MovieChat Forums > Men in Black (1997) Discussion > About the selection process

About the selection process

posted a year ago by leader (2043)
5 replies | jump to latest

I think he failed the written test and the shooting gallery but that's not the point.

I think the whole selection was purely for Jay. The other recruits from the Navy, airforce and marines etc were all part of test too. They were never his competition.

"The best of the the best of the best, sir" type guys were there to put pressure on him. He was just an average new york cop. Kay wanted to see how he reacted to the other guys and if their authority would influence him or if they would intimidate him.

Even when he took Jay to see the fence and shot his head off. Jay wasn't conditioned to follow Kay as an authority figure. He instantly pointed his gun at Kay and sided with someone who he knew was a sleazy criminal because it was the right thing.

When Zed says "he has a problem with authority" that's exactly what Kay wanted to show him. He was a free thinker and his decision making wasn't clouded by authority, convention or peer pressure. Kay knew he wouldn't be able to compete academically or in combat with these guys which is exactly why he chose these guys to prove his point.

[–] aavfreak (3359) a year ago

Great post. Well thought out and articulated. Nothing to add.

[–] [email protected] (6010) a year ago

I agree. But I would like to add that one of the funniest parts of the written test scene was Jay making all that noise by dragging the table over to himself so he wouldn't have to write on his lap!

That always makes me laugh and it shows that Jay is willing to think outside the box.

[–] thingmakersback (1396) 8 months ago

Another element is the history of jokes that are about just this sort of thing.

The one I remember involves a CIA assassination squad selection: They had a candidate from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines... In each case the candidate was confirmed to be perfect in every respect and very stable in that each was recently and happily married.
The test was that the candidate would be given a loaded pistol and sent into a room where they were ordered to kill the person they found there. The person was the candidates wife, tied to a chair... (The gun was perfect but the rounds were realistic dummies.)
- The Air Force puke broke before entering the room - "I can't just kill someone in cold blood!"
- The Squid took one look at his wife and came out sobbing -
- The Army guy came out after a few seconds and threw the gun at the agents in charge. "No way!"
- The Marine entered the room and after a moment there was a terrible crashing and thumping - The Marine came out, splattered with blood... "What kinda operation is this? Pistol was no good and I had to beat her to death with the chair."

Whether the joke is in favor of the Marines depends totally on your degree of psychosis...

[–] aavfreak (3359) 5 months ago

I was in the Marines for the early part of my adult life. We told this joke often.

In our version, the Army soldier actually took the shot and was relieved that it was a blank. The Marine said the pistol failed to fire, so I had to beat her to death with it.

It illustrates the [irrational] drive for mission accomplishment. It was sometimes used to emphasize the point of commander's intent. The five paragraph order begins with commander's intent, so that regardless of what goes wrong with the execution of the plan, the Marines know what needs to be done in the end and can/should deviate from the plan and potentially defy orders to meet the intent. In other words, the soldier did what he was ordered to do - shoot the person in the room, but failed to get the actual job done, killing whomever was in there. Marines will do whatever it takes to make it happen.

From the Marines' perspective, this joke is heavily in favor of the Marines.

Looking back, I could never do now what I did then.

[–] BillyLoomisBaby (106) 6 months ago

Great analysis!