I love this scene. Jay’s walkthrough of his justifications is excellent. But something that doesn’t get talked about enough is what comes right before.
All these military men are presented with guns, given targets, and start shooting. Immediately, and without question. They were trained so thoroughly to do so that there is no room for hesitation or questioning. “There are targets, shoot them until you can’t anymore”.
… And then there’s Jay. He has a gun too. He has been trained, too. He is in a ready position, able to shoot with hardly a twitch, same as the others. But he doesn’t. Because he doesn’t see the world in terms of “targets”, but as people.
Rewatching the film, after knowing who Jay is and the world the MIB function in, the contrast is striking between all the other candidates shooting as much as they can with flashing lights and jumpcuts and odd angles, and Jay simply standing there. Calmly observing. And placing a single, perfectly precise shot at the end, after everyone else had run out of bullets. (Seriously, look at Street Light Dude. Those bullet holes are all over the place.)
All the tests (and some things that weren’t tests) demonstrated that Jay was not just the best candidate of the bunch, but the only viable candidate. Confidence and self assurance even when questioned by authority (shooting range) without ego (laughing at “best of the best of the best, SIR!”). A willingness to make the effort of blending in (pretending his pencil wasn’t broken) but also to risk social repercussions when it matters (loudly dragging the table over to write on). The ability to push himself above and beyond to enforce the rules (the physically demanding chase at the start of the movie) while still having compassion for those who break them (switching from angry to talking the guy down from the ledge).
MIB was looking for someone willing to look for humanity, even in non-humans. And everyone else? They were Good Soldiers. And Good Soldiers were the last thing MIB wanted.
Sidenote: Taking that candidates to a shooting range, and THEN conducting an “eye exam”? I saw that smile, Zed. Jay isn’t the only little shit in the room, now is he? XD
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