[Spoiler Alert] Inside Out’s Bing Bong: A Sidekick Done Right

This is a user-submitted post by Octaviano Macias.

Going by the box office numbers, I’d say anyone reading this has probably seen Inside Out already. If you haven’t, well, why not? It’s a wonderful addition to Pixar’s library, as well as the best movie playing on theaters right now. For those of you who’ve yet to see the movie, you may want to leave: I will be discussing various things regarding Bing Bong, a character who wasn’t featured much in the marketing; in other words, yes, I will be revealing spoilers.

While Bing Bong may have been a secret to most audiences, his presence is a great and substantial one. In fact I’d say he’s the strong beating heart of the film. Inside Out delivers strong emotional blows throughout, but none are as strong as Bing Bong’s sacrifice (I warned you), which fully cemented one thing for me: Bing Bong is a sidekick done right.

Sidekicks are very important: they make our heroes look better, they can help them be better. We sometimes don’t realize that, largely due to the amount of sidekicks who are sadly complete idiots. I’m not against sidekicks who aren’t bright, I just appreciate it when movies decide to do more than just leave sidekicks stupid. Bing Bong is the “more” I desire from a sidekick; simple, but complex, he’s a funny creature who is not too bright, yet he’s got a dream of his own that’s been put on hold due to unfortunate circumstances. I don’t think many will disagree, but Pixar just made a sidekick that deserves more attention than Disney’s Olaf, AKA “the most in your face sidekick” right now, a sidekick who, while enjoyable, was not necessary.

The roles for Bing Bong and Olaf are very similar: they both come into the film as nostalgic figures who lead the way for the heroes, but whereas Olaf remains a silly idiot, Bing Bong delivers the most touching moment in recent animation before he fades away. Bing Bong never achieves his impossible dream of taking Riley to the moon, but it doesn’t matter; we enjoy watching him take Joy and Sadness through the mind, helping them grow as well. Bing Bong helps Joy realize the importance of Sadness without even trying to, while Sadness is able to showcase the positivity of being sad through him. Unlike Olaf, or sidekicks like him, without Bing Bong’s presence the film would not have been as great; in fact, our leads probably would not have succeeded. Bing Bong is not only a sidekick done right – he’s a sidekick success.

What did you think of Bing Bong from Disney Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’? Can he compete with ‘Frozen”s Olaf?

Edited by: Kajsa Rain Forden