Pixar’s Inside Out 2 has sparked conversations far beyond the movie theater, introducing audiences to a new set of emotions perfectly tailored for the turbulent teenage years. Among these fresh feelings is “Ennui,” a character that resonates deeply with anyone who has navigated or observed the complexities of adolescence. But What Is Ennui exactly? This article delves into the meaning of ennui, its portrayal in Inside Out 2, and why understanding this emotion is crucial in today’s digital age.
Unpacking Ennui: More Than Just Boredom
Ennui, a French term, often translates to a profound sense of boredom, but it encompasses much more than simply feeling uninterested. It’s an existential weariness, a dissatisfaction with life that goes beyond the mundane. In Inside Out 2, the character Ennui, voiced with fitting apathy by French actress Adèle Exarchopoulos, embodies this state of mind. She’s characterized by her detachment and lethargy, showing little interest in the events unfolding around her.
Theresa Nguyen, Chief Research Officer at Mental Health America, points out that while terms like “depression” or “boredom” are more commonly understood, “human beings are not great at identifying emotions.” Introducing Ennui in Inside Out 2 is, therefore, a significant step in recognizing and articulating these more nuanced feelings, especially as Riley, the protagonist, enters puberty. Nguyen highlights the importance of acknowledging these “complex emotions” that emerge during adolescence.
Jason Deamer, the film’s production designer, describes Ennui as a character who “can’t be bothered to raise her head, she’s so bored.” Visually, Ennui is depicted in “dark, desaturated, blue-grayish shade—if I had to give it a name, it’d be ‘blah.'” This visual representation perfectly captures the emotion’s dull and listless nature.
Ennui is not merely fleeting boredom; it’s a more persistent and pervasive feeling. As Nguyen explains, “We can feel ennui to varying degrees. It’s a mixture of long-term boredom, listlessness, sadness.” However, it’s essential to distinguish ennui from clinical depression. Psychiatrist Ashvin Sood clarifies this distinction, suggesting that ennui is “almost like a symptom with a greater cause behind it.” He likens it to a cough, which can be a symptom of various underlying conditions. In this context, ennui is the outward manifestation of a person’s reaction to their environment or circumstances.
Ennui in the Digital World: A Modern Youth Experience
Nguyen notes that while the term ennui has been used in addiction studies, it’s increasingly relevant in describing the experiences of young people navigating the contemporary world. The pervasive nature of digital technology plays a significant role in the rise of ennui, particularly among youth.
“What’s important with understanding the idea of ennui in youth is that we also live in a digital world,” Nguyen emphasizes. She suggests a link between early exposure to screens and a predisposition to mental health challenges, contributing to why some individuals “struggle with addiction issues.” In Inside Out 2, Ennui’s constant phone usage is a visual metaphor for this digital immersion. Nguyen observes this mirroring in her own children, noting a “crash from the overstimulation” after prolonged screen time. This overstimulation can paradoxically lead to ennui, often accompanied by irritability.
Sood reinforces this point, referencing studies showing that excessive exposure to “big, flashy stimulations” in young children (two to four-year-olds) can result in tantrums and emotional dysregulation. Nguyen connects this back to ennui, defining it as “that listlessness, that anger that comes from wanting stimulation and not facing it.” The digital world, with its constant barrage of stimuli, can raise the threshold for what excites or fulfills young people, as Sood points out. “When we don’t have that [high level of stimulation], we get bored,” he concludes, but this boredom is often tinged with the deeper dissatisfaction of ennui.
Ennui as a Teenage Defense Mechanism
In Inside Out 2, Ennui’s arrival coincides with Riley’s efforts to “play it cool” and fit in with her peers. This context highlights another facet of ennui, particularly in adolescence: it can serve as a defense mechanism.
Jason Hoffman, the film’s story supervisor, describes ennui as “that every-teen feeling that you don’t care or don’t want to deal.” He personally related to this emotion from his teenage years, noting Ennui’s “droopy noodle posture” and “commitment to her technology” as typical teenage behaviors. Sood characterizes this form of ennui as a “defense mechanism” that commonly develops around the age of 11, aligning with Riley’s age in the film (13).
During the preteen and early teenage years, young individuals are intensely focused on self-discovery and social acceptance. Sood explains, “Kids that age only want to be accepted by their friends. That’s most important at that age.” Ennui, in this context, can be a way to mask vulnerability, project indifference, and navigate the complex social landscape of adolescence. It’s a way to appear detached and unaffected, even when experiencing deep internal turmoil.
Navigating Ennui: Strategies for Parents and Teens
The concern for parents is that if children don’t learn healthy coping mechanisms for ennui, they may seek stimulation in potentially harmful ways, “from doomscrolling to pornography to drugs,” as Nguyen cautions. “And that’s what you don’t want.” She emphasizes that these are “new, modern issues that we’re not necessarily prepared for.”
Nguyen points to reduced playtime and the reliance on screens by busy parents as contributing factors to ennui. She nostalgically recalls a time when affordable and accessible programs kept children engaged and active, lamenting their decreased availability today. Her advice is straightforward: “Learn how to be bored. Be bored.” She advocates for recalibrating our brains in the modern world by embracing moments of stillness and resisting the urge for constant stimulation.
Ennui is not exclusive to teenagers; adults also experience it, often turning to video games, social media, and other digital stimuli for escape. However, these digital engagements often lack the fulfilling quality of real-world interactions, like “having dinner with friends,” as Nguyen notes. The key takeaway from Inside Out 2‘s portrayal of Ennui and expert insights is the importance of recognizing this complex emotion, understanding its roots in both internal and external factors, and actively cultivating healthier ways to navigate it. By learning to be comfortable with boredom and engaging in meaningful real-world experiences, individuals, especially young people, can develop resilience against the pervasive ennui of the digital age.
