“We Scare Because We Care”

I enjoy taking the purest form of entertainment and transforming it creepy and sinister. For example, when I think of Disney Pixar’s Monsters Inc., I am brought back to my childhood and living off my parent’s income. But, what if I was to tell you there are things that go unnoticed in arts of Disney Pixar?

Monster’s Inc., as well as Toy Story 3, have underlying themes of torture and militarism. yup, that’s right.

Monstropolis is fuelled not by oil, but by children’s screams which then is transformed into the energy source that powers the city. What seems to be disturbing in the film, is that the crisis stems from the fact that children are getting harder to scare and it is up to the power of the scarers to eliminate this problem. While we already know that the threat in the movie is embodied in the physicality of the human child, we can not deny that the preparation to remove threats are enforced by military-style methods.

For example, when George Sanderson exits the scaring door with a child’s sock attached to his back, the situation is called for a “red alert”. To be specific, a “2319”, which means there has been a contamination breach from the human threat. The CDA: Child Detection Agency break in the building, almost like a swat team, and attempt to remove and destroy the foreign object.

 

 

The main child, Boo, is constantly endangered, scared and placed in a war-like situation throughout the film. To avoid interrogation, hostility and even violence, she must undergo a change in identity, from human to monster; to Sully’s sister’s cousin’s daughter apparently.

Now let’s talk about the Scream Extractor. DUN DUN DUUUUNNN. This machine specifically was designed to torture and solicit screams and information. Its function has an eerie link to electric chairs as the machine is constructed with holes at the bottom for drainage of bodily fluids. Although intended for Boo, it is Mike who is placed in the machine first where Randall, who btw had always scared the shit out of me, introduces it and says “say hello to the scream extractor”. Which references to 1983 Scarface’s famous line “say hello to my little friend”.

 

What is frightening about this is when Boo, the 2-year-old toddler lands in the chair and is strapped. Her constant cries “NO!” and the fact that she is handcuffed illustrate military torture with Boo as the enemy terrorist. Randall depicts a heinous portrait of torture at the hand of the ‘state’.

To add to this, the company manager, Waternoose, declares “I’ll kidnap a thousand children before I let this company die, and I’ll silence anyone who gets in my way!” suggesting torture is a tool that can be used by any means.

This is not the only Disney Pixar movie that has underlying themes of violence. Toy story 3 also enforces militarism and torture. It outlines prison life, surveillance and punishment, which are all enacted by the toys at Sunnyside Day Care. The representation of prison life in the movie echoes the structure of The Great Escape and Shawshank Redemption as the toys become imprisoned and threatened with solitary confinement if they try to escape.

Buzz Lightyear suffers similar brutality to Boo, his torture scene shows him being captured by prison guards while having a hood over his head and they forcefully open his back compartment to access a “demo” switch and a reset hole which leads to his two different personalities.

Although we do not immediately associate Disney Pixar with violence, it is interesting to see how they differ in carrying out violence, for example, while Toy Story 3 uses torture within a school-located prison system, Monsters Inc. utilizes torture in the guise of company profits and state military action.