Wall-E: More Relevant Than Ever

Recently, I got to watch Wall-E in the Washington, DC Air & Space museum theater, and it was such a fun experience with a full audience. I had seen it many times before when I was younger, and occasionally seen clips again here and there- but I think this was my first time watching it as a grown adult. I remembered most of the plot, but this time I got to take in all the details and view it through the lens of the current world we live in.

As one knows, the overall plot for the movie is how the world got eaten up by one big corporation, who mass produced products and food so much that the world got covered with trash, making it inhabitable. So much that they sent all the humans into space while they clean the world up (which fails).

The first theme that is more on the forefront of the film is the situation of the humans. Born on the ship and never having been on earth, they are willingly trapped in their movable chairs while glued to their screens. Never having done any physical movement whatsoever, they’ve become obese through every food possible being easily accessed as a drinkable form. Glued to their screens, they communicate via video chat even while right next to each other (they don’t notice) and they’ve become so addicted they didn’t even know what the ship they were on even had to offer (“I never knew we had a pool!”) The people and the captain had no idea what earth was really like, didn’t even know what dancing was. All culture and creativity was killed, even the art of food. 

With BnL controlling literally everything from the products to what’s on their screens, all people see is what’s new, what’s trending, the new product, the new new new. Specifically noting the scene where one of the jumbotrons displays “try blue, it’s the new red!” regarding everyone's onesies (BnL manufactured). Without a second thought, the people hit a button on their chair and their onesie automatically changes to blue, and they immediately go back to what they’re doing. Later, you see it’s not even real. Their outfit is digitized to blue because once their chair is off it changes back to red (a great nod to The Matrix) - point being they didn’t even care about the authenticity for it, the just wanted the “blue”. This is exactly what is happening today on the internet, specifically TikTok. Half of the videos I scroll through are users trying to advertise some random product, and it’s all the same: "try this VIRAL ____" "I got the NEW VIRAL _____" "My life is so much better with this VIRAL____" and as soon as people hear those words they click on the link and purchase. They don’t think “Oh, do I really need this? Is this good for me? Could I find a better version of this somewhere else?” The movie screams about pure consumerism and over-accessability and how it diminishes your thinking, keeping you from growing your mind and developing original ideas. Also the message on monopolies, which is developing faster now more than ever. It takes everything and makes it one, the same. Everything’s the same, no variety in design, functionality, flavor. And because of this being the only output, there’s simply no other choice than to accept it.  

The next theme that rang my bells when I watched it last month is conformity. It’s similar to the previous theme, but this perspective is coming from the robots. Wall-E enters the ship and stumbles upon the “robot freeway”. They make the audience notice that all the robots are designed to follow the light paths they are restricted to, because that’s the rules. They must do what they’re designed to do, because that’s the way they were created. Wall-E, however, shakes things up. Because of his actions, the little cleaning robot thinks for the first time to move outside of the line. I loved the little scene when Wall-E and tied up Eve were entering the elevator which had this robot secretary, using its two “fingers” to type away at 0’s and 1’s. It looked at Wall-E, who wasn’t supposed to be going there, and he gave the robot a little wave. The robot waved back, the first time it ever did anything else other than typing on the keyboard. When they returned back down the elevator, the robot was frantically waving at Wall-E, excited about this new little thing that exists for it. This theme can really be put in the context of being an artist today, how these large companies that are supposed to produce art (as a business) force the true artists to conform to the same art style or the same character writing because its the trend or easily consumed by mass audiences. Unfortunately, this is the cause of the decline of 2D animation in the western film industry. 

Phone and brainrot addiction kill productivity and creativity. Individuality creates excitement, and experiences, and relationships. Because of what’s on phones now, kids don’t have hobbies anymore. I’ve met many teens who don’t watch any shows, or play any video games, or read any books - they don't have any true interests. They just watch tik tok or Instagram reels as entertainment, which ensues zero brain activity. They get no inspiration for creating stories or visual art, and these are what teaches you human experiences and psychology, essentially teaching you more about life. 

I have watched this film many times, but I think this is the first time I actually watched the credits. The credits are what really drive this film home. It’s art/animation of the characters continuing their work and mission after the film finishes, but it does so by showing it as the evolution of art. It starts at the very beginning, with caveman drawings. Then loose sketching, then color animation, claymation, painting styles nodding to Van Gogh and Monet. I think that was such a powerful and perfect tie to this film. 

Another aspect of the film that I walked away with is the actual art of the film. This film achieved perfect communication to the audience with its screenplay through absolutely zero dialogue for maybe 85% of the movie. The exposition for the film in the opening scene (minus the video portions with actual dialogue) are so clear on what happened and what the state of the world is. You don’t need to be told, you piece it together with context clues which form the narrative in your head. Films now, both animated and live action, have such horrible dialogue where the characters repeat or over-explain everything because the viewer doesn’t know how to use critical thinking an context clues and is probably looking at their phone half the time . Another amazing zero dialogue movie that achieves storytelling to this level is Flow. These films shouldn't dumb down their delivery for audiences, they should allow the audience to learn and grow by watching it.

Regarding the characters, there is not one moment you are confused on what’s happening. The actions and “expressions” are so well done that you don’t need any words to be told what emotion the character is feeling, or what they are thinking, or what is happening within the plot. Paired with this is the genius in character design. The structure and shape and silhouette of the robots give so much to the viewer subconsciously about its character to where they have a full and clear personality, you already can predict what their reaction will be or what their next move will be. It’s purely trust in its audience, which many films and shows no longer have today. 

With the Pixar and Disney films that are being released today, watching this was so refreshing and made me realize this really is a 10/10 film with what they achieved. I hope animated films transition back to this level of storytelling. 

P.S. This was also my first time watching Wall-E after having seen Hello Dolly and now I cry every time I see or hear the song “It Only Takes A Moment”. It’s so interesting choosing Hello Dolly to be constantly referenced and shown throughout Wall-E. My hypothesis on that is that Hello Dolly is one of the most beautiful films created by man.