Film Review: WALL-E
I re-watched a Pixar film eighteen years later...and it was staggering.
My wife and I enjoy this thing where we re-watch old films and see how they hit as an adult. Films watched during your childhood have a much different impact that time than they do when you reach adulthood. Corporate jobs and taxes really mess with your perspective.
Pixar was always big during my child/young adulthood. Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc…classics. I’ve been seeing a lot of content recently about earlier forms of art that have predicted the future accurately, specifically in film and television. I got to thinking about one film recently that I hadn’t watched since its original release in 2008, and the conversation at the time on the film being too judgmental on modern society.
WALL-E is a film about a robot, specifically the last robot on Earth left to clean up an apocalyptic mess generated by humans, who have since left Earth for outer space living due to the planet’s uninhabitability. The robot, WALL-E (which stands for “Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth Class”), ends up finding a living organism on Earth, and through a new relationship made, sets out on a journey to present evidence that Earth is now habitable.
It’s a moving story. Like most things Disney there’s a lot of emotion, humor, and adventure. At the original time of watching this I would have been nineteen years of age, and thought some of the “futuristic” elements to the story line were a bit farfetched, supporting the science fiction aspect. When my wife and I watched it recently, we were taken aback by the accuracy in its projections.
The Corporate Giant
Target and Walmart were dominant businesses long before Amazon came on the scene. In 2020 we were all convinced that it was much safer to shop in one of the two superstores than it was your local independent goods store. Not only that, but Amazon made a significant jump as a well positioned all things delivery option, establishing itself as the world’s largest retailer as of this year. A company that at one time was just an online book store now offers media streaming (to include original shows/movies), cloud infrastructure (IT), medical insurance, clothing apparel, and even an online pharmacy, just to list a handful of services.
The introduction of WALL-E starts with a background story (told through digital billboards) of advertisements for a company called “Buy n Large”, which after a brief run through is made known as a mega-corporation that had controlled all aspects of life, technology, and politics on Earth before humankind departed. Watching this, and taking consideration of the year, made me ponder if there was a specific company the writers had in mind for story inspiration.
In earlier years, I always liked the idea of having all my eggs in one basket, but have now (with age) seen the benefit of having different vendors for various needs. In my work as an engineer, we always had fail over options in the environment for unpredictable events, unrelated to business ethics. Companies are for profit, and the decisions they make, no matter how sympathetic their marketing is, are always made with a selfish angle. That angle is more customers, more money, and more control of the market.
The film gives a very clear example of what our world would look like without independent representation, and provoking thought (for a young audience) about monopolistic agendas in big corporations.
The Size
As would be expected in any futuristic film, there’s futuristic technology. The latter half of the film takes place on the starliner where humans now live, and have lived for seven hundred years years since departing Earth. Instead of walking or conversing, humans are carried around on hovercraft seats where they spend all day being served by robots and entertained via attached virtual screens.
As accurately depicted, every human being in the film is morbidly obese. So obese and inactive in fact, that in one scene a human falls off his hovercraft seat and has to wait until the robots arrive to scoop him up and put him back in. There’s a part of it that’s meant to be humorous, but it’s certainly sincere in its point. More automation equals less resistance. Less resistance means less strength. Less strength is less living.
Hard to imagine this depiction of obesity being displayed in modern film, let alone Disney. Human feelings have become MUCH more vulnerable since 2008, but the human depiction as displayed in this film is very real. Some may find it an over exaggeration, and it may have been around the time when the film was released, but looking at the world now it’s not too far off. The modern lifestyle for many is defined by stagnancy, processed food, and excessive entertainment, supporting the average obesity rate to be around 40% of adults in the United States.
The Check Out
In almost any situation now where somebody is sitting, they’re always looking at their phone. Whether it’s in the break room, on the subway, or even in a restaurant, it’s automatic reaction to pull out your phone. Same thing at home, for many it’s just natural to turn on the television for entertainment. Part of this is just addictive habit, but a lot of it is people not wanting to be in their own thoughts. There’s more opportunities than ever for humans to check out of reality and be somewhere else.
As mentioned above, all the humans in WALL-E have no perception of what is going on around them. They’re enthralled in their digital screens, never taking notice in their environment. Once given the opportunity to truly see what is around them, they’re shocked at what they’ve been missing out on. It’s intentional what the writers were trying to communicate.
The robots on board, who are more or less led by an AI “Auto Pilot”, have an objective to keep the humans checked out and supported so they don’t notice their environment. Too many questions being asked on why they’re still on the spacecraft could cause an uproar. Feels like a very familiar playbook if you think about it.
Conclusion
WALL-E feels like a kid friendly mix of The Matrix and Idiocracy. It projects a future of misguided reality, dumbed down humanity, and monopolistic corporations that have been fulfilled in some ways since its original release. The AI objective is to keep the humans out of the loop, and checked out as much as possible. So what does is do? It has the robots on board cater to the humans in every way, making the AI existence fully dependent upon for life. AI is relevant now, but you can also take that message and apply it to how government works as well.
My guess is that the generational perspective is the reason why I originally didn’t pick up on any of the significant topics referenced above. I was way too naive. Film as an art is intended to convey a message. This is a great (and somewhat terrifying) film to make a conversation out of. If you find it offensive, then the film has successfully gone beyond just being pure entertainment and has initiated something much more impactful, self reflection.
That’s true art, we can use more of that.