Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3204: "Inside Out" Movie Clip - Mostly Correct, but some Wrong Expressions for Emotion-Characters (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Disney - Pixar, along with other animation studios, have for the past 15 years or so, been very accurate with respect to their nonverbal illustrations on their characters. Said another way - the emotions, vocal qualities and nonverbal signals of their characters have been highly congruent - a simple principle human actors would be well-advised to heed. Yet sometimes even they are off their game.

Take for example the soon-to-be-released animated film, "Inside Out". In this movie, emotions are embodied within separate characters inside a little girl (Riley) - collectively making up her emotional psyche. The plot revolves around the turmoil created when Riley and her parents relocate from the Mid-West U.S. to San Francisco.

Here, at 0:20, the character-emotion of disgust (whose voice is played by Mindy Kaling) accurately projects her namesake while repelling from broccoli.

More accurate disgust as Kaling's character tries not to vomit (0:21)

Yet if we flashback to 0:16 we see the very classic and distinctive asymmetrical expression of contempt.

Contempt is fundamentally different from disgust, for contempt must be directed at a person or group of people - never a non-person. Disgust however can and is very often directed towards disliked food, non-living things - as well as people.

In this moment, at 0:21.5, we see Riley displaying emotional pain - with an elevated central forehead contraction (CFC) with some contempt display as well (note however, that this contempt is on the opposite side of her mouth and expressed to a significantly lesser degree than her falsely-directed psyche character).

This is indeed an accurate expression and very consistent with what one expect if this were a real-world scenario. It's NOT however disgust as Mindy Kaling's psyche disgust character is supposed to be transmitting.

Riley's torso-neck-head leaning away from her broccoli and also her non-direct gaze (with rotated head) are also very congruent body language.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3203: Caitlyn Jenner on Vanity Fair - Did Annie Leibovitz Project what she intended? - Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3183: Tom Brady, Bridget Moynahan, Body Language & Classic Subtle Contempt

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3178: Garland, Texas Gunmen - Elton Simpson, Nadir Soofi, Contempt and Body Language Warning Signals

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3131: Kim Jong-un, his Uncle Jang Song-thaek and a Warning sign of Potential Violence

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3172: Jameis Winston, the NFL Draft, Body Language and Predicting Violent Behavior

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