The story of Monsters, Inc. conceals a surprising hidden theme that one might not expect from a family-friendly movie. One of the most beloved of all of Pixar's movies, Monsters, Inc. tells the story of Mike Wazowski and James P. "Sulley" Sullivan as they begin to question the very fabric of their society. Working at the titular company as a scare technician and a scarer, it's Mike and Sulley's job to terrify children to extract their screams - a dangerous job, considering that all of Monsters, Inc. is afraid of children.
After coming into contact with a child and realizing that their employer has lied about them being toxic, Mike and Sulley embark on an adventure that sees them come to many revelations about their world and themselves. After uncovering a conspiracy within Monsters, Inc., they work to reshape both their workplace and their society. The film's happy ending sees the two friends embrace laughter - a more powerful energy source - dedicating their lives to making children laugh as opposed to scaring them.
However, despite the film's status as a beloved modern classic, Monsters, Inc.'s story hides an unexpected theme. The ideas behind the film's story actually act as something of a Marxist fable, with the workers rising up to seize the means of production and overthrow the corrupt ruling class. Monsters, Inc.'s corporate entity being revealed as indifferent to the suffering of its workers makes the company itself the villain of the film, and the two working-class heroes saving the day lends Monsters, Inc. an interesting subtext.
Monsters Inc. Is A Secret Marxist Fairytale
The idea runs deep within the film's story, too. Not only do Mike and Sulley overthrow the corporate-thinking villain, but they stop him from automating production. Waternoose's plan was to kidnap a child and place them in a machine designed to extract screams, thus removing the need for a living workforce. This again highlights the use of Marxism as the driving force behind the film's story, with the class divide serving as another side to Mike and Sulley's moral opposition to Waternoose's scream extractor in Monsters, Inc. - with the scarers representing the proletariat and Waternoose representing the bourgeoisie.
By making Monsters, Inc.'s world one driven by capitalism and then having the villain's motivation be corporate greed, it seems that Pixar may have tapped into the theme deliberately. Having the proletariat overthrowing the bourgeoisie and beginning to control production as a large part of the film's conclusion appears to be a justification of Marxist theory. Painting the idea as a happy ending for the film's characters seems to condemn the capitalist ideal of its villains and makes Mike and Sulley revolutionaries in a sense. The ideals of capitalism and Marxism are in direct opposition throughout Monsters, Inc., but the film seems to justify Mike and Sulley's actions, making its hidden theme decidedly radical.