****SPOILER ALERT****
This post contains spoilers to the movie.
I watched Monster's University on a field trip with my students. Some of the themes of it hit me pretty hard.It actually has a lot to do with Success and Failure which is our theme for WJPK this summer, so it caught my attention.
So basically Monsters University follows the story of a little monster named Mike Wazowski. When he was a kid he had this experience of watching a "Scarer," and from that moment on he decided that he wanted to be Scarer. He got into Monsters University as a Scare Major. He finds out that he must pass the midterm to stay in the program. Now Sullivan also goes to MU. His family is somewhat legendary for being great Scarers. He finds no need to study as he say, "You don't need to study scaring, you just do it." Mike studies really hard but both Mike and Sully fail the exam and are kicked out of the Scaring Major. Mike is heartbroken until he finds out about the Scare Games. Its very similar to the Goblet of Fire Competition in Harry Potter except with teams. Mike forms a team with the most outcast fraternity and Sully. If they win the games, the Dean will let them return to the Scaring program. Mike takes this fumbling group and trains them to be winners. Against all odds they make it to the final competition. Sully find out from the Dean that even if they win, she will not let Mike back into the program because he is just not scary. Mike is the last to compete and pulls off a record breaking scare. After the competition Mike finds out that Sully cheated and rigged the machine to save him the embarrassment. Mike's anger leads him to enter the human world to prove first hand that he can actually scare a kid. But when his moment comes, he couldn't. The kids just laugh at him and they are not scared at all. Sully follows Mike into the human world to try to save him. There is a great scene with Sully and Mike that breaks my heart. Mike has to come to terms with the fact that his dream will never happen. The the thing he has wanted and worked for his whole life, will never happen. He is not scary. No matter how much knowledge he has about how to scare, it doesn't change the fact when it come to the real world, he isn't scary enough. Sully also admits that he feels like a failure. His family is legendary and he flunked out of the Scaring program. He also admits that although he seems tough, most of the time he is terrified.
I like that this story is true to life. Its not your typical, if you work hard enough, you can overcome any obstacle. There are sometimes where you have to come to terms with the fact that your dream is not going to come true. It has been something that I have been thinking about since I moved to LA. I long ago came to terms with the fact that I was not going to be an actress. I know I am not good enough, and its something that I don't even want anymore (most of the time). But my desire is to be able to teach theatre to kids full time as a job. Since moving here there has been a lot of closed doors. I have been able to teach theatre but the way I am doing it now is not sustainable in the long run. At what point do I have to come to terms with the fact that this career path just is not going happen? I'm not willing to sacrifice everything to try to make it happen. Not that I feel like I cant do the job, but its not working the way I am going about it now. Its hard to think about letting it go because I have been working for this for so long. I wouldn't even know where else to go, what other career path to pursue. I feel the burden that Mike feels. The loss of something you had so much hope in and aspiration for. I am not at the point yet of giving up on it, but at what point do I need to face that? At what point do you just need to move on?
The story for Mike does not end there though. Both Mike and Sully are expelled from MU. They get a job at Monsters Inc in the mail room and work their way up. Mike becomes a coach, which he loves and is very good at. Its also interesting to consider the ending to Monsters Inc. They find out that laughing produces even more energy than screams. Mike is the one who goes into the human world to make kids laugh and produce the energy. His dreams comes much later and in a different way.
This also gives me hope. If my dream has to die, God can give me a new dream. One that might even be better than the one I have now.
Thank you Lord for speaking to me through children's movies!
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