‘Monsters University’, Failure, and ‘Rudy’
How the film sends a rarely heard message from a setting that speaks truth and feels right, and how it compares to the beloved 1993 sports film
There’s something about a good university aesthetic that really does it for me. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a historic college town. Maybe it’s because I have always loved school and would just be in college forever if it could earn me a living. Maybe it’s the way it makes you feel like you’re both part of something bigger than you and that you have all the possibilities in the world.
Regardless of reason, give me some old, stone buildings and textbooks with an autumn breeze and I am there. Sims 3: University Life? Sign me up. Sims 4: Discover University? It’s about time! Monsters University? Get me an MU hoodie and call me Medusa.
But How Do You Make a University Setting Feel Real? And How Do You Maintain the Truth of Monstropolis and the Monster Universe At the Same Time?
Filmmakers working on Monsters University did what all Pixar animators do to research their movie; they took field trips. Research for this movie included college tours in California and along…