end of high school, the question could be whether she wants to go to college in Minnesota or San Francisco.
Why Riley Dyes Her Hair Red In Inside Out 2
Riley’s decision to dye her hair red in Inside Out 2 has a significant meaning that adds a touching depth to the character’s journey in the sequel.
Alternatively, the third movie could pick up with Riley starting college and unexpectedly meeting her childhood friends again. This movie might explore reconnecting with old friends after a long period of time. Ultimately, even though there are opportunities to reintroduce Riley’s Minnesota friends, it’s not actually necessary to resolve this storyline because their growing apart by the start ofInside Out 2seemed natural and self-explanatory.
