Monsters Inc. is not your typical monster movie. The monsters in this movie look like monsters but only act scary because it is there job to be scary so that they have power for their to city. In the end they realize that they can use laugher to power their city instead. The monsters that they can thank for that are James "Sulley" Sullivan, Mike Wazowski, and Boo, the human child. Without everything they went through they never would have known that they don’t need screams. Sulley and Mike did everything that they could to project Boo and get her home before anyone found her and tried to hurt her because there were bad monsters in there city that were not so nice to other monsters and they were not nice to the humans that they scared when they went through their doors. So what is it that makes Sulley and Mike so different?
The idea of monsters in our culture has evolved and been changed for so long that we are now able to acknowledge them in ways beyond their classic, simple, scariness. A very recent film that both lampoons and honors monsters and monster culture is Pixar’s Monsters Inc. The opening scenes are designed to look dark and scary, with silhouettes and glowing eyes, the scene quickly breaks down into a comedy, setting the lighthearted tone for the whole movie. However, in every story, the interest comes from conflict. In Monsters Inc. the enemies come in the form of Randall, a competing monster, and Henry Waternoose, the head of the company. We have now entered a sort of meta-monster story, in which there are monsters among monsters. How does the setting in which ALL characters are [visual] monsters affect our perceptions of them? In this world where everyone is a monster, what makes the villains more monstrous than the heroes?
In the Monster Inc. the main characters James “Sulley” Sullivan and Mike Wazowski both have monster looking appearances but they do not have evil hearts. In this movie, we no longer see any mysterious murdering, blooding scenes or anything relating to violence. There are more funny stories and moving scenes being showed on two little ugly monsters Sulley and Mike. We see Sulley and Mike as monsters but they both see the little girl, Boo as a monster. Nevertheless, they try to protect her and send her back in her door before anybody sees them. From this act, we can see that not all of the monsters are really monsters in the city. Generally, people judge abnormal species as monsters because we know nothing about their species. If we learn to understand all those monsters and react to them properly, they would not seem like such monsters. Similarly, Sulley and Mike have shown us that not all monsters are always bad. “Seeing is believing,” if we see Sulley and Mike as good monsters then we can believe that there is hope for other monsters like them. We cannot judge anybody by our first impression; we need to learn more about them before passing final judgment on them. How would things be different if the kids were not scared of the monsters coming out of their doors if they knew that they only did it because they had to?
This makes one wonder when they watch this movie. Thinking why do they do what they do if they are not evil? Why didn’t they do just use laughter all the time instead of scaring all these kids? You can get a kid to laugh a lot easier than getting them scared all the time? I mean after a while the kids will learn something is going to come out of their closest and scare them and be ready for it and learn to not be scared and so the monsters can’t get their power. I don’t know a kid that does love to laugh and have someone make them laugh. So in the best interest of the monsters power supply they should just make them laugh and get the power that way.
Group 6: Carlos Hyde, Megan Iverson, Eric Ringman, and Zuoqi “George” Sun
Like many of other blogs this quarter, the theme that "looks can be deceiving" applies again to this film. The monsters may appear to have scary features, but they really are very colorful and not too intimidating especially after we get to meet them and learn more about their personalities. Billy Crystal's humor really did make this a great film. I agree that the introduction does try to put you at the edge of your seat, but that does not last too long. Also, I agree that we should not pass final judgment until we learn more not only about these characters, but also people we meet in our own lives. Hopefully, we all will be reminded of this after the quarter ends and we are no longer discussing it on a weekly basis.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that the difference between their attitudes towards other members of the society distinguishes villains from friendly monsters. Despite their loathsome looks, the friendly monsters, such as Sulley and Mike of the movie “Monster Inc”, can maintain harmonic relations with the rest of the society. The symbiosis between those monsters and ordinary people are archived because there are ethics and dignity among those creatures with monstrous appearance. In contrast, for the villains, in this case Randall and Henry Waternoose, they are considered to be more monstrous than their counterparts by the audience because their vice, evil, and malevolence behaviors towards the rest of the society. Based on the discussion about previous posts on this blog, it is reasonable to make the conclusion that the necessary character of a monster is irrational animosity against society, instead of abnormal appearance.
ReplyDeleteThis blog just remind me a recent movie names "Magamind". At first Megamind is a bad monster who wants to destroy the world and win metro man, who is the hero of the world. And he did think he kill the metroman (but truth is metroman just pretent die )But he realize that his life becomes pointless without the hero. So as the movie we watched in class, monsters aren't all bad. It turns out that people shouldn't just judge anyone with their appearance. Also should not follow the crowd too, because sometimes people misunderstand just by stupid gossip.
ReplyDeleteThrough out the quarter, the "Monster" topic has been defined and proved in many ways. The real definition I picked up is that monsters can not be judged by looking. It all depends on the heart. People set up the idea of weird looking creatures are bad scary monsters, like Shrek, Monsters Inc and even Dr. Frankenstein. There is no stereo type in this world. All those movies and books are trying to tell us that we need to know someone from who they really are. Judging someone from how he treats others and what he wants from others.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Monsters, Inc. is one of the best cartoons. The love or friendship between Sulley and Boo really impressed me. Although one of them is human and the other is monster, a true love can pass species just like relationships between human and pets. Loving something or someone is happy memory. Thus, you can find love anywhere even in monster world. All in all, love has more power than hatred. There is why Monsters, Inc. uses laughter instead of scaring.
ReplyDeleteI never watch this movie before. But I think more and more movies are reflecting one thing that is never judge somebody from their appearance. You can never know about somebody from his appearance. This is a very good lesson for the children. Also, this is a good direction for the development for the society. If we want to be creative, we should not always bow to stereotypes. We should form our own opinions from our independent thinking. So when we watch a person with monstrous or scary looking, instead of getting away from him, we should know about him and decide if he is a monster or not.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bryan that "looks can be deceiving" is a reoccurring theme among many things associated with monsters. Often times, monsters are thought of in only one way. People are blinded by typical monster characters such as vampires, zombies, and other make-believe characters. These are the kind of monsters that look AND act scary. Their actions have created a bad rep for other monsters such as Mike and Sully. While these two are monsters, they try to be scary but are obviously good "people". They are funny, and unexpectedly kind, especially to Boo, who is not of their kind. Actions like these are what make Mike and Sully not your typical pair of monsters.
ReplyDeleteThis again toys with what makes a monster, and perhaps the falling apart of what is normally considered a monster. The main characters in the film Monsters, Inc. are ironically the furthest from monsters they can be. They behave well with others, even humans (by the end), and it's obvious that they only fit the classic "movie monster" mold. As far as what lies beneath the surface, Mike and Sulley are as non-monstrous as they come, further proof that what makes a monster should be more focused on personality than looks.
ReplyDeleteThe characters from Monsters, Inc. have adorable lookings that the kids watching this moives want to keep a doll beside them before going to bed. Even though those are monsters, kids do not fear to hold a doll in their arms while sleeping. If the characters from this movie looked like the creature in the Frankenstein movies, then the kids would have not wished to keep a doll of it. What I want to say is that people mostly judge others by their first impressions and appearances, so it is not avoidable for monsters to look good at first, however, monsterous look does not mean that they should have monsterous personality. Monsters does not have to act like a monster, and people should try not to judge others' personalities by their outward look.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what a lot of people have been saying which is that looks are deceiving. I think the term monster is given moreso based on actions rather than looks because yes, in this movie they are all monsters so how does one differentiate the bad from the good? mike and sulley are both very clearly monsters because of their appearance but their acts to save Boo are what make them the heroes.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this movie but I did see all the posters and advertisements to it and what becomes obvious is that the "monsters" definitely do look odd, which is probably why we consider them mosters right away. Still, they do not look scary or intimidating which is what people often think of, considering the word monster. I definitely agree that this again contributes to the assumption that monster stories are often supposed to show the audience that judging someone by his outer appearance is not right and often unjustified.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post basically sums up the quarter in what can and what is a monster. These individuals in the film Monsters Inc. are first perceived as monsters, like many are at first glance, but after taking the short amount of time to basically get to know them, they are not monsters at all. Frankenstein was labeled as a monster at first glance, the two-faced creature in the X-files episode (although it is still debatable that he was a true monster in that he was either assisting or physically engaging in the raping of the two women) and other individuals that we have studied receive the label. The entire quarter has lead to the reasoning that we, as humans, are quick to judge people by their appearances and that in most cases it is wrong to read a book by it's cover.
ReplyDeleteI love watching this movie. Monsters inc. shows kids that not all monsters are scary and bad. Also even though these monsters look different from humans they still behave similarly and they only scare because they don’t know any other way. When they do find out that they can use laughter instead of screams they switch their methods but I think that it takes more work to make kids laugh.
ReplyDeleteSulley and Mike are so differnt because they are kind hearted monsters and are fighting against the norm of being a mean monster. The villans in this world are seen as more monsterous, even though everyone is a monster, because they want to scare the children. Children would still be scared of monsters even if they knew why they were scaring them because noone wants something coming to their room at night and scaring them.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the opinion stated earlier that monsters are determined more by what they do than their looks. In the movie everyone was monsters and the bad guys were the real monsters because of their actions, not looks. It teaches a lesson to everyone that you should judge a person by their actions, not looks, because we are all different anyways.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though this movie attests to the idea that we are monsters when we listen to our superiors without truly thinking about what we are doing. In the movie, Sulley, Mike, and the rest of Monster Inc. listen to Waternoose mindlessly and scare kids because they are told it is the right thing to do. To me, this sounds strikingly similar to Hitler and the Nazis. The Nazis murdered millions of Jews because they were told it was the right thing to do; it was what was best for the German race and country. Scaring in the movie, like murder, goes against the natural inclination to do good. It is not until Sulley and Mike look at the kid as a living creature do they see that it is harmless and they are committing wrong. So I wonder if Pixar was trying to get this point across to kids?
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