User blog:BigBadSquid/PE Proposal: Andrei Strasser



Aye, my first official proposal.

What's the Work?
In 1998, Disney made a remake to the 1949 classic film Mighty Joe Young, a film about a giant gorilla named Joe and his woman friend as he finds himself within civilization and searches for a way home. Unlike King Kong, the ape lives happily ever after.

Who is Andrei Strasser? What has he done?
Andrei Strasser is up there as one of the nastiest poachers you can imagine. Why? Let's start at the film's opening, where he shoots both Joe's mother and the primatologist Ruth Young in front of her daughter Jill simply for witnessing his hunt. When he attempts to put Joe in a sack, the baby gorilla bites off Andrei's right index and thumb to make a run for it. Andrei swears vengeance against Joe and declares that one day, he will kill the ape.

Twelve years later, Joe has grown 15 ft tall and is taken care of by Jill. We also learn that Andrei is residing in LA, having created his own animal preserve in Botswana (really just a scam to hide his hobby of selling poached goods at the black market). When he hears about Joe on TV, he invites Jill over for lunch, throwing off suspicion from Jill by hiding his fingerless hand in his coat. He attempts to manipulate her into believing Joe will be happy on his refuge but she doesn't buy it. He makes Jill change her mind by making his henchman Garth use a noisemaker to scare Joe into a frenzy during a festival, tranquilizing him when he attempts to attack Andrei. Jill accepts the offer only to prevent Joe from being euthanized by the authorities.

On the way to the airport, Jill notices Strasser's half-glove covering his missing fingers and recognizes who he is. A struggle breaks out between her, Andrei, and Garth when Greg O'Hara, the refuge director, pursues them having discovered the poacher noisemaker. Andrei attempts to shoot Garth, but Jill punches him in the chest before jumping out of the truck. Joe sees her and rocks the truck over to escape. Greg reveals to Jill about Andrei's plan to move Joe to Africa, kill him and sell his body parts for cash.

Joe is found at a carnival on the Santa Monica Pier causing playful havoc. Andrei spots Jill and attempts to shoot her to prevent his reveal of being a poacher, but even Garth has standards of murder and restrains Strasser, causing him to miss and instead hit a Ferris wheel, setting it aflame. After beating Garth to unconsiousness, Andrei corners Jill, telling her to meet her mother in Hell. Before he can shoot, Joe grabs the wicked poacher, roars in his face, and tosses him towards wires over a transformer. Being two fingers short to hold the wires, Andrei falls on the transformer and is electrocuted to death.

Mitigating Factors
Let's see... he kills a scientist for witnessing him kill an endangered animal's mother, creates a charity just to get away with his black market trades, manipulates the ape's caretaker by making her gorilla go on a scared frenzy, attempts to kill said caretaker just to prevent his poaching hobby being exposed, taunting her with the fact he killed her mother years ago. He also sets an entire Ferris wheel on fire with a trapped kid on top. Without any remorse or sympathy for any of his crimes.

Heinous Standards
Mighty Joe Young is a heartwarming tale about the friendship between a young woman and a giant gorilla that wouldn't hurt a fly... but Strasser is as heinous as they come. As I said, this guy is solely dedicated to his greedy revenge, even creating a scamming animal preserve to trick Jill into giving him the property of Joe. When the ape gets loose, Andrei has no empathy in setting a Ferris wheel on fire, even if it was a missed shot, showing no care for the lives at risk. Even Garth, his most loyal henchman, turns against Strasser for his ruthlessness.

Final Verdict
Easy keep.