Abstract Thought is a location inside Riley Andersen's mind in the 2015 Disney/Pixar film Inside Out. It is a building complex in which Riley's abstract thought is located. It is classified as dangerous, since any being that enters the building would lose its body shape.
History[]
While trying to find the path back to the headquarters, Joy and Sadness encountered Bing Bong, who told them he knew a shortcut to get to the Train of Thought. However, the shortcut, which happened to be Abstract Thought, was dangerous, even displaying a sign that said to keep out. However, due to Bing Bong's illiteracy, he thought it was safe to go in. Seeing Bing Bong walk in with no problem, Joy and Sadness followed.
When two mind workers arrived at Abstract Thought, one of the workers noticed something moving inside, so she activated Abstract Thought to get rid of it. With Abstract Thought turned on, everything in the building began floating. At that moment, Joy, Sadness and Bing Bong started to move through the four stages:
- As Joy, Sadness and Bing Bong figured out what was happening, their bodies became blocky structures. As Joy asked what was happening, Sadness told her that they were going through the four stages of abstract thought, and they were just in the first. Bing Bong told them stay calm and keep together. However, just as he finished his sentence, his left arm fell off.
- Their bodies began to break down and fall apart. With that happening, Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong attempted to make a run for the exit while struggling to hold their bodies up. Sadness told them that if they didn't escape, they were going to be trapped in Abstract Thought forever as nothing but shape and color. When Joy questioned Bing Bong why they entered in Abstract Thought, he told her it was a shortcut.
- As the three made a run for the exit, the screen squeezed in on them, and when it expanded, the three characters were 2D drawings. No matter how fast they ran, they didn't move due to lack of depth. Joy, Sadness, and Bing Bong climbed up to the exit's floor level, but they were too big to fit through the small exit.
- They then entered the final stage, where they became nothing but single-colored geometric shapes (Joy was a yellow 8-pointed star, Sadness was a blue tear-shaped blob, and Bing Bong was a tall pink, trunk-like figure).
When Bing Bong declared that they weren't going to make it out in time, Sadness became a thin line by falling on her face. She told Joy and Bing Bong to do what she was doing so they could slither out the door, and they proceeded to do so.
The three successfully made it out of Abstract Thought just in time. Unfortunately, it was too late, as the train had just left. Outside Abstract Thought, they began to revert back to their normal selves.
Appearance[]
Stage 1: Non-Objective Fragmentation[]
Upon Abstract thought activating, the person's body within the building become crudely-made 3D structures like that of a Picasso painting.
Stage 2: Deconstruction[]
The person's body begins fragment into separate sections to break down and fall apart.
Stage 3: Two Dimensionalization[]
A while after Stage 2 is complete, the screen squeezes in on the character into a slim vertical line, and when it expands, the character becomes a simple 2-D drawing.
Stage 4: Non-Figurativity[]
Then the person enters the final stage, where they become nothing but single-colored geometric shapes of their bodies. It is unknown, however, that if people might become forgotten in this stage, as it doesn't show.
Eventually, the person has to be quick to escape to the exit of Abstract Thought. Some solutions, during Stage 4, are a better idea, like Sadness told Joy and Bing Bong to fall flat on their faces, which made a line replacing the shapes, to exit.
Notes and Trivia[]
- Joy and Sadness' appearance during Stage 4 appears to be a reference to their performance models (Joy being a star, and Sadness being a teardrop).
- Docter commented that Abstract Thought would be one of the newest constructions in Riley's mind, as in real life it develops around age 10. This could explain how Bing Bong had passed through it safely numerous times before, it having never activated.[source?]
- The only object that went through all of the stages, but had its own shape and color in the fourth, was the imaginary bag, which was represented by a purple triangle.