Why is Joy intact while Bing Bong fades away?

Why is Joy intact while Bing Bong fades away? - Low angle of successful female executive manager in classy style sitting at table with laptop in contemporary workplace and passing documents to colleague

spoilers ahead

In the movie Inside Out, there comes a times towards the end when the emotion Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler) and Riley's imaginary friend Bing Bong (voiced by Richard Kind) fall into the memory dump.

Memory Dump is the place where memories evaporate away into non-existence. As Bing Bong and Joy try to use Bing Bong's wagon to fly back to higher grounds, we see that Bing Bong is slowly but steadily evaporating away i.e. he's being forgotten as well.

So why is it that Joy is intact and not fading away like everything in memory dump is?



Best Answer

This is mostly speculation since there really isn't any way to find evidence to back this up.

Bing Bong is an imaginary friend and a memory of Riley's past. Memories fade with time and eventually evaporate in the memory dump. Joy on the other hand is an emotion, it would stand to reason that emotions don't follow the same rules as memories, and don't fade away even when dumped into the memory dump.

It's also been clear that Riley hadn't thought about Bing Bong for a while (Joy mentioned that it's been years since she's seen him), meanwhile up until recent events in the movie, Joy has been the lead emotion of Riley. So even if she became a memory of herself she would still be a fresh memory.

That being said, it is equally possible that if Joy was left in the memory dump longer, she might have begun to fade.




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What does Bing Bong symbolize in Inside Out?

Inside Out director Pete Docter originally envisioned Bing Bong as part of a larger group of friends who were outcasts from Riley's childhood, including Mrs. Scribbles, a crayon drawing brought to life. But as the film developed, he realized Bing Bong could represent the fading of childhood.

What did Bing Bong do to help Joy?

And (SPOILER ALERT!), before the movie is over, Bing Bong will sacrifice himself to the eternal abyss of the Memory Dump, in order to help Joy find her way back to headquarters in Riley's brain.

Does Riley forget about Bing Bong?

4. The actor who voiced Bing Bong voiced a villain in an early Disney-Pixar movie. Despite voicing one of the nicest characters in the movie, actor Richard Kind actually got his Disney-Pixar start as a villain!



Inside Out - Bing Bong Death Scene (HD)




More answers regarding why is Joy intact while Bing Bong fades away?

Answer 2

Because Joy isn't a memory, she is an emotion. The memory dump is used to dispose of old, unused memories that are no longer required, and we learn in Inside Out that Bing Bong has been all but forgetten by Riley anyway, thanks to the fact that she is growing up.

As such, he begins to fade away in the memory dump as Riley is forgetting him, but Joy cannot be forgotten as she is an emotion.

It's also worth pointing out that Inside Out is more allegorical than any other Pixar film to date, so it might not be worth thinking about the parts inside Riley's mind too hard as it is intended to pass on a message, not as a solid piece of world building.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Andrea Piacquadio, Alex Green, RF._.studio, SHVETS production