Theories of film suspense are one of the most complicated film concepts to define, while the symbolic code has a much simpler definition. Monsters University, a 2013 Disney Pixar animation, is a prequel to the 2001 movie Monsters, Inc. and follows Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan, Sulley. The two monsters are complete opposites and the film follows their journey before Monsters, Inc. This animated film uses both theories of film suspense, as well as symbolism to deepen its narrative structure and create a top film.
Suspense is one of the more intricate and complex concepts in film. The audience love suspense because it can make them question things that have happened. There have been several film theorist, philosophers and even psychologists that have to tried to explain why people love feeling tense and suspenseful. Several articles have related the feeling of suspense to real life situations, such as waiting to hear the outcomes of sporting events or having advertisement interrupt a television program and wanting to just see what happens next. The anticipation and uncertainty of events make the audience more curious about finding out what happens next.
Aaron Smuts, an American philosopher, created a collection of different suspense theories in an article called The Paradox of Suspense, which is also the title of a book written by the philosopher Noël Carroll. Smuts compares his suspense theory of desire and frustration with Noël Carroll’s question/answer theory, Richard Gerrig anomalous suspense theory, and Robert Yanal’s emotional misidentification theory (2009). Smuts’ theory is roughly about the frustration and desires that individuals face in film narrative as well as everyday life. He explains that in order to create that suspicion in the first place, “one merely needs to frustrate a desire to affect the outcome of an imminent event” (Smuts 2009). The desire to feel frustration keeps people watching the movie because film-goers want to find out what happens, whether it is a tense car chase or a budding romantic relationship. Humans are just curious. The proverb “curiosity killed the cat” can be used to describe this feeling. The lesser known second half of the proverb “but satisfaction brought it back”, relates to the questions being answered, leading to a satisfied individual.
Noël Carroll, one of the original theorists in suspense, has said that suspense comes from the uncertainties. He used the question/answer theory in relation to suspense. Carroll writes that “ the concept of the question … enables [the audience] to explain one of the most apparent audience responses towards linear film narratives: expectation” (Carroll 1996, p. 96). The uncertainty and unknowns of watching a film can make the audience have certain expectations about what happens next.
Richard Gerrig talks about having feelings of suspense even when the audience may already know the outcomes. This is quite common in rewatching movies or because nowadays endings are becoming quite predictable, especially in feature films and film franchises. Gerrig says that the “cognitive system doesn’t apply its prior knowledge of what will happen” because the audience’s mind is focused on the unpredictable situations in the real world (cited in Bordwell and Thompson 2011, p. 97). This still makes the audience have that feeling of suspense.
This theory is most likely to be the explanation of why individuals may feel suspense in Monsters University. Sulley is already noted to be one of the best scarers in the business in the 2001 film, but in Monsters University, his life is just beginning. Although Pixar isn’t known for their suspenseful or intense films, there can still be suspenseful scenes. Towards the end of the film, Sulley and Mike get stuck in the human world while they are on an illegal mission. Because it is still a kids film, it would be impossible to let them get left behind or hurt. Gerrig’s theory of the anomalous suspense creates just the right amount of tension because it is more like racing time than know what exactly will happen.
The symbolic code is another highly used, but more simple, film concept used in animations. Roland Barthes, a French literary theorist, argues “that every narrative is interwoven with multiple codes”, which he called the Five Narrative Codes (Felluga 2011). Barthes wrote the book S/Z in 1970, in which he heavily analyzes the structure of Sarrasine written by Honeré de Balzac (Cook 2007, p. 517). In Barthes’ book, he explains how the Five Narrative Codes all work together to form the narrative structure and establish the audience's interest in the story. These codes consist of the hermeneutic, proairetic, semantic, symbolic and cultural codes. The symbolic code uses different elements of film conventions to create greater and deeper meaning to the story. They can also help to give clues to what the straight narrative is.
The symbolic code in film or other forms of media can be a “system of signs” that can show the deeper meaning or explanation behind certain things (Te Kete Impurangi). These codes and symbols can be found in the setting, color, mise-en-scene or other film conventions. (Young 2017). In animations, nothing is coincidentally or accidentally placed on the screen. The particular placement of every object, color of costumes or background, has a reason behind it.
Symbolism in Monsters Universities is a mixture of complicated and simple symbolic concepts. A simple idea is that all of the monsters in the Monstropolis represents real characters in society. The fraternities and sororities all symbolize the real life groups and stereotypes of the real world such as nerds and jocks.
Color in Monsters University is a more complicated use of the symbolic code. Kristin Thompson’s claims that the use of color in modern day animations really makes them stand out in her book Minding Movies (2011). Because Monsters University is about a fictional world with completely unrealistic fictional characters/monsters, vibrant colors are everywhere. Green symbolizes the hero which is Mike and the rest of the Oozma Kappa fraternity while red represents the obstacles which are the Roar Omega Roar Fraternity and Dean Hardscrabble. Lastly, blue shows the goals and aspirations of the characters which are shown by the color of the Monsters, Inc. logo (Mellor 2013).
In conclusion, suspense theories and the symbolic code can help elaborate the audience’s attention, as well as create a depth to the narrative. Although suspense doesn’t have an exact definition, one can say that through a mixture of theories and thoughts, the suspense is created through the uncertainties and the breaking of expectations to create a better narrative for the audience. Similarly, symbolic code helps make the narrative understanding more clear.`