MONSTERS, INC.
Monsters, Inc., if taken as an allegory, which I think it should, is a movie that makes an argument: Our society runs on fear, but it could run not only more justly, but more productively, on joy. If even the first part of the argument is correct, that our society "runs" on fear, then this dimension is not immediately apparent. One thing a film can do well is to make the invisible dimensions of our world visible. In this case, fear, an intangible, invisible, immaterial phenomenon, becomes something tangible, visible, and material. There is literally an energy plant, Monsters, Inc. that mines/harnesses/produces fear as the material on which its society, Monstropolis, is powered.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. WATCH Monsters Inc.
2. WATCH this take (based on a lecture I gave a few years ago at an economics conference
3. WATCH this video of that lecture.
4. WRITE a 1-2 page single-spaced reflection on all this. (NOTE: Don't get too caught up in the question of Basic Income. It's just an example of a possible way to think about moving away from a fear-based society to a joy-based one. Instead focus on the general argument: a) that our society runs on fear; and b) that it could run much better on joy.