MovieChat Forums > Monsters University (2013) Discussion > ...yet in the end, it was all for nothin...

...yet in the end, it was all for nothing...

posted 11 years ago by Beady-El
6 replies | jump to latest

...because by the end of Monsters Inc., scaring was obsolete.

Laughter was shown to be a better energy source.

All those monsters who'd studied the finer points of scaring, investing years of their lives (and piles of tuition money) perhaps spending a decade earning an advanced degree - now had worthless credentials.

It worked out well enough for Mike, who discovered an unsuspected talent for comedy, but he's apt to be a rare case. Now the scarers all need to learn to be funny - or find new jobs.

How's THAT for grim?

[–] pitbulllady 11 years ago

It is grim, actually. Not all Scarers are cut out to be comedians. While Laugh energy is more powerful than Scream, it's also a LOT harder to make someone laugh than to scare them, and in the case of children, making them laugh usually involves the monster having to do things that are demeaning and juvenile themselves, like throwing pie in their own face. Not everyone is willing to stoop that low. I can't see someone like Johnny Worthington, for example, doing things like that just to get some four-year-old human kid to laugh at him. He not only had the years of education, and the years spent honing those Scaring skills at Fear Co, but a long family tradition of Scaring to live up to, and now it's just all rendered pointless. I'd imagine that there would be a lot of former Scarers out of work, more than would actually be able or willing to make it as comedians, so in the long run, that switch to Laugh energy is going to wind up hurting their economy more than it helped.

pitbulllady

[–] jmarkoff2 11 years ago

Progress often leaves the previous level high and dry. Just think what the invention of the automobile did for horse-maintenance personnel, what Drs. Salk & Sabin's polio vaccine did for iron lung makers, or what Gutenberg's press and the later invention of xeroxing machines did for scriveners.

Just think what clean solar energy will do for all the oil companies. Insert Simpsons type of joke about big oil goons violently sabotaging a progressive environmentalist invention.

[–] jackbauer4774 11 years ago

Yet another example of a 'kids' movie hitting the nail on the head when it comes to everyday issues

[–] reaseltbim 11 years ago

that's the way the world goes. Progress will always leave some behind. It's like when car companies buy new technology or more efficient inventions and bury them so that they stay on top with the current way of driving cars.

[–] tiago-gp-pythium 11 years ago

actually if you saw this movie, the most effective way to harvest energy is to scare adults! but it's also the most difficult

[–] pitbulllady 11 years ago

There's WAY too much risk in trying to scare adults on a regular basis. Many adults carry weapons, adults can articulate what they saw, and are more likely to react with violence. But that's all besides the point. The point has nothing to do with who is easier to scare, but with inevitable change. All the monsters who trained to be Scarers, worked hard to become the best Scarers, were responsible for training the Scarers...all became obsolete. It happens. Happened to me, matter of fact. I went to college to become a graphic designer and was trained in the use of type-setting machines, huge cameras, literal cut-and-paste techniques, hand-painting signs, etc. About the time I graduated, the computer made all that obsolete, forcing me to choose another career, go back to college, spend MORE money and accept jobs that were "second pick" for much less pay.

pitbulllady