I did actually read in a trivia bit in one of my books(think it was “The Essential Guide to Monsters, Inc.”)where Roz was once crowned “Miss Monstropolis” in a beauty contest, back when she was much younger. Of course, we know that HUMANS rarely look the same over the years; I can’t even begin to tell you how many high school beauty queens I’ve seen who now weigh well over 200 pounds!
The tabloid that Roz is seen reading has ads on the back for gaining weight and growing fur, so apparently large, heavily-built, furry monsters, especially guys, ARE seen as attractive and powerful, That would explain at least some of Sulley’s popularity, since he exactly fits that image of monster perfection, while at the same time, explaining why a thin, more slightly-built non-furry, and scaly in particular, monster like Randall would automatically be thought of as undesireable, if monsters are as hung up on physical appearances as so many humans are. AND, w hile some monsters seem to appreciate things that most of us would find disgusting, such as the smell of an old dumpster or a wet dog(I’m a dog lover, and I STILL dislike that smell intensely), others seem to share our sensory likes and dislikes. In the “Monsters, Inc.” video game, “Scream Arena”, for example, there are these various dodge balls that the monster contestants try to hit each other with, which include a nasty “Slime Ball” that covers you in slime, something you’d THINK would be no big deal for a monster, but Randall sure reacts with complete revulsion and disgust when hit with one, so obviously HE at least, finds being covered in slime to be a really bad thing!
Those are some great points. But like someone said earlier, maybe the monsters have different things to be “concerned” about. Mike’s “species”, for example, would be far more worried about their eyes than anything else. So maybe the case with the reptile-like ones is that they might have some concern for their scales and their agility. You’d think that the ability to climb up a wall and onto the ceiling the fastest would be a “quality trait” for his type of monster. Maybe not for one like Sully’s kind, but maybe for other types of reptile types.
I find the slime thing interesting because reptiles WOULD be attracted to a really strong smell.
Well, no, not all reptiles like strong-smelling things. Snakes are as fastidious as cats and absolutely HATE to be around anything stinky or messy! Besides, scales or no scales, Randall is no more a reptile than I am, but is most definitely a warm-blooded beastie. It’s just rather odd that one of the things that most monsters would consider a good thing, being covered in slime, HE finds very abhorrent.
I guess the “sense of smell” is another “eye/nose of the beholder” thing. Everyone has their different ideas of what a good/bad smell is, and there are “Are you CRAZY!?” points. It kinda makes me think of how my boyfriend hates the taste of tomatoes and I loooove it. I think he’s a little “nuts” for not liking it, but his sense of smell and taste is pretty sensitive, so just the smell of ketchup is too much for him. That might be the case with most monsters, how one might like the smell of “Burned wet towels with vinegar and mold and ammonia” and another would hate it (I know who I’D agree with )
Well about what Sulley said, asking “Did you lose weight?” instead of “gain” if monsters see being larger as a positive thing…I think that either the staff forgot what they put in place in other areas of the movie or they felt that having Sulley say to someone “Did you gain weight?” might offend some people in the audience if they didn’t notice the thing about more weight being a positive thing in the monster world(because you’d only notice that if you actually read it on the newspaper/magazine Roz was reading and probably not everyone noticed)…so people watching the movie might suddenly think Sulley is being rude to someone by saying asking someone if he/she gained weight.
Tell me about it…I’m very very thin and I get polar opposite responses from people all the time. I actually find it annoying both how some people wish they had my body(for a lot of people my weight probably would be unhealthy for them, I don’t think many people naturally have the genetics to be quite as thin as me so I worry when people say that to me) and I also find it annoying how people will make assumptions about my health without knowing me and knowing that I’ve been very thin for my entire life, including when I was 5 years old(my own mother was worried there was something wrong with me because I would only grow upwards, not outwards, but the doctor said I’m perfectly healthy and it’s just the way I am).
It is possible that monsters might have the same double-standards about weight, I don’t know. Perhaps they do think that weighing a lot is really attractive but at the same time worry that it might hurt someone’s health for someone who’s not more naturally inclined to being a bit on the bigger side…still though, I don’t see Sulley using that as a ‘compliment’ if being larger is more appealing in general to monsters.
It seems to conflict a bit since isn’t Celia considered attractive in the Monster world but she fits into more of the beauty standards of humans? As in she has the body shape generally considered appealing in humans.
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