Monsters Inc. isn’t the best Pixar movie, but it’s pretty far up the list. And I’ve always argued that the first ten minutes of this movie is a master class in how to introduce your characters and the world in which they live. That’s especially true of this scene in which the two main characters sit down to watch the new Monsters, Inc. commercial in which they’re both supposed to be featured. Not only does this quick scene provide in a funny and entertaining way the necessary exposition needed in order to understand how the scream factory works, but it also advances the characters of Mike and Scully while doing so. Just brilliant.
I couldn’t help but think of this scene the other day after my mother called up to scold me. I know, I know. I’m a middle-aged father of two who runs his own business and volunteers up at the church. But if anyone thinks those things exempt a person from getting scolded by his mother… well then, you just don’t know mothers. Anyway, what she was calling about was the fact that she had heard second hand from a friend who was browsing Facebook that I had posted a picture from the Walk For Life in Atlanta last week. This one in fact…
The reason she was upset is that I never told her I would be attending the march this year, which means she didn’t get to say a prayer for me and, more importantly, she didn’t get to tell all of her friends that her son was going to be there. Never, ever deny a mother her bragging rights. But more important than that, she was right. (Which being a Catholic and a Southerner, the fact that momma is always right should never be in question.) As she knows, and as I ranted about in my last post, now’s the time to make ourselves seen and heard standing up for what we believe in. “Participation is the voluntary and generous engagement of a person in social interchange.” the Catechism reminds us, “It is necessary that all participate, each according to his position and role, in promoting the common good. This obligation is inherent in the dignity of the human person. Participation is achieved first of all by taking charge of the areas for which one assumes personal responsibility: by the care taken for the education of his family, by conscientious work, and so forth, man participates in the good of others and of society. [But] As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life.”
Well, if momma says to do it, and the Catechism says to do it, I ain’t about to be the one to argue. So, in the spirit of Mike Wazowski, and with a little help from the photographers at the Atlanta Journal Constitution…
LOOK, MA! HERE I AM! DID YOU SEE ME?
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