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Paige Muncy
AP English Literature
Mrs.Endicott
9-7-2015
The movie Monsters Inc by Pete Docter portrays women as something less than men,
emphasizing common stereotypes about how women behave. This movie was released in 2001,
just after the third wave of feminism, a time when women and men were viewed-for the most
part-as equals. All of the scarers in the movie are males which sparks the question, where are
the women? Men believe that women are weak so they cannot be as “scary” as men. The male
characters in the movie also think of women stereotypically solely based on the behavior they
see at work. Mike Wazowski continuously thinks that Roz is an old hateful woman that should
be feared; this may be true, but he is only seeing one side of her. The author wants the male
monsters to portray women as unequal to show how men are stereotyping and misjudging
female characters in the movie as well as in real life.
Since time began, women have always had a much tougher life than that of their
counterparts. No matter what women have had to make a statement for themselves before
they were considered an individual. The same is true in this movie; the female characters have
only one type of job, which was to sit behind a desk. The males thought that the women were
not as “fit” to do the jobs that they were able to do with ease. Mike Wazowski’s girlfriend is
always seen behind the desk answering calls which was typical for women to do. Celia and Roz,
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the two main female characters, did not seem to care about having these jobs, because that
was the only type of job that they were used to having.
All of the men in the world can have as much power as they desire, what about women?
Throughout history majority of the figures in power are men; they get to make the decisions
andrule over the women. Monsters Inc displays the same features;the first person to own the
company was Mr.Waternoose. The owner made sure that the male monsters were producing
enough screams so the city would have plenty of energy to power every monster in the area.
James Sullivan was the next man in power, but what if a woman wanted to be the one in
charge? The female characters were thought as less than the men so they were not given the
chance to scare or even be over the company just because they are female.
Ask any man how a woman behaves, and the majority of them will have the same
answer; the men will say that women are hateful, moody, dramatic, etc. They are stereotyping
women based on someone they know that is a female and or an ex-girlfriend that has given the
man an issue in the past. These stereotypes are a result of the collective view of society. This is
seen in the movie,when Roz is displayed as a hateful, demanding old woman that works for the
factory. Roz keeps the factory running by taking everyone’s paperwork as well as all of the keys
for each door. When Boo is released into the factory, Mike thinks that he can get the key to the
door from Roz. Any other time Mike would talk about Roz in a very negative way, but once he
needed something he began to sweet talk her as if she was his girlfriend. Men in the real world
do the same thing. They will continuously talk about women in a negative way, but as soon as
they want something they make women think that they are the center of the world.
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Throughout the entire movie another woman is seen in a very stereotypical way, Celia.
The first time that she makes her appearance, viewers watch as she answers phone calls behind
a desk inside of the Monsters Inc factory. Mike Wazowski is in a relationship, so he tries to give
her everything she desires so she will be happy with him. She has rattlesnakes for hair, and
when she gets upset the snakes begin to rattle which demonstrates that men think of women
as snakes. Men think that they could strike at any moment just like a snake. This is displayed
when Mike takes her to dinner and Sully interrupts their dinner. Her snakes begin to rattle
displaying how upset she is with him. She continues to see Mike because she thinks that she
needs to have him in his life, making her seem as if she requires the company of a man. Men
also think of women in such a way which makes them stereotypical.
Monsters Inc has another female character that many people forget about, Boo. Boo
was seen as terrifying to all of the male characters in the movie because she was a child, a
female child at that. The men ran away from her just like some men in real life run away from
terrifying women. The director also portrayed Boo as an emotional female child that is easily
distracted. Boo is constantly wearing a pink shirt, which makes me think of innocent babies that
are girls because when they are wrapped up in the blanket, it is pink. The pink color is ironic
because it makes her seem to be innocent, which she is, but the male characters think of her as
a terrifying monster. Mike and Sully put Boo into a “monster” costume to deceive the other
monsters. The director did this because men in today’s society think of women as “deceitful
creatures” by the way they can manipulate males.
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In short, Monsters Inc portrays women as weak, narrow minded individuals that
constantly rely on the help men. If the director is a male, the movie is more and likely going to
be feminist and portray women in a negative way. Female have always had a much tougher
time trying to make a name for themselves and making a positive impact on the world. Why do
men always think of women negatively? We may never know, but this movie portrays women
in such a way that you are able to visually see how men treat women in a workplace as well as
out of the work place, when in actuality, when not stopped by males, women have the
potential to achieve so much more.