He's Not...THE Villain...In the Most Obvious Way

[greedyslayer]

Okay, mostly about Waternoose here, actually, going with the majority here in that he's the #1 villain, but in a way that I've never really seen anyone discuss.

I'm thinking more along a dramatic, visual, audience-vision, visceral basis.

I find that to the audience, the movie makes a clear, defining scene between Randall's and Waternoose's differences: in one all-out, the die-is-cast, truly villain moment...Waternoose single-handedly scares the hell out of me in a few seconds flat while he chases Boo and Sulley near the very end. Randall never scared me; he was a cool character to watch. Waternoose...yeah, he frightened me there.

And it all comes down to the spider features: it's the banging of all his legs as he runs after them, just the sound of it implies a whole world of hurt should he catch them. Combine that with his maddening threats, the way the camera positions on him, the sight of Boo at her most scared (WAY more than Randall)..GAH! it just seems obvious to me that scene was supposed to be the...the epitome. The epitome of "oh f***k, RUN!"

And ironically I'm reminded that spiders get a bad rep too (maybe Waternoose's very design foreshadowing?)--seriously, I'm afraid of spiders, though I like sharks and reptiles, those other stereotyped animals. Yet I love Spider-Man. ^^; Well, spiders DO have Spider-Man going for them, so that's one point in their favor, and I can overlook Waternoose's surprsing victimization by stereotypes...and yet, everything about him makes a good villain (not good like Randall, just demonically good, the kinda good bad guy you love to hate, or love to seem him mess with your heroes)--and arguably, in some cases, sterotype could be handled as skilled interpretation of an old traditional (perhaps even folklore) value/theme/myth. (I am so not 100% accurate though, mostly spout of what I feel, and my own common sense in message boards like these.)

Well, bottomline, the audience should be able to take from that scene who's more of the villain in MI.

[pitbulllady]

I never thought that Waternoose looked like a spider at all, actually, but a CRAB. He's got that hard carapace/shell covering, with those pointy ends to his legs, and spiders don't have those features. I never found Waternoose scary based on his appearance, either, but he's scary because he reminds me of very dangerous HUMANS I've known. For me, it's actually easy to overlook his(or any other monsters')resemblence to familiar Human-World animals, since their personalities are what really stand out. That being said, I'm no more afraid of spiders than I am of snakes; I keep around 50 or so tarantulas, "true" spiders, and scorpions as pets. I am so not creeped out by any animal. People, on the other hand, have the capacity to give me a major case of the willies, not due to their appearance(I'm not exactly a beauty queen myself), but how they act. What makes Henry J. Waternoose so frightening is how deceptive he is, coming off as this caring, kind grandfatherly type, when he's really got a totally different agenda. It's clear he will stop at nothing to make more money for his company and his family, and there's no telling how many skeletons he already had in his closet long before the whole business with the Scream Extractor. At least with Randall, you KNOW if he doesn't like you or plans to do you harm, since Randall is not very good at hiding his real feelings about things. It's like the old saying goes, "A pretend friend is much more dangerous than an obvious enemy".

For me, a "villain" is the mastermind behind a nefarious plot, the one in charge. We all know, of course, that few villains can carry out their dirty deeds alone, so they have to conscript henchmen, or assistants, by whatever means necessary. Such individuals are often kept in line by threats or deception, and I believe this to be the case with Randall. Randall was trying to justify what he was doing by making himself believe that it was for the betterment of his city and people, in the long run, while also trying to hold onto the belief(deception)that HE would benefit by gaining respect and admiration, and a better paycheck. I think that by the time the events of the movie transpired, though, Randall was having some serious doubts about whether he would actually gain any reward from this at all, but he was in denial about it. That stubborn aspect of his personality was forcing him to accept and rationalize the whole thing, in order to deal with his fear that he might slip up, and pay a heavy price indeed. Waternoose was brilliant in his ability to exploit such weaknesses in someone, and gain complete control of that person in the process.

pitbulllady

[tmazanec1]

I can just see him as the "handymonster" in your sequel idea.
Someone in his "family":"But Watermoose would just betray you in the end!"
Randall:"He would do no such...he would...that is JUST what the crab B@$t@}{ would do!"

[yoruhoshi]

I still stand by what I've always said. Waternoose was the real bad guy. Randall was just doing his job, firstly because he had little choice, second because it finally gave him a chance to feel that he wasn't second-best only to Sullivan. Randall is NOT the villian.

He just needs some love. *hugs Randall*

[tmazanec1]

A major plot point of the movie is that there is an apparent main villain, but you find out at the end that there was ANOTHER monster who was REALLY the main villain. Randall played the first role, Watermoose played the second.

[pitbulllady]

tmazanec1 said:

A major plot point of the movie is that there is an apparent main villain, but you find out at the end that there was ANOTHER monster who was REALLY the main villain. Randall played the first role, Watermoose played the second.

The literary term for Randall's role is "red herring", something designed to distract from the main plot, villain, whatever. Even still, though, most people believe that Randall was still the main villain; they believe that HE, not Waternoose, planned the whole shebang with the Scream Extractor, and that Waternoose was just going along with him. And that in the Human World, pigs have wings and the Brooklyn Bridge really IS for sale. The books and things that came out after the movie don't help, since NOT ONE shows Waternoose as anything other than a kind, concerned old guy who's worried about his family's company, and Randall is always a coniving, cheating, sneaky, insanely jealous fiend. Waternoose is not a spider, and most people know that, so they are not afraid of him. Randall is snaky and reptilian, and for many people snakes and lizards are the epitome of All Evil, just because. Randall would not have to speak a word or do anything at all to make many people hate him, simply for how he looks.

pitbulllady

[ScrewyOldDame]

Red Harring is a good way to put it. It all depends on one's deffinition of villain. Nefarious, anti-hero, or antagonist...so so many. But yes. Waternoose was the Godfather of Monstropolis.

[RandallBoggs]

In some ways. Godfather is an interesting way to describe Waternoose. Of course there are monsters more powerful than he is, but Godfather in the ways of JUST Monsters Inc....is actually a good definition.

[randallsnape7]

SO VERY, VERY TRUE!

Randall is a red herring, just like SEVERUS SNAPE was the red herring in 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone', and SIRIUS BLACK was the red herring of 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'. Henry J. Waternoose, on the other hand, is more like Voldemort... manipulating everyone and mapping everything out to HIS advantage. That makes Waternoose the villain... NOT Randall!