Thursday, October 31, 2013

Case Study No. 1088: Margaret Gesner, the Monsters University Librarian

Monsters University Library Challenge
3:35
Sorry guys for the static noise. I recorded over the computer on a pirated movie, but so far the recording cam out great on both ends. I love this scene in the movie with the 50ft librarian.
Tags:
Added: 3 months ago
From: cpatangan
Views: 39,521

[scene opens in the Monsters University Library, where teams of students are participating in the "Don't Wake the Parent" challenge of the Scare Games (trying to capture flags from the statue high above the main reading room without drawing the attention of the librarian) as members of the Greek Council provide "commentary" from the upper balcony]
CLAIRE: We are at the halfway point of the second event, and things are getting interesting.
[cut to Sulley with his Oozma Kappa fraternity brothers (who are all slowly tip-toeing through the reading room towards the statue), as he looks up and sees a member of the Eta Hiss His sorority climb down from the ceiling and grab their flag from the statue's arm]
NADYA: [whispers] Got it!
CLAIRE: [from off camera] Only two teams left. Who will make it out with their flag, and who will be eliminated?
[Sulley looks over and sees the Slugma Slugma Kappa sorority walking past them (at a much faster pace), then cut back to the Greek Council]
BROCK: In a real scare, you do not wanna get caught by the kid's parent. And in this event, you do not wanna get caught by ... The Librarian.
[cut to a closeup of the slug-like elderly female librarian sitting behind the reference desk, as she puts a finger to her lips and shushes them]
LIBRARIAN: [whispers] Shhh. Quiet.
[she takes a pair of opera glasses and begin reading a book, then cut back to the members of Oozma Kappa, as the two-headed monster gives a smug smile]
TERRI: [whispers] What's so scary about a little old librarian?
[as they continue tip-toeing, a blue monster gets up from his chair and starts to walk off, but he puts his foot down and causes one of the floorboards to creak]
[cut back to the librarian, who snaps her book shut and rises to her full form ... a giant creature swarming with tentacles, as she uses one to grab the monster and lift him off the ground]
LIBRARIAN: I said ... quiet.
[as the monster screams, she lifts him through the skylight and throws him out into a nearby pond]
[cut back to the librarian, as she slithers over towards a nearby bookshelf and uses her opera glasses to look over the spines, as the members of Oozma Kappa are frozen in place with fear]
[cut to Mike at the head of the group, as he gently (and even more slowly) sets one foot in front of the other, so the others follow suit (but Sulley just stands there with a frustrated look on his face)]
SULLEY: [whispers] Faster!
MIKE: [whispers] Slow and steady.
ART: [whispers] Slow and steady.
DON: [whispers] Slow and steady.
TERRI AND TERRY: [whispers] Slow and steady.
SQUISHY: [whispers] Slow and steady.
[Sulley starts shaking (as if he's about to blow a gasket), then sighs and joins his friends in slowly moving forward ... but then he looks over and sees the Slugma Slugma Kappa members climbing a staircase towards the statue, so he decides to throw caution to the wind and quickly tip-toe past his teammates]
MIKE: Gasp!
ART: [whispers] Sulley!
DON: [whispers] Sulley!
TERRI AND TERRY: [whispers] Sulley!
SQUISHY: [whispers] Sulley!
[Mike turns towards them and puts a finger to his lips, shushing them]
MIKE: Shh!
[they all pantomime his "shushing" motion, then cut back to Sulley as he slows down and tip-toes towards the ladder propped up next to the bookshelf underneath the statue ... causing the floorboard to creak]
MIKE: Gasp!
[cut to Mike, as he looks towards the reference desk, then to the librarian as she looks in Sulley's direction ... but she's not wearing her opera glasses (as indicated by the camera going all "fuzzy" from her POV), so she dismisses the sound and goes back to looking over her bookcase]
[cut back to Sulley, as he quickly climbs the ladder and reaches for their flag on the statue's arm ... but the ladder comes loose and he ends up falling down hard on the floor]
[cut back to the librarian, who angrily looks over at the source of the noise and begins to advance towards Sulley]
[cut back to Mike, just before the librarian is about to reach Sulley]
MIKE: [whispers] No!
[cut back to the librarian, who stops when she hears a "popping" noise behind her, then turns to find that Don Carlton is using the suckers on his tentacle arms against the floor]
LIBRARIAN: Grrr ...
[the distraction succeeds in causing the librarian to leave Sulley behind and advance towards Don, but then she stops again when she hears the two-headed monster "singing" behind her]
TERRI AND TERRY: Five-six-seven-eight! Da da da dah dah! Dah buh dah dah! Look over here! Look over here!
[she turns towards them, then stops again when she sees Art jumping up on the tables, laughing and kicking students' books/papers onto the floor]
[cut back to the Greek Council watching these proceedings from up above]
MOP TOP: Is that legal?
BROCK: You better believe it, Mop Top! The only rule is ... don't get caught.
[cut back to the floor area, as Art rolls into a circle to avoid the librarian's tentacles, then Mike looks up and sees the Slugma Slugma Kappa sorority making their way towards the statue]
TERRI AND TERRY: Over here!
[the librarian turns to chase after the two-headed monster (whipping one of her tentacles back and - unintentionally - knocking the Slugma Slugma Kappa members off of the bookshelf), then the rest of the Oozma Kappa members join off and run towards the exit]
TERRI AND TERRY: Come and get me! Come and get me!
[cut to Mike, who is standing still with a shocked look on his face]
MIKE: Guys! What're you doing?!
TERRY: They said don't let her catch you!
TERRI: They didn't say how!
[as they continue running, they grab Mike by the arms and drag him along (as he looks up and stares at the librarian while she's chasing after them)]
MIKE: Ahhh!
[they continue running (as the librarian knocks over bookcases and tables with her tentacles in her pursuit) and fly out the doorway, sliding along the grass before coming to a stop in front of the pond]
ART: We did it!
MIKE: No we didn't! We forgot the flag!
SQUISHY: [from off camera] Mike?
[he turns, as the camera zooms in on Squishy standing behind him with their flag in his hand]
[cut to the other Oozma Kappa members, as they cheer and yell "Way to go Squishy!" (while Mike stares at him with a dumbfounded look on his face)]
MIKE: How ...
TERRI: Misdirection!

---

From wikia.com:

The Librarian is an elderly female monster who works at Monsters University's school library.

Bio
She hates loud noises inside the library. If she catches any monster being too loud, she will attack the offending party with her tentacles, and anyone who gets caught will be tossed out of the library and into a pond facing the entrance. The librarian is involved in the "Don't Wake the Parent" course of the Scare Games, where anyone who is caught by the librarian, if they antagonize her, will be disqualified from the competition, with the one team that successfully escapes her during her rampage being the winner of that round. The only way you can be disqualified if you get caught, not if you just make a noise.

Personality
The Librarian appears to be very grouchy, and immediately attempts to destroy anyone who makes noise in the library.

Description
The librarian resembles a tiny pale turquoise cephalopod monster with six tentacles, gray hair, and is wearing a black dress and horn-rimmed glasses. Although when sitting at her desk she seems to be small and inoffensive, when she stands, she turns out to be a lumbering giant equipped with six monstrous tentacles, about the same size as the library in which she works.

Appearances
* Monsters University

Trivia
* The librarian also bears some resemblance to Ursula, the villainess of the 1989 Disney animated film The Little Mermaid. They both have octopus-like tentacles, and they are both elderly looking.
* The Librarian's real name was not told of the movie but, in the Fear Year book, her name was Margaret Gesner.

---

From reel-librarians.com:

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned how two members of my family had tipped me off to a reel librarian featured in the recent release, Monsters University (2013). Since that post went live, I have had five additional friends recommend I watch the movie, which I did over the Independence Day long weekend.

First impressions? I loved it! Yes, it is VERY over-the-top, but as my fellow reel librarian blogger Maria states over at her Pop! Goes the Librarian blog, "I just can't bring myself to roll my eyes. Sometimes you just have to laugh." :D

Monsters University serves as a prequel to the 2001 hit Monsters, Inc., and has shades of the creation story in it, specifically about the wee monster, Mike (Billy Crystal). He's thrown out of the School of Scaring because he's... well, not scary. But to get back into the program, he assembles a team out of fellow rejects, including Sullivan (John Goodman) to enter the Scare Games, a series of trials to crown the top scarer at the university.

So where does the library come into the story? It's the setting for the second challenge of the Scare Games, and the challenge is... wait for it... "Don't Wake the Parent." And standing in for the parents - at 40+ feet tall! - is the ugliest monster librarian EVER on screen. I think I can state that with confidence.

From the trailer, you only get the front view, but from the side, there's the additional bonus of a grey bun perched on the back of her head.

And SPOILER ALERT, what is this university librarian's monster power? The ability to hear noises at twenty paces or less - and the ability to make the offenders feel her wrath by scooping them up with her squid-like tentacles and throwing them out the roof into the nearby lake. Another point in the "scaring pros" column is her shushing power.

But an obvious weakness? Her poor eyesight. Ahhh, the bane of almost every librarian. ;) But I kind of loved how she didn't wear glasses on a lanyard, but instead carried the horn-rimmed spectacles around on a stick, like they were opera glasses, or like a masque at a fancy ball. YES.

Side note: The end credits featured rookie cards for each monster, and I was so wishing there had been one for the librarian. Like when she retired, she became the resident scarer at the university library. She WAS scary, so she was fulfilling her monstrous destiny.

I also liked how she unfolded herself from the desk; at first glance, she may look meek and small, but when angered, she turns out to be almost as big as the library! Also, her tentacles make her the best shelver EVER. ;)

The only downer for me was that while the challenge seemed to be about who could be the quietest, it turned out to be a challenge for who was able to not get caught. SIGH. Mayyyyyyybe not such a great lesson in the end. The ends do not always justify the means.

Fun tidbits about the Monsters University library and librarian:

* The library is on the main quad, perpendicular to the School of Scaring (click here for a map of MU)
* There are 89,000 books in the MU Library (click here for "MU At a Glance")
* The Monsters, Inc. wiki lists one of the librarian's enemies as "People making loud noises in the library"
* The librarian is a cephalopod, with six tentacles (Pixar Wiki)
* To me, the librarian looks like a cross between Roz from Monsters, Inc. and Ursula from The Little Mermaid.

And, parting quote, courtesy of Mike:

"What are you afraid of? You just angered a 40-foot librarian!"

No comments:

Post a Comment