10 Greatest Ever Noble Sacrifices In Film

Pixar never fails to come up with new ways to turn you into an emotional wreck. Stand out examples from recent years being nearly incinerating our heroes in Toy Story 3 and basically the entirety of Up. Towards the end of Inside Out they pulled this trick off once more and in the most unlikely of places.

The film revolves around characters found inside the mind of young Riley as she deals with the trials of growing up. When Riley’s old imaginary friend Bing Bong and our central hero Joy get stuck inside Riley’s memory dump, they decide to use Bing Bong and Riley’s old rocket to fly themselves out.

After repeated attempts to make the jump it becomes clear that the rocket can’t carry both Joy and Bing Bong to safety. During one final all-or-nothing attempt, Bing Bong jumps free of the rocket, lightening the load and allowing Joy to escape. Bing Bong knows this will erase him from existence and resign him to the memory dump forever, but he also knows Joy’s escape is for the greater good. As he celebrates Joy making it out of the dump, he begins to fade from sight.

What makes Bing Bong’s sacrifice so powerful is not only that he is giving up his life so that Riley can be “saved”, but also it's symbolic suggestion that part of growing up means leaving childish things behind you. A little bit of Riley's childhood innocence is gone forever. Damn you Pixar, you got me again.