Child Exploitation is a theme of Monsters, Inc…
When you think Monsters, Inc, you remember of a fun kids’ movie from Disney and Pixar, the creators of Toy Story and A Bug’s Life. But, the first film in the beloved monster franchise ventures into a rather touchy subject; child exploitation but without the real-life drama. In the movie, it sees longtime best friends, Mike and Sulley, the top scare team at Monsters Incorporated, secretly harbour a little human girl they name Boo when she escapes her bedroom.
The friends go through a series of hardships as they attempt to keep Boo away from her monster, Randall Boggs who wants to use her to harvest scares through his Scare Extractor machine. It becomes apparent later that Monsters, Inc’s boss, Henry J. Waternoose is involved in the child exploitation as well. This leads to Mike and Sully tricking him into admitting to kidnapping children for his own means.
From the beginning, Randall’s Scare assistant, Fungus is a reluctant participant in the scheme but seems to be let go or not been arrested given his appearance at the end of the movie. But, let’s go into how child exploitation within Monsters, Inc even started to begin with and it has to do with Randall.
A Friendship That Sparks A Longtime Jealousy
As we get closer to the release of the Disney+-Pixar series, Monsters at Work on July 7, we thought we’d go over some of the themes within the films and how they will impact the new show. One of those is child exploitation. As we mentioned above, Randall had a heavy role in this crime in the first movie. Now, he wasn’t always this. In fact, when he was a teenager, he was actually a pretty nice, yet timid guy with a bit of an awkward streak with a desire to be popular. He also unable to control his camouflage ability and admired his roomie’s confidence.
In the Monsters, Inc prequel movie, Monsters University, we learn a bit more about Randall and how he became the villain. He starts out as Mike’s roommate when they’re paired for dorm assignments. They hit it off really quickly and become good friends as they’re both Scare Majors. Mike doesn’t care about popularity at this point and just wants to become the best Scarer.
Randall, however, wants to be popular so that people will like him. At Mike’s suggestion, he ditches his glasses. As time goes on, the roommates become distant. Boggs joins Roar Omega Roar (RΩR) after Mike and Sulley are kicked out of the Scaring Program. By this time, Sulley had been booted from RΩR by its leader, Johnny Worthington.
Taking his chance in RΩR seriously, Randall joins in on a prank by the fraternity on Oozma Kappa. During the Scare Games, he messes up his final scare which allegedly sees him get kicked out of RΩR. He vows to never lose to Sulley again, which ultimately sees them become rivals during their time at Monsters, Inc.
However, Randall actually graduated from Monster University while Mike and Sulley were expelled.
Tired Of Being In Second Place
Unlike, Mike and Sulley who had to work their way up from Monsters, Inc’s mailroom to the scare floor, Randall presumedly did it the usual way Scare Major students do it. However, he would have to face facts; his rival was always better than him.
What’s more is that Randall was always a cheater. He cheated when he was at Monsters University and he continued to do so as an adult. Look at how he wanted to be Scare leader, got there for like two minutes, before he got pushed to second again. Getting the Scare Record would’ve made him famous beyond anything else he could’ve done.
Cheating was only too easy for him which is why he resorted to child exploitation. He roped Waternoose into his scheme because he knew the factory was in trouble. Despite the boss’ intentions, there’s no way he would’ve abducted Boo if Monsters, Inc was in trouble of going bankrupt. However, as the Henry J. Waternoose III page on the Disney Fandom site says, he’s basically an anti-hero.
Boo Was Randall’s Attempt To Be Like Sulley
Randall’s dealings in child exploitation show that he wanted everything Sulley did. The love admiration from his peers. We see this not just in Monsters, Inc but in Monsters University too. He was willing to do everything it took to get it. Look at the prank RΩR pulled on Oozma Kappa at the party. Boggs didn’t even think twice about Mike’s feelings.
When they were adults, the rivalry between the three became more competitive to the point it was annoying to Randall as the entire scare floor admired Sulley. By exploiting Boo, Randall would get the admiration for saving the power plant and likely go on a massive power trip of his own.
Why Disguising The Theme Within The Story Was A Smart Move
Using the theme of child exploitation in a family film is risky. But, Monsters, Inc pulls it off really well. It hides the theme amongst the under the light-hearted moments like Boo laughing at Mike’s unintended antics. Showing the world how horrible some individuals are when it comes to exploiting others.
Yes, Monstropolis is full of literal monsters, but there are good monsters and bad ones. Randall is just one of those. Using his longtime desire to exploit human kids to make himself look like the hero.
