A film discourse on emotions, exemplified by the Pete Docter’s animated film for children “Inside Out”

Abstract

This paper discusses the conceptualization of anthropomorphized emotions in children’s animated films, using the example of the Polish (dubbed) version of Pete Docter’s production Inside Out (2015). This is a new issue that has not been developed in the fields of film studies, linguistics, and media linguistics. It is placed in the wider context of film discourse, with particular emphasis on the visual-verbal layer and educational function. In a film treated as a media message, all dimensions of film discourse are fulfilled. The basic research unit is a statement extracted from an audio track, functioning in a specific situational context and associated with a visual code. Children perceive the world filtered by characters’ experiences, knowledge, and emotions. They accept their point of view, which is revealed both in visual and verbal layers. The audiovisual nature of the message forces us to adopt a broad multimodal research perspective. Since the research has an interdisciplinary nature and is within the framework of media linguistics, attention is focused on those elements of cinematic work that the viewer (child) is able to decode: the narrator’s person, the coexistence of visual and verbal codes, and the principle of contrast. The elements indicated interpenetrate and thus create an integral cinematic picture of emotions. The analysis showed that the film fits into the medial (cinematic) discourse about emotions. Due to its audiovisual capabilities, it has great potential in demonstrating and explaining complex emotional states, often difficult to understand by the intended recipient of the film. Its uniqueness is evidenced by the fact that it does not so much appeal to the emotional sphere of the child audience, but anthropomorphizes emotions. It depicts the world and situations that are impossible to imagine due to child-specific cognitive deficits.