Scarcity and Creativity in Monsters, Inc.

I had no idea that one of my favorite kids' movies was this profound. Wow. Don't be fooled by the smooth animation, the slapstick humor, or the clean dialogue: this movie is a wake-up call in the vein of Blood Diamond. Monsters, Inc. begins with a Corporation, a Corporation sustained by the selling of energy in the form of human prepubescent screams. Despite the surface level cringing that turning fear into dollars might affect, everyone in the movie appears happy and any criticisms quickly fade. After all, the ends justifies the means.

But the movie refuses to leave it at that, as many other kids' movies might have done. Most would call the screaming idea a creative twist, but Monsters, Inc. calls it a perversion. Despite the extreme warning labels attached to children (mostly relating to their lethal toxitity), Sully soon finds out that everything he has been told was a lie by encountering a child, Boo. Boo is a sweet girl, harmless and cute, not the "killing machine" that Mike fears. As the movie progresses, Boo sets off a chain reaction which uncovers a sadistic plot which could basicallybe called torture that runs all the way to the top. In a climactic scene, Mr. Waternoose confesses to Sully that he "would rather kidnap 10000 children then let this company die!"

Monsters, Inc. is brilliant because it shows the shallowness of most exploitive thinking. "The ends justifies the means" is a common phrase, used to allow anything from deception to torture. However, Monsters, Inc. points out that the ends can be reached with pure means, all one has to do is get creative and value laughter (and joy and flourishing) over fear. For Mr. Waternoose, scarcity in screams meant that more screams had to be extracted from the system. Sadly, I see a strain of American thinking in that deduction..."the oil reserves must be protected at all costs." However, the answer wasn't more screams, but a different kind of resource, a pure and renewable one--joy. The Corporation's motto, "We Scare Because We Care," is revealed to be an oxymoron...no one can scare in a caring way. Perhaps it could read, "We Scare EVEN THOUGH We Care" or vice versa, but never the original. It's insane, and perhaps a realization of this kind could inform many decisions in the public sphere.

Ironically, this apocalyptic criticism of exploitative capitalism is wrapped inside an innocent-seeming animation for children. Certainly no child will unravel the complexities of Monsters, Inc.'s plot...and I wonder how many adults will, probably only those that are looking for it. In this sense, Monsters, Inc. may not rank among the great prophetic films because of its subtlety, but at the same time it does provide a different outlet for the apocalyptic mind--a relaxing change of pace from the usual dark labyrinthian films like Se7en or Donnie Darko. And for apocalytpic-minded parents, nothing could be better than a film like Monsters, Inc. Kudos to Pixar for raising the bar.