The Wild Blog in the West

Beware of spoilers! Inside Out , Pixar's latest release, tells a surprisingly complex story of what goes on inside one girl's mind as she confronts major changes in her life.  Yet it could also serve as a study of how extroverts routinely undervalue introverts, to everyone's peril. The movie revolves around an 11-year old girl named Riley who has just moved from Minnesota with her parents to a run-down house in San Francisco (that probably cost $2 million *cough*).  Riley goes from perpetually happy-go-lucky to confused and withdrawn, in part due to the fact that her mental "control room" is in disarray.  That's because Joy, one of her five anthropomorphic emotions and the one who steers her reactions on a day-to-day basis, accidentally got sucked into Riley's long-term memory along with Sadness, leaving Fear, Anger, and Disgust to run the show.   Inside Out  chronicles Joy and Sadness's attempts to return to the control room to save Riley from f

Yes, another article about Disney's  Frozen .  At least it's relevant, given the recent premiere of the  Frozen Fever short and the announcement that there will be a Frozen 2 . While Queen Elsa's character in Frozen has often been compared to a lesbian coming out of the closet, her embrace of her icy powers could be metaphorical in other ways.  One such way could be an introvert learning to embrace her true nature... or conversely, learning to become an extrovert. Can Elsa's character arc be read either way?  To begin with, is Elsa an introvert?  Introverts are typically: reserved interested in big ideas rather than small talk needs to be alone to replenish after socializing thinks before he/she speaks prefers to observe rather than be the center of attention Some of this would definitely apply to Elsa both pre-Trauma (nearly killing her sister) and post-Trauma.  Even early innocent Elsa was more reserved than Anna, and she seemed more inclined to think

It would have been an enormous task to focus on The Addams Family  as a whole, as it includes a panel of cartoons first published in 1938, a successful television series (1964-1966), at least one animated series (1973-1975) and two movies, the second of which, Addams Family Values , came out in 1993.  I chose the second movie not only because it's a favorite and because it's easier than focusing on the entire canon, but also because it is one of the rare examples of introversion being  celebrated . The "creepy and kooky" Addams family consists of father Gomez, mother Morticia, Grandmama, Uncle Fester, Cousin Itt, Lurch the butler, Thing, and Pugsley and Wednesday.  The Addams family embraces every force that society has taught us to fear: darkness, werewolves, witches, blood, and death.  Moreover, they do so in an undeniably cheerful way, especially Gomez.  They would make wonderful friends if not for the constant fear that they could be plotting your demise. In

For about its first five seasons, Roseanne  (1988-1997) was a revelation.  Those put off by Roseanne Barr's abrasive personality missed one of the few television shows (let alone sitcoms) to portray family and the working class in a realistic manner. You just didn't see shows like this on the air.  Its fellow sitcoms included The Cosby Show  and Growing Pains , both shows involving well-to-do families with large, impossibly neat houses.  Whereas Roseanne and Dan Conner's house looked like the house you might have : an old, faded afghan covering a worn-out couch; magazines strewn over the coffee table; odds and ends crowding a desk in the background. And their family seemed like one you (or *cough* at least I) might have as well.  Not one where the kids were endlessly subservient to, and stupider than, the parents, like on The Cosby Show .  Becky and Darlene fought with their parents, sometimes viciously.  They fought with each other the same way.  They frequently deri

For the previous installment, go here . "Why even bother?" you might wonder.  When you think of media portrayal of introverts, could a less likely example come to mind? Sometimes you find introversion, and treatment of introverts, in unexpected places.  And sometimes the examination of lack of introversion can be just as revealing. First, here's the story.  Six kids, two parents, and a housekeeper, blended together through marriage in 1969, on a sitcom that would last five years.  While Mike and Carol Brady occupied a more central role in the earlier seasons, in later seasons, they would frequently be supporting players to the kids: Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, and Cindy.  Most episodes were surprisingly grounded in real life situations, such as school elections, fundraisers, football games, romantic rivals, school plays, and learning to drive.  That is, when they weren't about cursed Tiki statues, unlikely celebrity cameos, or being a professional pop

For the previous installment, go here . And so we continue to the next installment of the Introvert series, to a show that no one takes seriously, yet seems indelibly etched into our collective brain.  That would be Saved By the Bell , the original series that ran from 1989 until 1993. Saved By the Bell  followed six high school students on their daily adventures.  The series was a spinoff of a failed Hayley Mills star vehicle, Good Morning Miss Bliss , which aired in 1988.  Audiences were underwhelmed by the show's tepid humor and moralizing, and Good Morning Miss Bliss headed for the chopping block.  Yet instead of swinging the axe, NBC decided to buy the rights and rework the show, turning it into Saved By the Bell .  Among the "saved" were lead characters Zack Morris, Samuel "Screech" Powers, Lisa Turtle, and the principal, Richard Belding.  Gone were Miss Bliss, the rest of the cast, the Indiana location, and several IQ points.  Set at Bayside High

For my first look at introverts in the media, I decided to go with the popular stage musical,  Wicked . Wicked  is, of course, the retelling of The Wizard of Oz  from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West, with the intent of making her sympathetic.  It began as a novel called Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, published in 1995.  Eight years later,  Wicked  premiered as a musical in San Francisco, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz.  While the musical made several changes, the basic elements remained the same: the story was about Elphaba, a misunderstood misfit born with green skin. The Plot There be spoilers ahead! Elphaba's mother was the wife of the Munchkins' governor.  After the governor went away, her mother had an affair with a mysterious man, and out of that affair came Elphaba.  Scarred by her daughter's appearance, Elphaba's mother ate milk-flowers so that her second child would be normal

Coming soon to this blog: a feature where I examine certain media for how they treat introverts. Much like my Movie Musicals and Unpopular Opinions , I hope that this will be recurring.  Each time, I intend to look at a character (or an individual if the media involves real people), what that person does, how prominent that person is, and how other people view that person.  I think it offers a great opportunity to truly see how introverted people fare in the media, rather than fall back on assumptions or stereotypes. And though I don't exactly have a degree in behavioral science, I am going to try and do this in a structured manner.  First thing's first: Define "Introvert" Merriam-Webster defines an introvert as "one whose personality is characterized by introversion; a reserved or shy person."  Introversion is "the state or tendency toward being wholly or predominantly concerned with and interested in one's own mental life." By