Riley is informed (scene)

## **Riley is informed**

Scene of *Inside Out*

Don't worry, the good news is coming too. First, though, the bad news.

"**Riley is informed**" is a scene used in *Inside Out* parodies. Its use usually involves Riley Andersen being informed by her mother about absolutely anything and everything, hence the name.

## In *Inside Out*

Having recently moved to San Francisco, Riley Andersen has doubts about the city. It culminates with Anger (before the scene proper) concluding that the move itself was the cause of all problems, with Fear and Disgust agreeing. However, Joy objects, trying to make the other emotions see the positive side of things. The others, however, are unable to see anything redeeming about San Francisco, with Disgust sarcastically declaring: "We could be lying on the dirty floor. In a bag.", just before the movie cuts to Riley being in this exact state.

As the scene, as used in parodies, begins, Joy once again tries to put a happy spin to things. However, each emotion objects, and Fear first suggests skipping school for the next day. Joy is considerably irritated, but cannot voice anything before Mom comes in, as Riley previously requested Mom and Dad to kiss her good night.

The following segment usually shows both the outside world, with Riley and Mom, and Riley's mind, with the emotions, in tandem. At first, Anger imitates a train, claiming that "The Mom Bad News Train is pulling in". Then, Mom informs Riley that the moving van is still missing, and Anger imitates a train again. Riley then asks where Dad is, and Mom goes into a spiel about how he is busy, with Anger staying with the same conclusion. Joy, dejected, moves away from the console, and Anger pushes buttons on it, making Riley scowl.

However, just as Riley scowls, Mom thanks her, and Anger is shocked. Mom then talks about how the move has been stressful for the entire family, but how Riley has stayed happy and tried to find the bright side throughout this entire time, and asks her to continue doing this. Joy, who has been stepping from the console at this time, is shocked, before she returns and pushes buttons on the console, making Riley respond happily. Mom then kisses her and turns off the light, and Riley promptly falls asleep. The other emotions then realize Joy was right all along, and she congratulates "Team Happy" (as she has been calling Riley's emotions as a whole) for another great day, before everyone else leaves and Joy is left on Dream Duty.

### Significance

This scene is significant to *Inside Out* in two ways. First, Mom's arrival to the scene shows that Riley's mind is incredibly fragile, and that any interpersonal arguing between the emotions can be interrupted by an outside factor at any point in time.

Second, Mom telling Riley to be happy is taken as direct advice by Joy, who would later plan to be at the console for the next day, and who would, throughout *Inside Out*, motivate her decisions, even ill-conceived ones such as leaving Sadness behind, purporting that "Riley needs to be happy". This is part of establishing Joy as an unintentional villain of *Inside Out*; though, by the end of the movie, Joy has learned her lesson that Sadness is also important.

This, in particular, is part of a broader culture that *Inside Out* is commenting on. The YouTube channel *Wisecrack* claims that people are codified to be happy, similar to the way Riley is by Mom in the scene, all the time, and that therefore, they are reluctant to show any signs of being unhappy or talking about it in order to maintain the facade of happiness all the time. This, most notably, is perpetuated by capitalist enterprises, which tell people to buy stuff in order to "buy" happiness. However, this perpetuation of happiness, represented by Joy, is often to the exclusion of other emotions, which are also important to a person's life.

## In parodies

This scene is the rough equivalent of various scenes of *Downfall* used in parodies titled "Hitler is informed", including but not limited to the Original Bunker Scene, Günsche informs Hitler and Bormann informs Hitler, with Mom (usually) serving as the informer. As such, it is generally used to have Riley react to various political and cultural events such Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and the repeal of net neutrality by the FCC, as well as out-of-universe matters, such as subscriber milestones and that this video has been edited using MAGIX Vegas Pro 14.

However, there are three distinct differences between this scene and any "Hitler is informed" scene:

* This scene features Riley's emotions by themselves extensively, long before Mom steps in. This can be used to establish Riley's original opinion on the issue, and then show that it has changed after the informing. This also means that quick joke parodies with Mom informing Riley of either the blatantly obvious or the blatantly wrong, as Otto Günsche is known to do, are impossible to make using this scene in its entirety.
* During the informing, Mom is the one who does most of the talking, with Riley and her emotions only making brief quips while she's talking. This means that, whatever the issue is, the parodist must have to say a lot about it, and it is unsuitable for quick, cheap jokes, like the "Günsche informs Hitler" scene is.
* Mom always tries to put a happy spin on whatever she just informed Riley about. This makes the scene unsuitable for informing about antics, seen as bad without redeeming qualities in other types of parodies.

This is partially contrasted by the distinct similarity of Mom entering Riley's room solely to inform her, as Günsche and Bormann are known to do (especially with Bormann bringing in papers to read about what he is informing about). However, compared to them, Mom is still distinctly smart, as she can go on a topic without needing to bring in a cue or remain awkwardly silent, as Günsche is once Hitler begins ranting about his failure at informing, or the misfortune being informed about.

The outside world intro of this scene is Riley, in a sleeping bag, in her empty room. This immediately follows the usually cut out sarcastic remark by Disgust. However, unlike parodies based on other scenes, the outside world intro is never cut out.

Some of the particular beats that, so far, have cropped up in all parodies titled "Riley is informed", are Riley asking about the actual topic she wants to be informed about after Mom goes off-topic, the rambling as Riley tunes out and the eventual happy spin on whatever Riley is being informed about.

However, Jill reacts to being told Riley has emotions guiding her takes a radically different approach to using the scene in general by reversing the roles; Riley has informed Mom (off screen) and Mom is the one delivering her reaction, to which Riley's emotions then can react in return, declaring their informing either successful or unsuccessful.

## Stage directions

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20151207171801/http://waltdisneystudiosawards.com/downloads/inside-out-screenplay.pdf (official release by Disney, but now removed from the original website)

Capitalization and punctuation is preserved from the original source.

Riley is lying on the dirty floor in a sleeping bag.
INT. HEADQUARTERS
JOY
Okay, I admit it, we had a rough start. But think of all the good things that--
ANGER
No, Joy. There’s absolutely no reason for Riley to be happy right now. Let us handle this.
FEAR
I say we skip school tomorrow and lock ourselves in the bedroom.
DISGUST
We have no clean clothes. I mean, no one should see us.
SADNESS
Yeah, we could cry until we can’t breathe.
ANGER
We should lock the door and scream that curse word we know. It’s a good one!
JOY
Now hold on! Look, we all have our off days. You know, I--
ON THE SCREEN: Mom opens Riley’s bedroom door.
MOM
Hi honey.
ANGER
The Mom Bad News Train is pulling in! Toot toot!
INT. RILEY’S ROOM
Mom sits next to Riley.
MOM
Still no moving van. Now they’re saying it won’t be here ‘til Tuesday, can you believe it?
INT. HEADQUARTERS
ANGER
Toot toot toot!
INT. RILEY’S ROOM
RILEY
Where’s Dad?
MOM
On the phone. This new venture is keeping him pretty busy. Your dad’s a little stressed -- you know, about getting his new company up and running...
INT. HEADQUARTERS
ANGER
I rest my case!
Joy sighs. She falls back from the controls. Anger steps up to the console.
ANGER (CONT’D)
Now for a few well-placed withering scowls.
INT. RILEY’S ROOM
MOM
I guess all I really want to say is: thank you.
INT. HEADQUARTERS
ANGER
Huh?
Anger drops the controls.
INT. RILEY’S ROOM
MOM
You know, through all this confusion you’ve stayed... well, you’ve stayed our happy girl!
Mom brushes Riley’s cheek.
MOM (CONT’D)
Your dad’s under a lot of pressure. But if you and I can keep smiling, it would be a big help. We can do that for him, right?
INT. HEADQUARTERS
Joy, smiling with renewed purpose, steps back to the console.
JOY
Whoa! Well.
INT. RILEY’S ROOM
RILEY
(smiles)
Yeah! Sure.
MOM
What did we do to deserve you?
(kisses Riley)
Sweet dreams.
RILEY
Good night.
INT. HEADQUARTERS
ANGER
Well, you can’t argue with Mom. “Happy” it is.
FEARDISGUST
Team Happy! Sounds great!I’m totally behind you, Joy.
INT. RILEY’S ROOM
Riley goes to sleep.
INT. HEADQUARTERS
The screen goes black.
JOY
Looks like we’re going into REM. I got Dream Duty, so I’ll take care of sending these to Long Term. Great day today, guys! Sleep well TEAM HAPPY!

### Notes

1. ↑ Parodies by CreativityTheEmotion tend to feature colored subtitles to indicate who is talking; Fear's subtitle is light purple and Disgust's is light green.

## Gallery

Joy's in quite a pickle, it seems.Isn't it wonderful how I'm always optimistic? Isn't it? Isn't it?Move aside, everyone; this is Joy's turf now.Yup, it definitely is. Zero objections.