Post by polkadots on Mar 23, 2014 3:53:17 GMT -6
I was thinking about it though and it does sound a little...uh.... WOOBIFYING?
"AAAWWW RANDY WAS AN ORPHAN LET ME HOLD YOU, YOU'RE NOT A BAD PERSON SO MISTUNDERSTooD, STROKES HIS FACE, chokes and dies oN randy woobing"
but not entirely, disney has made villains orphans in the past, that whole tragic backstory ding dong. it doesnt mean that theyre not bad people, it just means that something in their past slowly made them that way i.e. rejection. i GUESSSS
Overall however the full process of woobification isn't necessarily giving them a rough background- it would probably be pulling the idea 'You had a hard life, everything bad you do is wiped clean as a result. Nothing bad you do is really your fault at all. You are 100% blameless.'
Which is yeah.... no.
The bad things, the unlucky things in life can explain the character and their behaviour though they don't utterly absolve them of their wrong doing. Past experiences and present circumstances or motives and skewed perspectives can help shape who we are, no question, and sometimes things get complicated, but there can still be an element of choice. I think I can get why Randall acts the way he does and even sympathies but that doesn't mean that automatically wipes the slate clean or he's utterly innocent. There's certain paths we go down- that sometimes life can seemingly push us down but we can still try and say no. Sometimes this is easier said then done, clearly, but still. It's a possible choice.
Randall in MI is incredibly bitter and has been stewing on his hatred for years- and probably reminded of it each time he looks at the board or looks to his right to Sulley's door station things getting worse as the whole scream extractor plot utterly fails to gain him praise from Waternoose. It may seem petty sure, but yeah I think it's been building up for a long time and it doesn't exactly surprise me is hardly cut up on the idea of killing Sulley when given the orders by Waternoose- even if what he wanted in the long term is them both working as janitors (probably) forgotten in history and hopefully miserable why he is remembered and adored. Sulley is continually in his way on the scare floor and then both he and Mike have the 'audacity'; to get in the way of his other project to eventually get noticed. Maybe Randall even thinks Sulley is a cheater. Who the heck knows. He takes joy in Mike and Sulley's pain and distress however in any case. There can be reasons for it sure. But does that make it remotely okay? Does that automatically wipe the slate clean? Of course not. Reasons make for interesting characters but not absolved ones.
Like with Sulley in MU in a less extreme way. Sulley is sympathetic certainly but he still cheated and technically built Mike up before that Scare simulator only for it to come crashing down later.
Which he shouldn't have done. Like I watch MU now and a part of my heart breaks when Sulley gets down to talk to Mike before it. Because no. NO. YOU ASS. How could you lie and pretend you believe in him like that. Oh god.
It's actually an interesting parallel with Johnny- though Johnny's of course was deliberately malicious and the whole point of building up OK was to reveal the truth of what he thought of them (and Sulley didn't want the truth to come out at all). Regardless- Sulley in his selfishness and fear did something similar.
Whatever his motives might have been he still messed up- majorly.
In fact it probably would have hurt Mike more because even if this was before they said it out loud subconsciously they both considered each other friends at this stage. Johnny was just some asshole and yeah it hurt OK, Sulley included but what Sulley did hurt them all so much more because he was technically one of them. It was a betrayal.
So Sulley had sympathetic reasons but it still sucked that he did it. He was a liar and a cheater whatever his motives and sympathetic reasons. And he shouldn't have done it at all. He still had to make things right. And in a way he did that with some of his words to Mike at the bus. That while he admitted he didn't think Mike was scary at all Mike was still utterly amazing to him in other ways. He was honest this time. They became good friends who helped each other out to achieve their dreams as a team.