Although I am basing some of this partially on what someone has told me about certain canon material that is not in the movie (the employee hand book)- being a scarer is a pretty stressful job. Basically because they are doing something which is essentially negative in nature, being witness to screams of children (granted, even though they view humans as animals more or less from what we see, this would still be pretty stressful- imagine if you had to terrify various animals, even dangerous animals into screaming for energy and you get what I mean). Not to mention it is considered dangerous.
Yes, the job of the scarer could be considered pretty stressful. So who is the person a Scarer must work with closer than anyone, who is the one turn to if things get ‘too much’, who is the person who must make sure they snap out of any freak out and “keep it together man”, who is the one who must encourage them through it all, who must prepare them for their viewed-as-dangerous job?
Their assistants!
Assistants, it seems to me, are not merely the ones to set up a door or do the paper work, but also it seems have some form of psychological importance to the Scarers themselves. Whether this is part of the original job discription or not, this seems an important part of the job- perhaps the most important one an assistant has to do.
Even Mike, for all his faults- on the scare floor is incredibly encouraging of Sulley as they work:
“You’re the boss, you’re the boss you’re the big hairy boss”
Sure during TRAINING he’s all with the harsh talk like in the military almost, but sometimes that’s necessary perhaps in some cases- Assistants have to be both caregivers but also occasionally do the ‘tough love’ bit it seems if things get out of hand (like one being slapped by his assistant). They have to also it seems make sure Scarers are safe and don’t drag anything out with them from the child’s bedroom- calling out if there IS something wrong. They have to as mentioned make sure the Scarer is safe. Both physically AND mentally perhaps.
In my opinion, perhaps assistants are a bit underappreciated in terms of their work? It seems like a more important job then some people might give it credit for. Even if they’re not the ones technically directly earning all the screams- effectively both Scarer and assistant must work as a team, so in a round about way, the Scarer’s screams are also the Assistant’s. How well the monster they are assisting does reflects on them too, not completely and not all the time, but on some level it does sometimes. In a way, since they consider their work dangerous, there has to be trust, brotherhood and all that sort of sappy stuff if both in the job are able to work through it and do well.
This also drives another question relating to FUNGUS too, I have to wonder really how long that guy was an assistant as mentioned- it seems unlikely he was in on the scream extractor from the beginning, he doesn’t really seem particulary encouraging (plus no ‘tough love’ from him!, he doesn’t know the best way of dealing with Randall at all:
“You’re still behind Randall…”
Yeah… not the best thing to say Fungus in this situation. Plus it is kind of odd that two monsters with good mechanical abilities were on the same Scarer-assistant deal. Very odd.
So was Fungus made Randall’s assistant after he found out about the scream extractor and joined up or what? Or was it just a way for Waternoose to keep an eye on good potential candidates for his meddlings by putting them on the same ‘team’ or at least scare floor?
So yeah, this thread is basically to discuss Scare assistants, their possible importance, as well as anything relating to them- but I’m also interested in your thoughts on Fungus in particular.
…I do feel that sometimes scare assistants are a little underappreaciated simply due to the fact that they don’t do any of the stuff on the front lines but instead are on the sidelines and this can lead to thoughts such as “what’s the big deal, they really don’t do anything” but they do more then just the paperwork, that is for certain…scare assistants are there when needed and although for some, what may help could be friendship that either forms while working on the job or even before the job even began…there are some scare assistants that you can tell that to them, it’s just a job but for others, it’s more than that…Mike and Sulley for me is a perfect example of a Scarer and scare assistant relationship that was made easier due to their friendship and while some aren’t quite as close such as Randall and Fungus, this isn’t to say that those times of glory and sorrow aren’t shared by both…if I remember correctily, when Randall had passed Sulley’s score and became new scare leader on the board, Fungus believe it or not, did feel some joy for him as his assistant, you could see it in his eyes and by the expression on his face but when Sulley reclaimed his title back, and those “fans” ran flocking to whomever was on top, he did share in some of Randall’s jealousy, Fungus did for a few seconds hold within his eyes a look that speaks to me is a look of resent and jealousy…he, like Randall, was bothered by this as well…it’s those kind of assistants that differ from the rest which would include the little “fan” base that all they did was flock to whomever was scoring the highest and for what, because they represent to me what’s typical of that sort of fame, those group of monsters who first cheered Randall but immediately switched gears for Sulley are only one type of fan, they are the kind that will cheer you on when on top but once you go into second place, what happens, you’re old news and they move on to the next person…with fans like that, is it really worth it, I ask you…