Animated children’s films have long endeavoured to teach young viewers how to manage their emotions. Disney Pixar’s Inside Out (2015) made this task of emotional regulation literal.
Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust – the five basic emotions of protagonist Riley – became characters in her interior “control room”. Together, they guided her actions as she developed from a toddler to a pre-teen. Now, in the next instalment, Inside Out 2, Riley turns 13. This means the arrival of more “sophisticated” emotions – including Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy and Ennui.
I am a researcher who has studied how boredom shapes media content and use. So I was particularly intrigued by the character of Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos), who embodies the mood of disengaged apathy more typically referred to as boredom.
