Monsters Among Us
If you have kids, or grandkids, know any kids, or are a kid at heart and haven’t seen Monster’s Inc. you owe it to that kid in your life to watch this movie with them.
The CG animated movie is based in an alternate reality (of course) where monsters use bottled children’s screams to power their society. Monster’s Inc. is the name of the company that bottles the children’s screams. John Goodman voices the character of Sulley one of the best “scarers” and Billy Crystal is Mike Wazowski, Sulley’s “handler” and best friend. Monster’s Inc. serves up children’s closet doors, through which the “scarers” go into the kids’ bedrooms while they are asleep and scares them. The scream gets collected, the scarer leaves quickly – and the process repeats itself.
The twist in all this (among others) is that the monsters are just as afraid of the kids they scare as the kids are afraid of the monsters. Of course, one of the kids gets into the monster’s world and Sulley and Mike try to figure out how to get her back, leading to this classic exchange:
Mike: I think I have a plan here: using mainly spoons, we dig a tunnel under the city and release it into the wild.
Sulley: Spoons?
Mike: That's it, I'm out of ideas. We're closed. Hot air balloon? Too expensive. Giant slingshot? Too conspicuous. Enormous wooden horse? Too Greek.
Thinking of this movie quote led me to wonder: are we out of ideas? Have the things that scare us won?
The COVID-19 pandemic is well into its third year. And, while the vaccines and treatments are showing there is hope, the variants that continue to reveal themselves cause great worry. Not only because we have to determine if the current vaccines are still effective, but perhaps more troubling and scarier, is that it seems most people have moved on. Mask wearing is way down, I’m sure vaccination rates are way down too. I feel another surge is right around the corner. If not in full swing right now.
Should we talk about Monkeypox? Or climate change? The war in Ukraine? Mass shootings?
Monsters – every one of them.
Have we, as a society, had scary times in the past? Of course. Have we overcome them? Yes.
Can we do it this time around? I sure hope so.
As I write this, summer is right around the corner. Usually, summer time means a slowing down, a time of respite, a time to enjoy the nice weather. Maybe time to take a vacation.
I truly hope this season gives us a respite from the monsters we have been dealing with. And also gives us a chance to recharge, to come up with new ideas to fight what makes us fearful.
As Mike Wazowski found out, you can’t use spoons to fix what frightens you. Bigger tools are needed.
Mike Auerbach
Editor-In-Chief
[email protected]
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