First of all, g-na, if you only see or catch what is very, very overt and obvious, right-on-the-surface in a Pixar movie, you’re missing about 80% of it. No, there is no “sign” that says Mike was using Randall to study. There is no sign that says Mike is green, either, nor is there a sign that says that his dream of becoming the “Best Scarer the World Has Ever Known”(HIS words) took precedence over everything else, relationships included. Remember when Randall was pleading with Mike to go to the Rush party with him, remember Mike’s reply? I do, and these are his exact words: "We’ll have plenty of time for parties once we become Scarers." Do you know how long that would take, assuming that Mike had stayed in the Scare Program? FOUR YEARS. At LEAST, and that is assuming that he got a job as a Scarer immediately after graduating. In as many words, Mike is saying that Randall is going to have to wait four years before they can really be friends, do things that friends do, like go to parties, movies, etc. Now, before you say that all that studying was necessary, that it had to come first, that Mike was right to put off any and all social activities in order to earn a degree, I need to remind you that I completed not one, but TWO undergraduate degrees and a Master’s, and I graduated with a 3.89 GPA, so I was no slacker in college, BUT I also had friends. I went to parties, to movies, to sports events, to the State Fair, etc., WITH my friends. Rest assured that I did NOT keep my nose buried in a textbook or notes the whole time, either. There were times when I had to put aside what I wanted or needed to do in order to do something that one of my FRIENDS wanted to do; that’s what a friendship is all about. It’s give and take, on both parts. Just being nice to someone does NOT make you a friend. Just being polite to someone does not make you their friend. Doing an occasional favor for someone does not even make you their friend. You can do all those things for total strangers whose names you don’t even know. I honestly believe, as someone who grew up in an age when the internet did not exist, that social media has cheapened the very meaning of “friend”.
In MU, we SEE that Randall willingly and happily helped MIKE to study, not once, but twice, even though at one point Mike actually criticizes him for picking questions that were too easy. We see Randall try to help Mike avoid trouble in class on the day that Sulley provoked that confrontation, to no avail. What does Mike do for Randall? Tell him to “lose the glasses”, questionable advice at best, since Mike never once considered that Randall might have worn those for a very good reason. All Mike can see is how something ties in with being a Scarer. Mike is all too happy to accept Randall’s assistance in studying, so MIKE can fulfill HIS dream, but can’t be bothered to go to even ONE party with him? I know that if someone tells me, however politely they might say it, that I’m going to have to wait four years before they’ll do stuff like that for me, they’re no friend! It’s time to start looking around for someone is not quite so self-absorbed.
And remember the football game? Randall looks like a deer in the headlights there, completely alone, surrounded by all those big jock guys, clearly uncomfortable and out of his element. And what was his so-called “friend” doing? Trying to reassure him? Trying to talk to him, to engage him in conversation, just BE there for him, the way…you know, a FRIEND does? Heck, NO, he’s STILL got his face buried in the textbooks, ignoring Randall completely, as if he’s not even there! Randall even keeps looking over at him as if thinking, “Mike, what are you DOING? Remember ME?” Now, seriously folks, how many of you treat YOUR friends like that? Would you still want to be a friend to someone who consistently treated YOU that way? Mike didn’t have to be mean to get that point across. Even on his “To-Do” list, there is absolutely NO mention of “make friends”, or “go to parties and do fun stuff” at all. Those things were not on his agenda, not important to him at all. Randall isn’t the ONLY one Mike uses for his own means, either. He does the exact same thing with the OK’s. He puts himself in their ranks ONLY because he has to have a team to compete in the Scare Games. At that point it was not about them at all, only about HIM being able to get back into the Scare Program. Throughout much of the period over which the Scare Games take place, Mike completely disregards the others and their abilities and still thinks it’s all about HIM. He actually says as much to Scott Squibbles, remember? Mike says, “we have everything we need to win right HERE”, pointing to himself, and poor Squishy thought he meant “heart”, when Mike really meant that HE was all they needed, that the others didn’t count. He actually has to learn to appreciate them as PEOPLE, learn what their talents are, but at one point he wanted to get a whole new team, failing to realize that THEY had just as much of what it took to succeed as he did.
Now, as for that prank, put yourself in Randall’s place. He’d tried to be friends with Mike, but was ignored except when Mike needed something. He tried to get Mike to go to parties, and Mike refused, brushing him off, telling him he’d have to wait until they graduated and got jobs first, only NOW, he sees that Mike IS willing to go to parties with Sulley and the OK’s. THEY are good enough for Mike, but Randall wasn’t. Add to that who-knows-what the ROR’s had already told him, given that one of the reasons Johnny invited Randall into ROR(yes, INVITED, the only way you can get into a fraternity past Rush) was to isolate Mike even more. Johnny was watching them like a hawk on the day of exams, as Mike and Randall were going up the steps to class, and Randall was once more calling out questions to HELP Mike, willingly and happily, I might add. Johnny actually follows them for a short distance. He’s realized that Randall is the only person on campus willing to associate with Mike, and a possible key to Mike’s academic success. Once Sulley had to be kicked out for failing to meet ROR’s requirements(not Johnny’s rules; he had to abide by that, too), leaving ROR one team member short, Johnny would have seized that as an opportunity to kill two proverbial birds with one stone: take away the ONE person who wanted anything to do with Mike, and gaining a needed sixth team member in a pinch. Back to the prank, though. What choice did Randall have, but to participate? I have little doubt, knowing what I do about fraternities(AND sororities, not letting the girls off the hook)that participating in this was part of Randall’s initiation. But more to the point, it was also clear that while Randall was desperate, at this point, to shake off his nerdy outcast stigma and fit in SOMEWHERE, he also was terrified of Johnny Worthington. Johnny has only to call his last name and he jumps like a frog on a hot plate, his eyes wide with fear. Aside from the fact that when joining a fraternal organization, you pledge a contractual agreement to follow their orders, anything Johnny orders Randall to do, he’s going to do it, rather than risk Johnny’s anger. In all of the other scenes where the ROR’s encounter Mike and the OK’s, Randall looks unhappy. The corners of his mouth turn downward. He refuses to look directly at Mike, but looks to either one of the other ROR’s or to the ground, even. He maintains that “closed” or “guarded” arm position, indicating fear and uncertainty, and again, those are subtle, but meaningful and very realistic touches that Pixar throws in, that you miss if you’re only looking for what is “in-your-face” obvious.
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Hopefully you all enjoyed my long, drawn-out, Star Wars based discourse! 