Foreshadowings in MU and MI

[randallsnape7]

OKAY!!!

I just watched 'Monsters University' and 'Monsters Incoporated' back to back last night, and I picked up on several crucial foreshadowings:

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY

When the Oozma Kappas take the field trip to Monsters, Inc., there is a moment where Mike says to Sulley: "No one scarer is the best, Each monster uses their own uniqueness to their own advantage! THIS can later be used as evidence that Randall did not need Waternoose's Scream Extractor to 'revolutionize the Scream Industry'. This statement had me thinking: "If ONLY Randall had been around to hear that!". VERY IMPORTANT!

At the final Scare Games Task, while Johnny Worthington was gloating to Oozma Kappa, I KEPT my eyes on Randall's facial expressions the ENTIRE time. He never made any of those stereotypical villain sneers. He was calm and stoic... as if he personally didn't approve of Worthington's behavior. Reminds me of the scene in 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire', where, after Harry returns from Little Hangleton back to the Third Task arena. In the midst of everyone's shock and sorrow at Cedric Diggory's death, there's a moment where Severus Snape INSTINCTIVELY lays a hand of compassion on Dumbledore... but then straightens back up and moves his hand away, remembering that he's out in public. (In the background, Cornelius Fudge is saying: 'The body must be moved, Dumbledore... too many people!')

There is a scene near the end where Dean Hardscrabble says to Mike "Keep surprising people....". THAT scene gave me goosebumps. I think that is going to play an important part later on where Randall is concerned... even though the obvious context in which Mike and Sulley surprised Hardscrabble was powering all those gas canisters, I think it's also something that can play out later on when Mike befriends Randall. Mike may not SEE it, or KNOW it, but that scene confirms to me that MIKE is going to have to be the one to rescue Randall. Sulley would have a too hard a time getting past his affections for Boo and seeing the Scream Extractor to be the guy to do it, but Mike IS selfish enough, that if he thought saving Randall ALSO entailed saving his own behind from whatever villain is terrorizing Monsters, Inc., I think he'd do it. Then, once he reaches the Human World and FINDS Randall... THAT is when Mike's heart is going to have to be touched (maybe he sees Randall crying?), and he lets go of his ego.

MONSTERS, INC.

Poor Randall! I'm SURE 99% of people who saw the Mike/Randall clock analogy scene will think Randall was being a stereotypical Disney Villain, but what I ACTUALLY saw this time, was that Randall is generally embarrassed at Mike's behavior. To Randall, scaring and working is IMPORTANT to him, but to Randall, Mike is just a dim-witted goof-off, and I think that's WHY he gave him a hard time... because he was EXASPERATED. I ALSO think that Randall NAIEVELY believes that Monsters should stick their necks out for each other, which is why I think he even started questioning Mike and Sulley there in the hallway. The LAST thing that would have entered Randall's mind is that Mike and Sulley would choose the welfare of a human child over a fellow monster. That simply isn't done in the Monster World. That FURTHER tells me that Randall is VERY respectful and obedient when it comes to higher powers and authorities... and the MAIN reason he really doesn't hold Mike or Sulley in such high esteem is because to him, they act like clowns. While Randall is trying his best to be a respected member of the Monster World, Mike and Sulley are off breaking all the rules left and right, hogging all the attention. I see where Randall's coming from... I'd be pretty angry, too.

When Randall says to Mike "I am about to revolutionize the Scream Industry, and when I do, even the great James P. Sullivan will be working for me.". This statement calls for reflection: Randall has virtually expressed his dreams and desires for the future. He wants to be great - not mediocre. This tells me that while he was at Monsters University, he probably made straight 'A's in all of his classes. Bookwise, he is a model student, and he probably graduated with HIGH honors, which obviously led to him being hired to work at Monsters, Incorporated. Randall Boggs proves in this scene that he is very ambitious, and what gives him the advantage over Mike is that Randall puts feet and actions to where Mike's mouth is. Randall truly had very little to feel guilty about.

From that respect, I can identify with Randall quite intimately, because I have always been an ambitious person. Ambition can be a helpful asset in getting the job done, and getting through hard work.

When Henry J. Waternoose points to Randall and says "Sullivan was TWICE the scarer you'll ever be!", this got under Randall's skin... and for good reason: If he indeed trusted Waternoose, I'm sure that made him think "Et tu, Waternoose?" (taken from Julius Caesars' quote in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: "Et tu, Brute?" when he is stabbed by Brutus himself).

All these tidbits help us deduct what will inevitably have to happen in 'Monsters 3' in order for Randall to complete his journey. I think at a crucial point in the third film, Randall is going to have to be ALONE with Mike in the Human World, and Randall is going to need to tell us his life story, which we see via flashback. I think there is a sympathetic angle that can be shown from a compilation of Randall's scenes from the first two films that will open the audience's eyes and help them see him in a whole new light.

[pitbulllady]

I can REALLY understand now, after seeing MU, why Randall would be so exasperated with Mike acting like a dimwit. Not only had Randall once looked up to MIKE, but Randall had been Mike's tutor, remember? Randall was the one who helped Mike achieve those high grades, and Randall KNEW that Mike was no dummy, so for him to see Mike acting like this, and being spoiled by success, would be like a teacher seeing a former pupil whom they'd known as a bright, straight-A student doing something stupid and not really making the best of their natural intellect. Randall helped MAKE MIKE into that straight-A student that he was prior to being kicked out of the Scare Program, and what thanks does he get for that?

There are a lot of times when Randall's facial expressions indicate his displeasure with what Johnny and the other ROR's are doing, but he cannot speak up. He's afraid-afraid of being kicked out and ridicules, afraid of them physically retaliating. Had Randall had more self-confidence and believed in himself, he could have stood up, even knowing the risks of doing so, but we have to remember that Randall's confidence and self-esteem is virtually non-existent. He does not believe that he is capable of doing that himself, so he doesn't. People are not born feeling this way about themselves; SOMETHING had to have happened to Randall prior to him going off the college to MAKE him that way. He feels bad about what is happening, but he can't dare speak up. In fact, I wonder if they even allowed Randall to speak period, since we never hear him say a word once he goes over to join the ROR's at the Scare Games sign ups, when they were treating him like their entertainment, until he says that line about it being the last time he loses to Sullivan. That line was not so much a threat or warning to Sullivan, who was busy celebrating an ill-gotten victory, as it was a promise to himself not to allow himself to be beaten by a cheater again.

I can see how Mike might be the first to reach out to Randall, IF doing so is the ONLY way that Mike has of saving his own behind. That is really the only reason that he began his friendship with Sulley; he HAD to let Sulley on his team to have enough members, and later, when Sulley confesses his fears to Mike out at the lake in the Human World, it finally opens Mike's eye to that really motivates Sulley, and makes him realize that the two of them can work together as a team to accomplish things that neither could do on his own. That could very well provide a catalyst for Mike and Randall to work together, and indeed, that was the situation in the "Lost In Scaradise" script. I've often said that the scene at the lake in MU was the game-changer; had that not happened, Mike would have wound up hating Sulley even more than Randall did because of what he ASSUMED. Mike and Randall probably never really sat down and talked about anything other than class, than Scaring, while they were roommates, so neither really got to KNOW the other as a person.

pitbulllady

[randallsnape7]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

You are right! Since Randall was Mike's tutor, that would explain why Randall was so high-strung and exasperated when he asked about Boo's whereabouts. Mike insulted Randall's intelligence with his 'What kid?', and 'Painted?' statements, broadcasting himself as a total dimwit. To me, Randall was treating him more like "What is WRONG with you???", than "I'm a bad boy. Look at me twist your arms... aren't I a fright?" type deal.

Yes... again, as I watched both films, the story made it clear to me that Mike is FAR more likely to rescue Randall than Sulley. Since Sulley had such parental affection for Boo, and he was Randall's rival, and he PERSONALLY threw Randall out the door, I just don't see him doing that. (I felt SO sorry for Randall when Sulley grabs him, and he struggles to break free of his grasp, yelling "Yaaah!", in the hanging bedroom where Boo roars at him in the scene prior to that!)

But for Mike, shoot! Since Mike is ALWAYS primarily concerned about saving his own behind, ALL one has to do is arrange events in such a way that Mike would discover that having Randall scare the villain at large would be his ticket out of becoming green monster goo. Mike is SO much in the moment, he wouldn't back down if Sulley started protesting about "But, Mike? Don't you remember? He tried to kill Boo!", or "Why do you think Randall can help us?". Also, it will have to be MIKE'S idea to fetch Randall, because WHATEVER Mike thinks... makes him think he's a GENIUS!

Initially, Mike's MOTIVES for rescuing Randall could be purely selfish, and it could even look like he's just going to USE him for his own benefit... but once Mike pieces the wooden bayou door together again, and actually MEETS Randall again, that could change, and he could start to get serious. Like I said, maybe wherever Randall is hiding, Mike could see him crying. And YES. We need a 'lake scene' equivalent to the one in MU between Mike and Sulley, in which Mike and Randall are alone and safe... and for the first time, they really get to KNOW one another.

[pitbulllady]

I don't think that Mike would actually go through the trouble of piecing together that door to the bayou, though. It probably would never occur to him to actually go LOOKING for Randall, no matter what he's facing, because it probably would never occur to him that RANDALL would be the solution to that problem or even a partial solution. It would most likely have to be a situation where the two run into each other again, unexpectedly, and then wind up having to work together for a common goal. Besides, even given that Randall somehow survived being attacked and beaten by someone who wanted to EAT him, I doubt he'd hang around in the close vicinity of that trailer, and going looking for ANYONE in the bayous of Louisiana, even if you half-way know your way around(and you can bet that Mike has never, ever, even come close to any place remotely like Louisiana, let alone in the Human World)is worse than looking for that proverbial needle in a haystack. Mike and Randall's meeting up again would have to be something serendipitous, something neither of them expected. That again, is exactly what happens in the "Lost In Scaradise" script; Mike and Sulley wind up in Human World Louisiana themselves and part ways temporarily as Sulley insists on finding Boo(who has apparently moved there with her family) and Mike encounters Randall after he and Sulley separate, and realizes that Randall can help him get back into the Human World. I'm assuming it must have something to do with Randall's knowledge of mechanics and technology and his ability to create said technology from scratch, which, when combined with Mike's knowledge of Laughter being stronger than Scream, could wind up generating something that can power up a door back to the Monster World. Somehow along the way they are reunited with Sulley, and presumably, Boo. Mike didn't go looking for Randall, though, and probably had not given him a thought until they actually met up again.

pitbulllady

[randallsnape7]

Well... YES. Obviously, he would not THINK of Randall being the solution himself.

I've mapped out the scenario several times:

First, the humans have to invade Monsters, Inc., capture the monsters and imprison them in cages, and then sabotage their power supply. Yes, the Laugh Floor would be dissolved in the invasion, and the monsters would have to temporarily revert back to scaring.

Second, Mike and Sulley, being the main characters, are going to be amongst the only ones left standing. Obviously, Mike and Sulley are going to take it upon themselves to scare the humans (I still think it should be punk teens), but they will fail. They SHOULD fail. The teens should then jeer, belittle and humiliate Mike and Sulley, as well as attack them. To raise the stakes higher, Sulley should become trapped in a cage himself.

Third, with the company's security system cased and inactive, and the monsters imprisoned in cages, that would give the humans free rein to changing everything in the building. Meanwhile, Mike would have to keep to the shadows, using stealth at every turn, to locate where the two teenagers are hiding out.


Anyway, Mike would have to eavesdrop and investigate on the humans, wherever they're hiding out in the factory, and what he would overhear is that the two would have a phobia/fear of chameleons (they WOULDN'T be afraid of monsters, so yeah, yeah, whatever. We both know they don't know Randall personally... it's the chameleon ability of blending into backgrounds that would act as the humans' kryptonite.) Piecing together that door to rescue Randall can be easy as pie - you simply don't make it a hard decision. The way to get to that point is for EVERY other avenue of Mike's to reach a roadblock. Any other people Mike would turn to will have to be captured...

Monsters, Inc. will have to suffer a TRAGIC fall. Needleman, Smithy, Waxford, George Sanderson, Roz, Celia Mae, Ward, etc. They will ALL have to become captured and imprisoned by the humans, with no hope of escape... even Sulley. If Randall is the ONLY free monster left, it wouldn't be hard at all for Mike.

Mike would go looking for Randall, because Randall would simply be the only monster Mike CAN look for, and the only monster that CAN help him. In fact, in my story ideas and notes, I actually have the teens CHASING Mike clear to the door, and Mike BARELY escapes capture upon entering the Louisiana environment and shutting the door behind him. Call it poetic justice, but to me, it's fitting that the very door Mike banished Randall in becomes his ONE and ONLY portal to hope and freedom.

Having something as momentous as Mike and Randall meeting again for an emotional resolution scene CANNOT be the result of some sudden, coincidental, unexpected run-in. I'm sorry, but I just don't believe audiences would buy that. It must be the result of eliminating every other possible avenue open to Mike, so that when he sets off to fetch Randall, it is because he simply has no choice. Plus, the uncertainty as to how Randall will respond to Mike would be suspenceful enough.

A true REVERSAL of events will be in order to get Mike to the point of fetching Randall.

[pitbulllady]

I can agree with everything except the "punk teens" scenario. This is TOO close to that plot of the ridiculous "Laugh Factory" comics by BOOM! Studios, in which Monstropolis was invaded by a punk teen, none other than Sid from Toy Story, who is now a super-genius, who not only knows how to enter the Monster World at will, but knows his way around Monstropolis better than its natives, is able to break into a maximum-security prison and knows that out of all the inmates housed there, two of them, Waternoose and Randall, have what he wants. Not only that, but Sid is able to FIND them and free them. And what does he want? He wants the secret to the technology that will enable him to control multiple portals between the two parallel universes at once, and he agrees to help them bring down Sullivan and get revenge on him and Mike in exchange for that technology. WHY does Sid, a punk teen, want that? So he can use the portals to rid the Human World of TOYS, that's why. Let's face it, the average teen is none too savvy when it comes to doing things like taking over a city, because reality does not follow the paths of a video game. What are they going to take over with, iPhones? It would take someone with sophisticated weapons to pull that off, and the knowledge of how infrastructures work, and how to take them out. The most dangerous foe would be someone who pretends to come in peace, to have the monsters' best interests in mind, who is able to lull them into some false sense of security. That is how most tyrants, most invaders, accomplish their goals. Punk teens probably don't HAVE a goal and certainly would not have a clue where to begin subverting and taking control of an entire world. That sort of thing is the realm of politicians and corrupt military people, the "Colonel Kurtz" sort. We need only look to examples throughout our own history, of when civilizations meet and clash because one has something the other feels entitled to have. Ask the Native Americans or the Australian Indigenous people how that worked out. A bunch of obnoxious teenagers are going to be more of an annoyance than a threat. To be a real threat, even in the context of a Pixar movie, the humans will have to be adults who will stop at nothing to gain access to the Door technology and the means of capturing the energy from human screams or laughter...think of what the person or persons who is able to demonstrate such technology to OUR world would stand to gain! Then again, it could also be someone who wants to ensure that our world NEVER obtains such technology, at least in terms of using the power of human emotions contained in our own voices would go. What would that do to the oil cartels, like OPEC, whose existence and riches are based solely on our continued dependence on oil? To be a real threat, not a comic one, the humans have to be both ruthless and smart and fully understand what they themselves have to gain, and that would mean they have to be adults, with some dangerous weapons at their disposal if needed. If it's just a bunch of rowdy kids, Sulley can deal with that, since he knows they aren't toxic.

pitbulllady

[randallsnape7]

Oh... funny. I've NEVER read those 'Laugh Factory' comics, so please understand that any similarity you might have read to those were purely coincidental on my part. Still interesting to know, though.

I'd still like to see MI: Monsters, Incorporated changed into something really different. What if the human threat were like Dolores Jane Umbridge, from 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'? I suppose now that humans are considered not to be toxic, some evil human could actually show up and cause some real danger. I mentioned Umbridge because she's an example of an adult villain who is just OUTRAGEOUSLY irritating... the main thing I see from the new villain is that he or she must be so dangerous and overconfident, it dwarves any memory we might have of any threat Randall could ever DREAM of being.

Or maybe someone along the lines of Karl Torini, from "Mr. Monk and the Magician"? Someone so shrewd, conniving, and arrogant, that it makes us want to scream in frustration. It needs to be the kind of villain that would have the audience practically shouting at the screen "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Just you wait... Randall Boggs will finish you!!!"

Speaking of villains, do you happen to know that Adrian Monk has an 'evil twin' antithesis in the fourth Monk novel "Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants"? You wanna talk villainous traits.... well... he wrote the BOOK on it! He's a mystery/crime thriller book author named Ian Ludlow.

Ludlow consults for the Los Angeles Police Department, and according to the author's character descriptions, he really reminded me of Nicolas Cage. What Ludlow does is he actually writes about his VERY own murder sprees. He meets a fan at one of his book signings, follows that person for awhile, kills them, then finds out who the people are in his or her life, then... he shows up at the crime scene like Monk, where he MASTERFULLY feeds his own incriminating evidence under the guise of helping out, frames the least likely suspect for the crime, THEN... he claims that he 'solved the case', and he arrogantly presents a series of false "Here's What Happened" summations against his target for the crimes that HE committed, bobbing his head flippantly as he recites his bold-faced lies about what happened, and then gloats as his victim gets arrested. His solved case total is -8 (Yes, NEGATIVE eight.)

Granted, nothing THAT extreme would happen in a 'Monsters' film, but I thought I'd share it with you. A villain like Ludlow would actually be considered a bona fide psychopath, because he pathologically distorts reality left and right with his phony detective skills to make himself look like a superior intellect, when in fact, Adrian truthfully describes Ian Ludlow as 'a fraud... a no-nothing blowhard'.

I may have gotten carried away... but I just wanted to discuss the various villain traits I know!

[pitbulllady]

Monstropolis and MI already have a resident psychopath, who does exactly what Ludlow does, pathologically distorts reality left and right to make himself appear to have superior intellect. His name is Michael Wazowski, lol.

I really don't want to see another over-the-top, outrageous villain. That's too close to a classic "Disney villain" for me. One of the things that made Waternoose so frightening is that he had this persona that he showed the public of a kind, grandfatherly, caring and concerned old geezer, when that was just a front. THOSE are the scariest, most-menacing villains, the ones that catch you off-guard, the ones who seem to be benign at first, to have your best interests at heart. If you think of the worst real-life baddies from our own history, many of them were very charismatic and likeable on the surface, thus were able to garner the support of so many for their causes, and it is through THAT ability, to mobilize others, that they are so dangerous. A human leader who comes in promising monsters a peaceful re-joining of worlds, promising to share human technology that the monsters find fascinating, unlimited access to Laugh energy, would seem like a dream come true and a lot of monsters would fall for it, as would a lot of the audience at first. I wouldn't want someone who is just so obviously the "Bad Guy" right off the bat. Those are too easy to spot and too easy to defeat because you know exactly what you're dealing with.

pitbulllady

[randallsnape7]

Yeah... hey, it sounds like you've read "Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants", and KNOW who Ian Ludlow is! I'm amazed!

What's so awkward whenever I mention him (which usually comes up at some point whenever I discuss the 'MONK' series with people) is that almost no one I talk to has read the book... but I was so CAPTIVATED by Ian Ludlow's villain traits, that I can't help myself! (By the way: I figured out he was 'the guy' the VERY first scene he appeared in. The flippant manner in which he described the ins and outs of crime-solving and his borderline obsession with plot-twists is what gave him away for me. He didn't have me fooled one bit!)

But yeah... that WOULD be interesting to see a very unpredictable villain that could catch us all off-guard. Someone, for instance, like Senator Palpatine:

"Oh, Mike... oh, Sulley... you did RIGHT by banishing Randall. He didn't DESERVE to live. You never know... how much trouble Randall COULD have caused... had you let him go. His time... is now past, and YOU, my friends... must... move... forward. Unlike Randall... YOU... can trust ME..."

Behind closed doors: "Soon... I will have two new scaring apprentices, both far younger... and more POWERFUL..."

What he REALLY means: "Mike and Sulley are as gullible as heck. With Randall and his abilities out of the picture, NO ONE will be able to stop me from gaining TOTAL power over Monstropolis. Today is my LUCKY day!"

LOL!

[pitbulllady]

I'd even love to see the CDA be the bad guys, since they so closely mirror our own shadowy, corrupt government agencies that are supposed to be keeping us safe, when it's THEM we need to worry about! Even when MI first came out, which as you recall, was not even two full months after the 9/11 attacks on the WTC in New York, people were comparing the CDA with the newly-formed Dept. of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency, predicting that they would soon have their hand in every aspect of American lives, and like Roz said, would be "always watching". Now they have stockpiled billions and billions of handgun ammunition rounds which are NOT designed for range practice and target shooting, and cannot be used abroad as they violate the Geneva Convention, and can only be used against American citizens. They are recording and tapping into our everyday conversations, spying on us night and day, whether or not we have any connections with terrorist threats. Worst yet, they have now classified people who support the US Constitution AS TERRORISTS! I can see the CDA doing that exact same thing; they already surely knew that human children were not toxic, and yet they used that as an excuse to exercise control over the populace. Of course, they tell everyone that they are just trying to keep the Monster World safe, but it's not really about that. It's about power and control! One really corrupt official within their ranks could easily form an alliance with a similar group in the Human World, and sell out the monsters to the humans in exchange for more power, a truly frightening prospect. Someone like Randall, with his ability to move around unseen and undetected, could find out the truth before anyone else catches on.

pitbulllady

[randallsnape7]

VERY GOOD plot device! I never even THOUGHT of that before! That is TOTALLY true! I never really saw the CDA (Child Detection Agency) as good guys, anyway. I think they are 100% neutral and could EASILY be swayed to serve the cause of evil. Not unlike the Clone Troopers who carried out 'Order 66' in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. All it would take is ONE corrupt power to mobilize them all - like Bane in 'The Dark Knight Rises', when he publicly smears Jim Gordon's name in front of Gotham City at Harvey Dent's expense, then does that cheesy Adam Sandler impression of "this is for YOU...".

Human or not, ALL the villain would have to do is THROW OUT the possibility that Mike, Sulley, or possibly other Monsters are involved in some kind of human cover-up WITH the intention of 'contaminating' the Monster World, and just like that, each and every one of the CDA members would become MINDLESS agents at the villain's disposal. I have no doubt about that. I'm also sure that with their military might, it wouldn't phase them at all to start imprisoning monsters in cages. If all avenues narrow down to Randall Boggs, he could even find some way to not only defeat the villain, but even act as a motivational spokesperson who would unmask the 'contamination' lie that the villain spread to begin with. This would actually VALIDATE all the time Randall had spent with Boo, because he definitely knows from her that humans are not toxic, which would be a HUGE turn of events for Randall. If he could pull off something like that, along with the help of Mike and Sulley, that would make him a VERY poignant hero. Not only because he would be finding himself defending humans and monsters alike, but also because he would be simultaneously diffusing the might and the political fallacies of the CDA by proclaiming the truth.


In fact, by the end of 'Monsters 3', I think the CDA should just be disbanded as a whole... they are FAR more like troublemakers who show up to be SEEN, and to flaunt their power, than helpful agents whose sole interest is in the public safety.

I think you've landed on a solid, vibrating gold rod of a story threat right there. We need to do more discussing and expanding on the CDA's involvement in 'Monsters 3'.

[pitbulllady]

Well, we KNOW that the CDA is involved with covering up crimes by people that they want to protect. We actually SEE this happen in MI, when Roz tells Mike and Sulley, "none of this EVER happened". She KNOWS that they committed a serious crime under monster law, two actually. They knowingly harbored a human child, which, while it might seem innocent enough from our perspective, was highly illegal under monster law due to the alleged threat posed by that child to monsters everywhere, and the CDA is not about to let the cat out of the bag that human kids are not toxic, oh no! That law, in fact, was the exact same law that Randall would have guilty of had he been arrested. Building that machine was not illegal, not even considering how it was supposed to work. Bringing in human kids to test it, though-THAT was a big NO-NO! That had nothing to do with any cruelty or mistreatment of said kids, but was entirely based off of the alleged threat to monsters posed by those kids. And yet, Roz is willing to look the other way with regards to any involvement on the part of Mike and Sulley. Not only did they break that law, but they also illegally banished another monster without any due process whatsoever, though I'm not totally clear as to whether the CDA know that or not. They HAD to have known that SOMETHING happened to Randall, though, since he did not return from the Door Vault and nearly everyone on the Scare Floor saw him go up in pursuit of Mike and Sulley, so at some point you'd think that the CDA would have questioned the two of them about why Randall did not return, either that or they just assumed him to be dead or whatever, and concocted a story to cover that up, too.
And then there's that matter of secrecy. The CDA agents are known only by numbers, and conceal their identities inside those uniforms. The public assumes that the uniforms are there to protect the agents from those dreadful human toxins, but that's not true. They're there to maintain that ruse and to keep others from knowing the identity of the agents, which means that CDA agents can literally get by with murder and not be held accountable because NO ONE OUTSIDE THE AGENCY KNOWS WHO THEY REALLY ARE! They could be anyone-your neighbor, some elected official, a member of the MI Board of Directors. When I saw those posters on the MU campus, urging students to consider joining the CDA, I could not help but to think of the Hitler Youth and how they corrupted young people in Germany, taking away their own identities, or of similar programs in the Soviet Block, where young people are brainwashed into believing that whatever they do with that organization is acceptable as being "for the greater good". To me, there's nothing good about the CDA at all, and it will take someone who knows just as much about secrecy and remaining hidden to expose them.

What is really disturbing, though, is the fact that the CDA has "dirt" on James P. Sullivan, and now he's the CEO of one of the Monster World's largest utilities corporations. They know that he committed two serious crimes. Sulley is not in the least qualified for that job, and you can't tell me that the CDA didn't pull some strings to make sure that the Board of Directors appointed him as CEO. They can absolutely and totally control him now, by simply threatening to bring to light the fact that he harbored a human child, and he was involved in the "disappearance" and possible murder of another monster. Sulley is not a leader by any stretch; coming up with ONE good idea does not a leader make! He is used to taking orders, from Mike especially, rather than giving orders, and that's all the more troubling because that really means that MIKE, along with the CDA, will be the ones really calling the shots and Sulley will just go along with whatever they say. Even if he tries to come clean about the whole incident at some point, Mike is going to hold that guilt trip over him, that "what about US? What about our friendship? You gonna throw all that away for some stupid lizard boy" angle. The CDA is just gonna play them both like a Stradivarius.



pitbulllady

[randallsnape7]

Do you think under those circumstances, Randall himself might have the needed intellect and qualifications for possibly running Monsters, Inc. as CEO one day? Intellectually, I think he's far more qualified to run things than Sulley (who commited two monster crimes), or Mike (who can't see past himself).

We know he's FAR more comfortable taking on submissive roles, and being a leader may too much for him, but it sounds like a possibility... one day WAY out in the future.

[pitbulllady]

Mar 8, 2014 19:42:58 GMT -5 randallsnape7 said:

Do you think under those circumstances, Randall himself might have the needed intellect and qualifications for possibly running Monsters, Inc. as CEO one day? Intellectually, I think he's far more qualified to run things than Sulley (who commited two monster crimes), or Mike (who can't see past himself).

We know he's FAR more comfortable taking on submissive roles, and being a leader may too much for him, but it sounds like a possibility... one day WAY out in the future.

No, I really don't. Randall is intellectually superior, yes, but he's got way too many emotional issues, even with treatment and therapy. Randall does not respond well to intense and prolonged pressure, and that is exactly what a CEO will have to deal with on a daily basis. The success-or lack thereof-of an entire company is literally in their hands and their day-to-day decisions impact millions of people, directly or indirectly. 99% of the populace cannot handle that sort of pressure, and I don't think that either Randall or Sullivan is among the 1% who CAN. We only saw Sulley one year after the events of MI, at the end, when he's got the stock reports clip board, and I doubt he was immediately named CEO after those events, either, so he'd only been in that position for a brief time, a few months perhaps. Everything was going well...so far, but we know that "bubbles" in the stock markets and business sectors don't last, and eventually Sulley's easy ride will be over and he'll have to face a real crisis, just the sort of things that business leaders everywhere will have to face, and I don't think he can handle it or be able to make the right decisions. Randall would be even less able to deal with that stress, and he'd be TOO easily intimidated by Board members, politicians, etc. Randall's problem, what has always been his problem, is trying to please too many people, trying to be liked, to be popular, to fit in, and often that conflicts with what is needed to be a business leader, because you're always going to have someone gunning for you when you're in that position. Randall is either going to try to appease them, and failing that, he's going to get defensive. We've already seen how he breaks down when he's repeatedly pushed into a corner, and as a CEO, he's gonna be pushed into corners on a regular basis. Randall is the sort who needs a job where someone tells him what needs to be done, gives him the tools and resources to get it done, and then steps aside and lets him do that job, and lets him know when he's done it well. He needs that constant reassurance of his own worth, rather than those proverbial arrows coming at him from all sides, that business leaders inevitably face.

pitbulllady

[randallsnape7]

Fine, it was just a thought.

Still, I find the whole notion of Randall's time spent with Boo proving to be a valuable asset to him knowing that humans aren't toxic, a rather tantalizing and intriguing plot point in 'Monsters 3'. In many ways, exposing the corruption in the CDA during a moment of crisis and exposing the villain's lie would be more than sufficient for Randall. Not even a CEO who constantly remains in their position of authority would necessarily be given that kind of an opportunity. Maybe Randall could be presented with "the key to the city"? After doing so, it would be easy for him to just return to his regular self - wanting to please people on a daily basis and be accepted - once peace has prevailed.

We know that in the end, what has to mean the most to Randall is Mike and Sulley's friendship.