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Post by polkadots on Mar 23, 2014 4:20:19 GMT -6
Sometimes folks say that Mike is a bit too different in either film (and Sulley too but this is a Mike board)
Honestly though, how Mike was in MU kind of meant MI made sense to me. You know for the time skip and all. There were changes in those ten years but I think they made sense for his character. Like MU kind of reinforces the reason Mike in MI is so angry and anxious to get things back to normal even if it means putting Boo in... dangerous situations such as utterly abandoning her somewhere in Europe or not letting Sulley look for her while she wanders around a dangerous factory where the CDA could catch her (and harm her? Who knows?) In MU he's learned things can be lost easily.
Both he and Sulley have worked so hard for the scare record and Mike especially. Mike is in a great place in his life in MI and wants to keep it that way. He has a wonderful girlfriend who he utterly adores and who adores him back- he lives in a great apartment with his best friend and he is helping said best friend to hopefully become the greatest Scarer in history- and that he will become perhaps the greatest coach in Scaring history as a result. They can almost taste it. They're not that far from the big deal. And then Sulley makes a huge mistake and Mike is trying desperately to fix it and get both their lives back to normal where for him everything was golden. Monsters also don't really give a damn about the safety of humans tbh. It's just not a part of their concern in general- human safety. Only Sulley really gives a damn for the longest time in the original movie with what happens to Boo. So yeah he's going to treat her like some irritating puppy he has to get rid of. Because everything hangs in the balance. Ten years of work in some ways.
Mike isn't a scary monster and in monster society it seems scariness is praised- enough that even in the original movie alone Sulley is the popular one and Sulley is even asked for an autograph. And he has fanboys. In the janitors. Haha. So honestly Mike once having a rough time as a not-scary monster in such a world- would make sense to me. And becoming a coach after realising he couldn't be a scarer himself I think was a clever idea for a story. Like Mike shows how yeah sometimes in life "Those who can't, teach" holds true but so what? Teaching in itself is important and heck teaching isn't even those who can do said talent excel in. Sometimes talented folks can't teach to save their lives. Mike helped pave the way not only for Sulley but several other scarers who wouldn't have made it to the industry at all and heck probably influenced the scaring programme given the Dean.
In the end laughter was the way forward but if the Scaring industry had continued and needed saving I think Mike would have been an important source for whatever they'd have come up with.
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Post by savefearow on Mar 23, 2014 11:28:50 GMT -6
I agree. I thought Mike's role in MU tied in nicely to MI and made me understand and appreciate his character alot more. Before MU, Mike seems a bit irritable, stubbornly insisting that he and Sulley have to do things a certain way, and it even looks a little like he is riding Sulley's coat-tails.
MU shows that Mike is absolutely serious about scaring and being a scaring coach. Scenes like Mike telling Sulley 'scary monsters don't have plaque' and getting Sulley to practice roars and scare positions have a deeper meaning now. In MI, you could write those scenes off as comedy, Mike being bossy or trying to get attention when Sulley doesn't need lessons on being scary... but MU shows that Sulley DOES need someone to make him practice and refine his skills, otherwise he'd be lazy and complacent.
Thanks to MU, it's more clear that Mike and Sulley were really partners in the scare industry, not a talented scarer (Sulley) who let his childhood friend (Mike) come along for the ride. Mike was the coach and he worked hard as an assistant, and he inspired Sulley to work harder too. They both had pretty nice lives in MI, but MU showed that wasn't always the case. They both put in so much effort to get where they were, and Mike could see 10 years worth of effort just slipping away because Sulley had a new pet he couldn't control.
And yes, I really do believe that monsters viewed humans as dangerous wild animals, not sentient beings with complicated emotions. Human children were something to be feared in monster society, not something to protect and cherish. People complaining about Mike's treatment of Boo are (generally) basing their criticisms of what behavior they would expect from a human adult. But Mike is not human. He behaves in a way that is typical of his species and then he learns that he was wrong (as was monster society) and so he changes his actions for the better.
Mike is not perfect, but he is a pretty good friend to Sulley and eventually he's a true friend to Boo as well. MU even explains how Mike was able to repair Boo's door at the end of MI, he studied door technology briefly, when he was kicked out of the scaring program. And even though engineering was not Mike's preferred major, he still paid enough attention to Prof. Brandywine's lectures to recall the basics of door construction over 10 years later.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 11:29:42 GMT -6
I don't really think that is what people mean when they say that Mike's character drastically changed. If you notice in MU, Mike is a great and diligent student who passes all his tests and turns in all his homework on time, whereas in MI, he is repetitively nagged by Roz to turn in his paper work because he never brings it to her on time. It's rather strange that a monster so inspired and enthusiastic to finish his responsibilities, would all of a sudden decide that those things aren't priority. Secondly, in MU, Mike seemed like a very humble person whose usually very serious about everything, including things outside of his studies. Whenever someone offenses him, he uses facts to back up his claim and prove that the offender is wrong. But in MI, he shows signs of arrogance, for instance when his implies that Sulley was alway jealous of his looks or that he could "marry himself" when he complimented his own romantic abilities. Most of the time, he is also very sarcastic and uses witty comebacks and insults rather than using proven facts. I'm not trying to beat you up or anything, your super awesome I'm just putting what I have on the table.
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Post by Amelia Mun on Mar 23, 2014 11:32:44 GMT -6
But in MI, he shows signs of arrogance, for instance when his implies that Sulley was alway jealous of his looks or that he could "marry himself" when he complimented his own romantic abilities. Most of the time, he is also very sarcastic and uses witty comebacks and insults rather than using proven facts. But that might have to do with how the environment around him has changed. He doesn't need to prove himself anymore, people take him seriously and value his opinion, he doesn't need to fight for it to be heard and appreciated. After several years of that, he probably adapted, you know?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2014 11:42:50 GMT -6
I agree that Mike's transition between the two movies is understandable given the estimated time gap, it's just that the Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. and the one from Monsters University are FAR from being one in the same, and that's what I'm trying to get at. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. People you may have heard this rumor from on Tumblr or wherever say this about Mike because they don't know how long it has been from MU to MI, for all we now it could be a whole 20 years since Mike and Sull left the University, but I imagine most people think it's much shorter than even 10.
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Post by Amelia Mun on Mar 23, 2014 11:51:53 GMT -6
That's a fair point. I had assumed it was a good 10-15 years later (which gave Randall time to graduate and catch up on the scare floor) but there's no definite time gap.
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Post by savefearow on Mar 23, 2014 14:13:33 GMT -6
I don't really think that is what people mean when they say that Mike's character drastically changed. If you notice in MU, Mike is a great and diligent student who passes all his tests and turns in all his homework on time, whereas in MI, he is repetitively nagged by Roz to turn in his paper work because he never brings it to her on time. It's rather strange that a monster so inspired and enthusiastic to finish his responsibilities, would all of a sudden decide that those things aren't priority. Secondly, in MU, Mike seemed like a very humble person whose usually very serious about everything, including things outside of his studies. Whenever someone offenses him, he uses facts to back up his claim and prove that the offender is wrong. But in MI, he shows signs of arrogance, for instance when his implies that Sulley was alway jealous of his looks or that he could "marry himself" when he complimented his own romantic abilities. Most of the time, he is also very sarcastic and uses witty comebacks and insults rather than using proven facts. I'm not trying to beat you up or anything, your super awesome I'm just putting what I have on the table. Oh don't worry. I don't mind hearing other analysis. It's great when fans have different perspectives of scenes or characters, and they just have a nice discussion about it. I think I chalked Mike's difference in personality up to a combination of increased status (he's not as much of an underdog anymore) and his relationship with Celia seemed to have boosted his ego. I really wish we had seen Celia in MU, because I think Mike acts a little differently around her than he does around other monsters. Going from being single to having a very serious romance can alter someone's behavior. Sometimes they don't even realize how much they have changed. Maybe Celia convinced Mike to loosen up or be more humorous, and he just went overboard?
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Post by toxicdolls on Mar 25, 2014 13:40:17 GMT -6
But in the short Mike and Sulley stole the door station (I am assuming the movie happens after they get kicked out of MU and the door is from there job at MI) He also breaks into Monsters inc during MU, and breaks into the human world.. So Mike has a lot of guts and doesn't seem worried about being fired/caught, He seems to be a lot less gutsy in MI then he was in MU. Honestly I just don't think Pixar thought out his character entirely in MI, and I doubt they thought his character would turn into what he was in MU (10 years ago when they made him) after all it seemed they tried to make them more like their MI selves in the scrapped/concept art, but they could not make the movie work and ended up with what we saw in MU.
But that's just my thoughts, I can see how he would have changed (maybe Celia, or having a stable job, or his realization that everything works out in the end?) I just don't think its what they had in mind during MI, but I do accept it now that its done XD
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2014 16:16:00 GMT -6
I think I may have said this somewhere else, but I feel like Mike and Sully's personalities switch between the two movies, because in MU, Mike is really nice and optimistic, whereas Sulley is pretty arrogant and attention seeking. But in MI it's vice versa and those traits are place on the other person, if that makes any sense. :/
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RantingRandall
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Post by RantingRandall on Mar 26, 2014 13:51:26 GMT -6
Actually, I think Mike's personalities in MU and MI match nicely. MU shows us what great lengths Mike had to go before he landed the scare assistant job. It makes sense to me that in MI, he would do anything to prevent all this effort from going to waste. When it comes to paperwork- well, I think Mike could've developed a habit of procrastinating, which is actually quite normal - think of how many people procrastinate filing their tax forms/returns. Plus, he might've been a bit absent-minded because he was in love with Celia
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Post by hopefulartist on Mar 26, 2014 22:01:33 GMT -6
I can see the reason why Mike's overly proud and happy that he appears on a photo or TV commercial, even so that his face is covered, is because he has been ignored most of his childhood and to get even the slightest recognition, he's delighted. For a monster that has been ridiculed and ignored earlier on in his life, he is very strong willed, optimistic and confident so he has no trouble with self esteem at all, in fact he has the opposite of low self esteem. He must have great and supportive parents too, as shown in the bonus "Put that thing back where it came from" musical short with his mom cheering in the end.
There has been some continuity with his paperwork procrastination, there was a sticky note in his locker that's meant to remind him to file his paperwork at the end of MU.
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