A Random Thought on Johnny Worthington...

This might sound a little out there, but…

I think Johnny Worthington III is very much like Darth Sidious. Now before the tomato onslaught begins, I’ll explain why.

For those of you that know the Star Wars prequels, Darth Sidious, in his guise as Palpatine, pretended to care for and “nurture” Anakin Skywalker’s feelings and encourage his power, until he revealed himself to basically be a Sith Lord, and when the time came to side with either Mace Windu (who has tried to lead him to the light and keep him from being swayed by the Chancellor) or Palpatine (who promised to make him more powerful than he could ever imagine), Anakin chose to kill Mace, and pursue his quest for power with Palpatine. In the end, Anakin lost his friendship with Obi-Wan, Padmé died (when he wanted prevent her from dying), and was later deemed useless by the Emperor when he decided to take Luke as an apprentice in Return of the Jedi.

Now, you’re probably wondering how does all this apply to the character of Johnny Worthington?

[spoiler]Like Sidious, Johnny and his friends took a young, hopeful “Anakin” (Randall), who only wanted to make friends and gain popularity (much like Anakin’s quest for power to stop Padmé from dying), however, and this is just my own thought, I believe Roar Omega Roar really didn’t accept Randall as a genuine friend, but rather as a mere asset to their team to win the Scare Games (just like Palpatine pretended to befriend Anakin, but only used him as a vehicle to achieve his agenda). His power was already encouraged by Mike to use it for the benefit of his success in Scaring class, but now it seemed that Johnny was taking advantage of it for his own goals.

Then comes the Mid-Mixer Party. Mike and Oozma Kappa went there, much like Mace and his Jedi team went to Palpatine’s office, but in this case were completely unsuspecting of what was actually going to happen to them. When the prank was taking place, there was still time for Randall to choose between releasing the bunny dolls, or defending his friend Mike. Again, Anakin still had the time to defend Mace against Sidious, but turned against him (Mace) anyway and cut off his hand.

Then comes the final round of the games, when Randall is pitted against Sulley, the latter “gets the higher ground” (like Obi-Wan on Mustafar), which causes Randall’s defeat and humiliation by getting covered in hearts (burn in Mustafar lava), and in the end, loses what he was trying to accomplish from the start; making friends (just as Anakin, now being fully converted to the Dark Side, lost Padmé after all that he went through to gain the immortality power), and is now practically useless due to his inability to scare in the wake of Sulley’s roar. Just like in the final Star Wars movie, the RORs discard Randall, and now look back to accepting Sulley instead because of his scaring power.

Of course, by the time Monsters Inc., takes place, like Obi-Wan, Sulley had become more powerful a greater than Randall could have imagined. But unlike Ben Kenobi, Sulley doesn’t die by a lightsaber strike (Thank Goodness!!!).[/spoiler]

And well, that’s how Johnny is like Darth Sidious. I know, I put a lot of thought into this. It could possibly even make for a great parody and fanart idea now… :stuck_out_tongue: Hopefully you all enjoyed my long, drawn-out, Star Wars based discourse! :mrgreen:

I can definitely see the analogy there, not just between Johnny and Darth Sidious, but definitely between Randall and Anakin Skywalker. In fact, on the Boggs Board, we have discussed the analogies between Randall and Anakin/Darth Vader quite a few times. Lucas set up the whole story of how an innocent kid would become Darth Vader, but also allowed that character to come full-circle, renouncing the Dark Side, even though it killed him. I sincerely hope that Pixar will do the same with Randall…I just hope they don’t kill HIM in the process! I would love nothing more than to see them do something similar to the Circle 7 script, insofar as Randall’s “heel-face-turn”. Bearing in mind that the Circle 7 script was written long before MU’s, it would make more sense now we KNOW that Randall was NOT a bad person by default.

Johnny and the ROR’s were indeed using Randall, and never thought of him as an actual friend or “frat brother”. He was simply a tool, a means to an end. Part of that “end” I can justify; they needed a sixth team member after having to kick Sulley out of the frat when he failed to uphold the fraternity’s two main rules: be a Scare Major and maintain at least a “B” GPA. ROR needed someone who DID meet both requirements, AND was a quick and agile individual for the games. But their main reason, or rather, JOHNNY’S main reason, was to separate Mike Wazowski from the only student on campus who was even willing to associate with him: Randall. While Johnny might have scoffed at Mike’s Scaring ability, he was really bothered by the fact that Mike was consistently getting good grades and had shown up one of ROR’s own, Sulley, in class. He was even more bothered by Mike’s sass, by the fact that Mike refused to yield to Johnny’s self-assumed superiority like everyone else, and never missed an opportunity to talk “trash” to Johnny or rub his good grades in ROR’s faces. Johnny wanted to make an example of Mike, to show everyone, “this is what happens when you mess with Johnny Worthington III”, but could not stoop so low as to resort to something so crass as physical violence. Watch that scene as Mike and Randall are approaching the Scare Building on exam day, as once again Randall is calling out test questions to help Mike prepare for the exam. Johnny spots them, and starts watching them intensely. At that point, had this been a traditionally-animated film, done entirely for laughs, you probably would have seen a light bulb pop on over Johnny’s head, lol. He’s realized that Randall is the only one on campus who cares anything about Mike, and looks up to him even. Johnny also realized that Randall’s assistance might be the key to Mike’s academic success. Johnny figures that if he can lure Randall away from Mike, he can both isolate Mike socially and take away his tutor. At this point, I think that Johnny already pretty much knew that Sulley was not going to cut it, even if he could not have predicted that Sulley would instigate a conflict in the class that would ultimately get him AND Mike kicked out of the Scare Program, so Johnny would have already realized that ROR needed another team member if nothing else. I have no doubt that in approaching Randall to join them, Johnny would have played up the fact that was obvious to everyone but Randall on campus-that Mike has ZERO interest in actually being friends with anyone at that point, including Randall, and was taking advantage of Randall’s nature and willingness to help HIM in order to get those good grades. Johnny is VERY good at “reading” others, and would have realized that Randall was desperate for friendship and acceptance and still clinging to that hope that Mike would get his face out of the books long enough to actually want to hang out with him socially and do things that real friends do, that don’t involve studying. Johnny probably offered Randall that promise of something that Mike wasn’t delivering upon: a real friendship, the opportunity to have fun, and more importantly, the chance to finally be someone other than a “joke”, a loser. For someone like Randall, this is analogous to a restaurant owner walking up to a starving homeless person and offering them the chance to dine at the all-you-eat buffett for free! The sad thing is, once Randall is in ROR, he never completely seems happy or at ease. He’s clearly terrified of Johnny, for one thing, and indeed Randall seems quite scared of any big, muscular guys(wonder why?) and is easily intimidated by them. In fact, the only time we even hear him speak, once he’s in ROR, is when he makes that vow never to lose to Sullivan again, and that’s the last we see of him, period. I think that deep down he KNEW that these guys weren’t his friends, but as with Mike, he was clinging to that slim shred of hope that maybe he could prove himself to them and that they eventually WOULD like him, and actually start to treat him as a friend. You can see that doubt in his face, though, whenever the ROR’s encounter Mike.
Now, as for the ROR prank against the OK’s, I don’t think that Randall had as much of a choice there as most people think he did. As a pledge to ROR, he would have actually had to agree to a binding contract to follow their rules and obey their leader, provided that it did not involve actually breaking the law, and no, that prank would NOT have been breaking the law and was actually quite “tame” by college fraternity prank standards. Had Randall actually felt comfortable among his ROR “brothers”, and was not so intimidated by Johnny, he probably would have at least questioned his role, BUT, he WAS afraid of Johnny. He no doubt DID believe that he’d face some severe punishment if he failed to follow Johnny’s directives. I’ve seen several people point out that we never actually see Johnny physically threaten Randall, if you don’t count that head-slap delivered upon Chet, but I use the comparison here between Johnny and a huge bull alligator who lords over the fishing hole where I like to fish: both are very, very capable of doing some serious damage to you if they want to. Now, I’ve never SEEN that alligator attack a person, BUT if that alligator starts cruising towards me while I’m standing on the bank, it probably would not be smart to assume that he’s just bluffing and won’t actually do anything! It’s best not to risk finding out if he’d actually hurt me or not! It probably would not have been wise on Randall’s part to assume that Johnny wouldn’t hurt HIM, either, should Randall fail to obey orders. Now, if I’m faced with the choice between say, dumping stuffed toys on someone with whom I’d tried to be friends, who’d ignored me in favor of a textbook except when he needed a study partner and who’d pretty much acted like I wasn’t there most of the time, and sparking the wrath of someone who is like, 500 pounds of muscle, or at the very least being kicked out of the group and being made a public example, facing MORE humiliation, suffice it say that SOMEBODY is gonna get toys dumped on 'em, and I don’t even have anywhere NEAR the fear of being humiliated or rejected that Randall obviously did! Here again, Johnny had no doubt played up Randall’s loneliness and vulnerability, emphasizing how Mike had ignored him and fanning the flames of resentment, as well as pushing that “you need to do this to prove your loyalty and worthiness to US if you want to stay in ROR” angle.
The bad thing is, Randall was in a no-win situation. ROR probably would have found a reason to kick him out anyway, even if he HAD won his competition in the Scare Games against Sulley, because he clearly was not one of them, and did not fit their image at all, and never would have. Mike showed zero interest in actually being friends with Randall. He was civil and polite to him, not outwardly mean, but Mike’s statement that “we’ll have plenty of time for parties once we become Scarers” was about as direct a brush-off as you can get without being mean. Who wants to wait four years to be friends with someone? Mike’s dream and Randall’s dream were different; Randall wanted to be accepted, to fit in, to make friends, because he’d NEVER HAD THOSE THINGS. He’d never experienced what most of us take for granted and he was starved for that, so naturally, if one person refused him that, why shouldn’t he have sought that someplace else? Mike used him to study, ROR later used him, and sadly, Waternoose does the exact same thing later on at Monsters, Inc. It’s little wonder that Randall’s attitude would have gone downhill, when everyone he’s ever tried to be friends with and impress has simply taken advantage of him to some degree and then discarded him when his usefulness to them was done.

pitbulllady

Ohhhh my goodness, JSWeC, I had never thought of this! But now that I read this, it makes complete and total sense! Oh, you must draw that crossover pic!! :mrgreen:

Ok I understand if its your opinion, but my goodness lol I keep coming across your post about how randall is such an pityful and great character, but you seem to make every other monster in the movie seem so bad and how they were, “using” and “discarding” him, and I see that you keep accounting everything they do to him, but not what randall does to them. I know you really like him, but lol calm down even pixar themselves didnt even really think his character through that much.

[b]
Mike used him to study
[/b]

What? When was there a sign ever in the movie, when mike “used” him for study???

Who wants to wait four years to be friends with someone?

lol mike was not trying to wait 4 years to be friends with him, its always better to study now then later. Looking at the calendar that mike flipped through when he was marking the date of the final exam, it was just a few months not years. Besides they are ROOMMATES so, Im pretty sure outside of parties they are still able to spend some time with each other. I don’t understand why you are trying to make it more complicated than what it is.

It’s little wonder that Randall’s attitude would have gone downhill, when everyone he’s ever tried to be friends with and impress has simply taken advantage of him to some degree and then discarded him when his usefulness to them was done.

Wow, First of all not everyone he has been with has used him, The only people that really used him was Waternoose and ROR, but thats basically it. And Randall DISCARDED Mike first, and helped humiliate him in MU so that is basically his fault in the first place for choosing the “cool” kids for popularity rather than someone who obviously respected him. He brought every single conflict onto himself, im not saying that I do feel sorry for him at some points, but most of the time it is Randalls fault for why some things happen to him.

Now, as for the ROR prank against the OK’s, I don’t think that Randall had as much of a choice there as most people think he did. As a pledge to ROR, he would have actually had to agree to a binding contract to follow their rules and obey their leader, provided that it did not involve actually breaking the law, and no, that prank would NOT have been breaking the law and was actually quite “tame” by college fraternity prank standards. Had Randall actually felt comfortable among his ROR “brothers”, and was not so intimidated by Johnny, he probably would have at least questioned his role, BUT, he WAS afraid of Johnny.

Ok did you not see Randall’s smile as he was pulling the prank? He obviously enjoyed doing that as it seemed he never really cared about mike in the first place. That was the face of “This is going to be funny” rather than “I don’t want to do this.”

He’s clearly terrified of Johnny, for one thing, and indeed Randall seems quite scared of any big, muscular guys(wonder why?) and is easily intimidated by them.

No offense, but I watched MU so many times and I did not see that Randall was that scared Of Johnny, he obviously choose to join them in the first place because they were more apart of the “popular” crowd. Yeah I can see where he was intimidated a bit when they yelled at him in the end for losing to sulley, but before and after that he did not seem terrified at all, just a bit shy. This is same guy who decided to join, these “terrifying” people so he obviously wasn’t that imitated by them that much in the first place.

Here again, Johnny had no doubt played up Randall’s loneliness and vulnerability, emphasizing how Mike had ignored him and fanning the flames of resentment, as well as pushing that “you need to do this to prove your loyalty and worthiness to US if you want to stay in ROR” angle

Where did you even get this??? This wasn’t even mentioned or said in the movie.


Watch that scene as Mike and Randall are approaching the Scare Building on exam day, as once again Randall is calling out test questions to help Mike prepare for the exam.

I watched the movie again a few minutes ago, and I cant really see what you are talking about here.

Mike showed zero interest in actually being friends with Randall. He was civil and polite to him, not outwardly mean, but Mike’s statement that “we’ll have plenty of time for parties once we become Scarers” was about as direct a brush-off as you can get without being mean.

What? now i feel like you making a few things up, what do you mean when mike “should no interest in being friends with him?” I don’t go to parties or outings with my friends all the time, but does NOT mean that I don’t want to be friends with them, I just rather be working or doing someone else especially if its something that basically determines what you want to do in life.

Your giving Randall way too much credit…

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.

pitbulllady