CrazyDiamond
Randall's Skivvy (0-299)
I'm shining!
Posts: 270
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Post by CrazyDiamond on Apr 29, 2013 18:30:37 GMT -5
It's a true statement. My dedication to everything I do is because Randall is not just a fan-fad. He's grown to be a part of me, part of the willpower I use to get through every day, every struggle. Because I know that he was a good guy that got beaten down by the world, yet he is STILL hanging in there. If you think about him in the way I do, he's kind of...inspirational. The world is full of...bad twists and turns and it tries to corrupt us, put us in bad positions, bring out the worst in us. I feel that's what happened to him. He got so tired of losing what he needed to be happy (which is the common things for us. Friends, family, respect, a secure future), that he just...broke down. We try to be good people. Sometimes the world doesn't want us to, wants us to conform to some degree of maliciousness because that's what a majority of it is. Randall's an example of a person who came into the world good, hopeful, with his own quirks...he made decisions he thought would make him happy and they turned on him. I know he's not dead for a fact. If he is, then there's not much hope for other good people struggling through things is there? Everything you're saying is SO TRUE, especially that last sentence. Inspirational is exactly what I'd call Randall. He keeps us going when things get tough because, hey, he kept going, right? Even if it didn't work out well in the end. God, I love Randall. AMEN
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Post by RandallBoggs on Apr 29, 2013 18:32:18 GMT -5
*nods* Exactly. And now I CAN speak on the trailer I saw....and...when he he's with the ROR fraternity you can CLEARLY SEE the difficulty, the struggle on his face. In BOTH films we see these moments with Randall that just show there's more to him than what we see.
He gets stressed (many examples), he gets afraid (bathroom scene and heck, when he was a kid), he gets to points (ROR here) where he's trying to figure things out.
The sad thing is, he was on his own. He's making these decisions on his own, and he's TRYING to make the best ones he can. What's right? What will make me happy? Will I regret this?
In places like the above you can see he's trying to figure things out just like anybody real would.
At least he's not alone now. He's got me. He's got friends, he's got all of us behind him.
*chuckles* Making me sound like a pastor Diamond heheh. Then again, guess I'm sorta speaking a gospel heh.
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Post by lizardgirl on Apr 29, 2013 18:37:05 GMT -5
*nods* Exactly. And now I CAN speak on the trailer I saw....and...when he he's with the ROR fraternity you can CLEARLY SEE the difficulty, the struggle on his face. In BOTH films we see these moments with Randall that just show there's more to him than what we see. He gets stressed (many examples), he gets afraid (bathroom scene and heck, when he was a kid), he gets to points (ROR here) where he's trying to figure things out. The sad thing is, he was on his own. He's making these decisions on his own, and he's TRYING to make the best ones he can. What's right? What will make me happy? Will I regret this? In places like the above you can see he's trying to figure things out just like anybody real would. At least he's not alone now. He's got me. He's got friends, he's got all of us behind him. That's another good point- it would have been so easy for Pixar to have started off portraying Randall as all cute and nice, but for him to be quickly 'turned' by ROR and being a bit of a git because of them. They could have made him a nasty fraternity member, blamed it on peer pressure, and would have been done with it. But they didn't, like you said- Randall isn't sneering or jeering at Mike and Sulley, he isn't being outwardly nasty. He looks uncertain and a little overwhelmed. Again, Pixar didn't take the easy route with this character. Maybe there is hope for Randall after all, maybe Pixar DO see him as something more...Well, I hope so. And yes, he definitely does have all of us, both literally (if we are to assume that our fanbase had even the slightest impact on his portrayal in MU) and figuratively. By supporting him we might have actually helped him.
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Post by RandallBoggs on Apr 29, 2013 18:41:54 GMT -5
That's why I'm praising Pixar (for now, I have to see the film myself with my keen eye) for their portrayl of him.
Some people might say Randall had a choice but...it isn't till you start to know people after a little bit that you can see them in a better light. And I think at this point Randall recognizes that he may not be in the right place. He KNOWS he's a good person and what Johnny and the other members are doing is...something he's not keen on doing at that point. I mean come on, he was a KID. He had these childish thoughts to be somebody great and to make friends. His intentions were good from the start.
Considering what I've heard...to leave the story about him finished in MI would be irresponsible.
*nods* I'd...like to hope so. I'd like to hope that what we've done has literally accomplished something so...amazing.
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Post by mintygreen on Apr 29, 2013 20:00:21 GMT -5
OK, someone has to say it...12 long years... IN AZKABAN!Actually, no. I was not surprised. Well, honestly that's a lie; I WAS surprised that Pixar actually SHOWS what WE have known all along. I have dreaded this movie more and more from the minute I got confirmation that Randall would be in it, believing that Pixar would take the "low road" and depict Randall in the worst way possible, as a bully who tormented Mike and Sulley from the very start, giving them good reason to hate him and distrust him, someone who cheated and lied and threatened his way through college to get his job at MI...the Randall that the haters and villain-obsessed want to see. I'm still amazed at the fact that Pixar LISTENED TO US! Since OUR view disagreed with the MI depiction of Randall and what Disney-Pixar seems to have been trying to shove down our throats in every way possible up until now, it would have seemed more logical for them to simply flip us off, so to speak, and show that Randall was always a nasty git. Even though I won't get that post-MI ending that I wanted for Randall, I still have to fully compliment Dan Scanlon and his crew on confirming what we have always held onto. It's like Art handed us ALL, including the crew of MU, our own personal "dream journals"(mine has kittens on it, how 'bout y'all's?), and we wrote down a shared version of how we saw Randall Boggs. Sounding too much like a hippie, indeed, but this time, even for me, it's a good thing! pitbulllady Haha, wasn't expecting you to quote Harry Potter, PBL. Anyway, I agree with what you said. That's how I feel about it too. It also makes me feel like they're more likely to make a sequel which will include fixing the Randall situation......because if they weren't going to do that, I don't see why they would have agreed with our opinion of Randall and done this. Obviously I haven't seen the film yet, but enough can be gathered from the trailers alone and released material that he's way different originally than how he is in MI. I don't think there's any way they are going to just let him die anymore..... Hahaha, I was expecting that! I see where you're coming from. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've never seen Randall as a cute, nervous dork, even as a kid. We all have our own versions of Randall, which is inevitable considering how little we actually see of him in MI, and like you and many other Randall fans, I have always thought that Randall was a nice guy all along. But there's a difference between someone being a nice guy and being literally the stereotype of a geek, with GLASSES, and, and the fact that he turns invisible when he's nervous?! And like, yeah, I guess I just never saw that in him...Not that it doesn't work, because now I can imagine it (sort of) but I guess it's just different to how I thought it'd be. Of course Pixar aren't going to do exactly what I imagine in my head, but the mahoosive U-turn was a bit of a surprise (though a necessary one, since at least they really do hammer home the point that Randall IS NOT EVIL OKAY haha). Love the comparison with the idea of Art handing us all our very own dream journals and using our shared version of Randall though, that's a really good analogy! Boy, what I would do for one of those personalised dream journals. I never necessarily saw him as a cute nervous dork either.....just that I knew something was wrong, that he was insecure. That he had an inferiority complex.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2013 20:39:27 GMT -5
I think for me... I've come to better understand Randall through MU. I've always understood him to an extent... but seeing what he was like beforehand, and what he's like in MI... I suddenly found myself relating to him on a deep, personal level. Now... I WISH I had written this... but I didn't. However... I feel almost exactly like the author describes... almost as if I AM Randall. Like him, I too evolved (or devolved) into well... kind of a jerk at times. Like I needed to prove myself to others, and that I wasn't going to take anymore crap. Yes, perhaps respect but... I hate it. And the whole "lost all pleasure from life" line really kind of hits home, especially since I suffer from severe depression at times, and might even be bipolar (never been diagnosed, but it runs on my dad's side of the family). My "thrills" are sadly short lasting... and then I just lapse into melancholy again, dead and devoid of joy. Man... I make myself sound like such a morbid person. But yeah, reading this I was just like "My goodness... this is me... this is totally me..." Anyway yeah... I think I just connect to Randall on a very personal level... and I hope you enjoy this one person's analysis of Randy and Randall. BTW, if this came from anyone's actual blog on here... apologies, but I didn't see any harm in reposting what's already public anyway, especially when it's so... well written. "So, after watching the most recent trailer and hearing some tidbits from people who have seen the early release (don’t worry, no spoilers here), I will admit that I always felt— even as a child— that there was something inherently sad about Randall in MI. I never knew what it was, but beneath the cunning, angry exterior and beyond his jealousy of Sulley, Randall seemed very unhappy… almost as though life had lost all true pleasure for him. It was as though being “on top” was not only his dream— it was all he had left. He appeared desperate and frustrated; he blew up easily and was only happy when something bad happened to someone else. Now, in practice, it is generally true that “hurting people hurt”. Not to excuse any of his actions, but the point is that Randall goes out of his way to hurt and demean others. In his first appearance, for example, he hides in the locker room and frightens Mike, humiliating him in the process. After the initial thrill and a good deal of boasting, he strides off— with the same dark, angry expression he usually wears. The thrill is cheap, and it doesn’t last. I feel that the connection lies with the fact that he is playing a role, rather than being himself. Randy Boggs is so different from Randall Boggs that it has genuinely shocked the fandom. He appears nerdy, sweet, and he bakes CUPCAKES for crying out loud! His bio even says he is looking forward to friends and parties. He is, in short, nothing like the hostile, scheming loner we see in MI. And I think, deep down, that bothers him. After all, we are only truly happy when we are free to be ourselves. Randall has put his true nature in a self-imposed prison and assumed another identity altogether. Pitbulllady suggested that he is Compensary NPD, and this seems to fit. Randy was too nice, too shy, too nerdy to be respected, so he had to be replaced by someone who could take the heat and dish it out. Someone who could not only stand with the successful people, but be one of them. That someone had to be tough, confident, and— above all else— not so nice. Nice people finish last, after all. So Randy put a lid on his feelings and denied who he really was. No longer did he want to go to parties or worry about making friends; he wanted admirers instead. Sadly, somewhere along the way, he realized that he may not have liked Randy, but he didn’t like Randall very well either. But now, who was there left? He tried to convince himself that he liked Randall, but since no one else really liked Randall, it became difficult. That was why he needed to be Number One so badly. To create the scream extractor, to impress Waternoose, to destroy Sulley— because then Randall would finally be the idealized, successful monster Randy had failed to be. And, really, that Randall had failed to be, in his own mind. I didn’t see all of that back then, but now it seems so clear. I think if Randy had just accepted who he was, and realized that having good friends who care for you is the real definition of “success”, he would have been a much happier individual."
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Post by lizardgirl on Apr 30, 2013 22:07:06 GMT -5
Really interesting to hear your viewpoints, mintygreen and remy.
Remy, it's cool that you relate to Randall like that (well, you know what I mean, like it's amazing that he really represents your life almost). I've seen that post on Tumblr and I agree, it's totally spot on.
Maybe MU Randall isn't such a crazy direction to take the character after all- like this post says, he changed for a reason. It really does work.
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