Who’s your friend who likes to play — and makes you cry like a baby in front of everyone at the movies? It’s Bing Bong! (Thanks a lot for that, bro.) But now, thanks to a major theory, it looks like you may have embarrassed yourself a little too soon.
Bing Bong was Riley Anderson’s imaginary friend in “Inside Out” (spoiler alert!) who ends up sacrificing himself so Joy can make it back to Riley. Actress Kaitlyn Dias, who voices Riley, told The Huffington Post she didn’t even know about her character’s imaginary friend until she saw the movie for the first time, but now, she cries each time she watches it.
It’s touching. It’s sad. And it might be total hogwash.
The Theory: Bing Bong isn’t dead. He’s actually a monster from “Monsters, Inc.” that Riley saw as a little girl and assumed was imaginary.
Image: BuzzFeed
“The Pixar Theory” is a pretty comprehensive timeline put together by writer and Pixar enthusiast Jon Negroni that discusses how all Pixar movies are connected. Evidence includes everything from a postcard signed by Carl and Ellie from “Up” that appears in “Toy Story 3″ to Buy-n-Large, the corporation that has taken over in “WALL-E,” being referred to in multiple films.
Anyway, the theory proposes that the monsters in “Monsters, Inc.” rebuilt society years after humans destroyed it in “WALL-E.” The doorways the monsters go through use time travel so they can travel back to when humans were around, and get their laughter to use as power.
Going by this theory, which you can also learn more about on Reddit and YouTube, it’s plausible to believe that Bing Bong isn’t imaginary. He’s actually a real monster who made Riley laugh as a kid, much like Mike and Sully do with Boo in “Monsters, Inc.” Then, as Riley got older, she remembered this interaction as her “imaginary friend,” because what else could it be?
So, according to this theory, Bing Bong is alive and well, or rather will be alive and well eventually. His animal-like appearance fits in with how the monsters look in “Monsters, Inc.,” and he’s known for making Riley laugh, which is exactly what they do to get power.
It’s a cool idea, but, still, there are some problems.
The case against:
Image: Giphy
The theory gets pretty complex, and, as shown by the idea of monsters using time travel, it makes some pretty big leaps. (Like, don’t you need to be driving 88 miles per hour in a DeLorean for that to happen? Let’s be realistic here, guys.)
In addition, Dias told HuffPost that she doesn’t expect to see Bing Bong again in Pixar movies. “If they possibly do a sequel, I don’t think he’s going to make a comeback, unfortunately. But all of us who watch the movie can remember him for Riley,” said the actress.
So, will we actually see Bing Bong again? It’s possible. But if not, just take Riley to the moon for him, Joy.
Image: Tumblr
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