"Don't blow this for me!" - A window into the truth

[randallsnape7]

Hello, Randall fans.

In 'Monsters University', I think when Randall tells Mike "Don't blow this for me!" when he joins the Roar Omega Roar fraternity, we get a VERY small taste into the private life of Randall Boggs. Anyone who says "Don't blow this for me!" has been burned in the past... several times. This means that indeed, Randall has had friends before in his childhood... only they either get taken away from him, are not allowed to play with him (i.e. like the friend has a domineering dad who is prejudiced against Randall's species and insults Randall, and therefore breaks up the bond rudely... even at the expense of Randall's mental and emotional well-being... and believe me, there ARE dads out there who are just like that), or the friend ultimately betrays and humiliates him. I think there's DEFINITELY a hidden backstory hinted at in this one line of Randall's in 'Monsters University' that the movie series hasn't addressed yet.

Any thoughts?

[pitbulllady]

You REALLY have to take into consideration far more than just Randall's spoken words here. On the surface, the sentence, "don't blow this for me, Mike", sounds rather callous. It's partly responsible for the widely-held belief that Randall "ditched" Mike as a friend when someone better came along and that he'd been planning to do this from the start. Many people easily forget, or discount, Randall's earlier words, "we're gonna be best chums, Mike! I can feel it!" We MUST look at Randall's body language and voice inflection while he was speaking. When he tells Mike that they're gonna be "best chums", he maintains an open body position all the time. He keeps his face and torso completely facing Mike and maintains total eye contact. His arm gesture is one of enthusiasm. All of these things point to complete sincerity on Randall's part. He meant every word that he said there.

Now, contrast his body language/eye contact and vocal inflection when he tells Mike not to "blow this" for him. Randall's body is mostly turned away from Mike. He avoids making direct eye contact but keeps glancing back, very nervously, at the ROR's to see if they've noticed him speaking to Mike. When he says the words, they are barely above a whisper, and he puts his hand up to his mouth in a rather conspiratorial manner. THAT gesture indicates that he is not supposed to be talking to Mike in the first place and he's trying to avoid being seen doing so, AND it also indicates that what he's saying has a hidden meaning, that he does not really MEAN what the words are stating, but is trying to convey to Mike that this is a temporary situation, that he is not ALLOWED to associate with Mike while he's still an initiate/probationary member of ROR. But, it also means that he's confident that once the Scare Games are over, things will "loosen up" and he will once again be allowed to associate with Mike. It's the sort of gesture that people make when they're in a position where they can't tell the whole story, but intend to reveal to the recipient of their words the truth later on, when their present company(the ROR's and other frats who might snitch on him) and situation changes. It was Randall's way of trying to get across, "we can talk about this later when Johnny isn't watching me like a hawk", basically. Randall clearly did not expect Mike to even be there, so this really put him on the spot, so to speak, and he never had time to fully explain that situation to Mike, to try to get him to understand(not that Mike would have understood anyone else's perspective).

pitbulllady

[randallsnape7]

That's a nice thought that Randall was planning on getting with Mike later once Johnny wasn't eyeing him like a hawk and explain the whole story. When you observe Randall's character progression, it really seems that there was much he planned on doing, but never got the chance... because everything kept 'blowing up' in his face, so to speak.

Poor little guy! Randall needs a hug.