|
Post by pitbulllady on Mar 8, 2014 22:04:09 GMT -5
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. Randall never did get to spend time with Boo, not really. He, unlike Sulley, never got a chance to see her play, draw and do things that monster kids do, and Randall really does not interact with her much at all. She is still just an animal to him, as she would have been to pretty much any monster. He might have grasped the notion that she wasn't toxic, but he does not get to interact with her in any capacity that would reveal to him that human children are anything other than lower animals, like rats or rabbits or Guinea pigs. Randall does not equate Boo with being a PERSON at all, and he has no reason to do so. Only Sulley, and to a lesser extent Mike, got to find out the truth because Sulley was in that highly unique position of actually getting to spend time with Boo and discover what she was really like. Randall maintains a sort of emotional distance from her, a "professional detachment", if you will. He's not openly cruel or harsh to her, he does not even speak to her, but he clearly has no clue that this is a PERSON. His last memory of her would have been of her attacking HIM and beating him with a plastic bat, and his introduction to other humans soon afterwards does not go well for him at all, so something else is going to need to happen in order to make Randall realize that humans are people, too, equal to monsters. At some point before returning to the Monster World, he needs to figure out humans, the good and the bad, and that knowledge will be indispensable later on, especially if that threat to the Monster World involves humans. pitbulllady
|
|
|
Post by randallsnape7 on Mar 9, 2014 1:55:55 GMT -5
Good point.
You know? I'll just say that I'm thoroughly amazed at how you answer these questions. I hope you'll take this as a compliment, but I almost feel as if I'm interviewing J.K. Rowling, as if she were a 'ghost writer' for the 'Monsters' films, or something. The intricate details you provide are absolutely fascinating... and believe me, since I actually am planning to major in film and storytelling/writing, I greatly appreciate that. I guess it's because I KNOW you are very fond of Randall, and obviously, you've spent a great deal of time and reflection on it all, even Mike and Sulley. So, you just have this intuition, basically, of what each character would or wouldn't do.
But again, I say this because... I have seen and read many of Rowling's interviews, and each and every one I've read is just captivating. Like her, you have a tremendous ability of... articulating yourself, yet at the same time, it's so very, very clear that we're both dancing around that million dollar question about what will be THE catalyst to finally bring about Randall's redemption, and it's like we're sprinting on this same track... the same train of thought - as I'm sure many other 'Monsters' fans are.
I will say... point blank, that we really, REALLY need to see Randall as a child in a flashback scene, near the climax of 'Monsters 3', and we need at LEAST a couple minutes to actually know him at that age. The audience needs to know what makes him tick. We also need to see him in the days just before he goes to Monsters University... that's very important. It also wouldn't hurt to see when Randall first met Henry J. Waternoose and how he actually got Randall on his payroll - as far as specifics go. We also need to see, somewhere in the flashback, that what Randall truly, deeply wanted more than anything in the world was to make friends... and how everything kept going against him... all the time.
In a sort of role reversal, if you will, I actually think hearing Randall's lifestory could teach Mike a thing or too. He'd get to know, once and for all, that the world doesn't revolve around Mike Wazowski - even if he IS shaped like a sphere. In fact... I just realized something - I think one of Mike's biggest problems with Randall throughout MU and MI is that, in one way or another, Randall TRULY threatens Mike's PRIDE and EGO. I think when he is with Randall, he KNOWS that he's not the boss... and I think that makes Mike very uncomfortable. Mike can get away with whining and complaining to Sulley, because they just happen to be close enough, that Sulley just finds a way to put up with him, like when he goes "Wah, wah, wah... COME ON, Butterball! You could use the exercise.", but Randall is simply NOT going to indulge him in that way.
I think if Mike would just LISTEN, Randall would be uniquely capable of teaching him some valuable things about LIFE itself - just life EXPERIENCES - that Mike never learned at all, because he's spent ALL his time being hung up over the great and wonderful MIKE becoming the BEST SCARER. Now granted, this means Randall and Mike would have to have a 'lake' scene of sorts, and events must LEAD Randall to ultimately pouring out his heart like that and explaining to him what his life was like. For once, Mike couldn't just USE Randall to get what he wanted... he'd have to learn that it isn't 'ALL ABOUT MIKE'! That would be touching to see...
I think Randall's biggest edge over Mike is that he can squash Mike's ego without apologizing and put him in his place, but the other neat thing is that Randall is basically a young monster, like Mike is... so it wouldn't be like an adult or teacher, like Roz or Dean Hardscrabble, reprimanding him... Randall is fairly close to Mike's age, and being another aspiring student from Monsters University, Randall could ACTUALLY stand toe to toe with Mike as an equal, and Mike NEEDS that.
Basically, I think Randall Boggs is the KEY to Mike finally maturing as a person and gaining some humility... which is LONG overdue for Mike.
|
|
|
Post by pitbulllady on Mar 9, 2014 10:11:15 GMT -5
Knowing what Randall's childhood was really like, actually SEEING that, and seeing him as a child, would make a HUGE difference in how the audience and Pixar fans in general see him. Even as sympathetic a character as WE perceive him to have been in MU, there are still a lot of people who hate Randall. The way they see it, he was just a social climber who wanted to be "cool", be better than everyone else, who thought he was too good to hang out with Mike, and many people believe that Randall "dumped" Mike in favor of the ROR's and "turned on Mike" when he participated in that prank orchestrated by the ROR's at the party, pointing to that grin on Randall's face as he released the rope holding the stuffed animals. One of the reasons why so many came to love and adore Mike after seeing MU is because it showed him as a child, showed that even then others looked down on him. People saw that adorable little green ball and just melted, but we can still only speculate on Randall's childhood. Audiences need to see at least part of it, and hear in RANDALL'S own words what he wants, what he's afraid of, what he did certain things, and especially they need to hear him express regret. Mike and Sulley need to hear those words, as well, because neither of them know Randall at all, no better than the movie audiences do. Mike has so easily forgotten those times when Randall happily gave up HIS time to help Mike study, so Mike could achieve HIS dream, or how Randall waited until his roommate arrived so that the roommate could have first choice of the best side of the room. It would also be useful to see just how Waternoose initially approached Randall about the project, and why he'd picked Randall in the first place, out of all those employees.
pitbulllady
|
|
|
Post by randallsnape7 on Mar 9, 2014 17:23:58 GMT -5
You just triggered an interesting thought: Obviously, Randall's childhood COULD NOT be the very first thing we see in the opening of 'Monsters 3'... or everyone would automatically assume that Pixar just did an inferior cop-out or rehash of the 'Monsters' prologue with Mike in the first film.
What triggered is, whenever Mike meets up with Randall, at some point... the audience needs to see Randall crying, in the midst of whatever he's saying to Mike... and visually, it would be interesting if Randall was beside some body of water (a lake, or otherwise), where he would be looking at his own reflection, and if one of those tears actually fell and landed in the water, the ripple effect could act as the transition to the flashback of Randall's childhood. I think that would be very interesting...
|
|