I saw Wall•E for the second time the other night, and man was I still impressed. Surely, the great visuals deserve a second glance, (I was finally able to see some of the Easter Eggs people keep referencing), but the second round through really made me able to appreciate the deeper meaning behind the storyline.
For me, the movie seems like it has an ecological message, but as the director said that’s really up to the viewers interpertations. Everyone is going to see it difference. I know liberals who have said it’s a great movie to display the meaning of ecological power, but there is much more to this movie.
(It doesn’t need to be said, but MASSIVE spoilers follow this line)
First from a political standpoint, I think it was more than just humor that lead the creators of Wall•E to display the BNL logo on nearly every product on Earth. This wasn’t just an Earth that gave into an easy lifestyle and accumulated too much trash - this was a human species that gave into commercialism, and let a large corporate entitiy control their lives! It was a message, albeit a nearly subliminal one, that says “Don’t let this happen to us”. It says “Don’t let Wal Mart take over the world kids, remember that choice is important and if we let things get to this point, we’ve given control to someone other than ourselves.” That is an important message, and whether or not it truly got through to kids, I’m not sure.
This part also is a bit of a slap in the face to Disney, in some ways. The commercialism portrayed reflects some of Disney’s own. We know that Pixar folk love creating these movies, but are we sure they love how commercial DIsney makes them? While I too love every little stuffed Wall•E and Eve doll, and my daughter has Wall•E bedding already, are we sure Lasster and company are OK with pimping out their creations?
Also, and this might be just an Easter Egg, or slap to Walt himself, or a homage, but did anyone else catch on to how closely Axiom resembled the original concept for EPCOT? Walt Disney envisioned a community much like what was on the ship. The circular design around the pool mostly, but a lot of the city resmembled the designs that were laid out in 1967 - even including the People Mover!
Moving on though, we get to what I think is the REAL heart of the story, and why Wall•E is such an endearing character.
Much like the movie Pleasantville, these characters aboard the Axiom are happy with being stuck in their normal routine - robot and human alike. When Wall•E arrives though, things start changing, and characters that come in contact with him instantly become more independant.
The first example of this is M-O. When we first see M-O, he is a cleaning bot, destined to forever ride the travel line that the computer has selected for him. If all the EVE probes followed their directives as ordered, M-O only has to follow the line given to him, clean what he’s told to clean, and follow the line back. But Wall•E, who has developed a sense of character in the past 700 years, ruins this by arriving in love, and following EVE without using those pretty white lines. When faced with the choice of following the line, or following Wall•E, M-O takes an uneasy roll OFF the line, presumably for the first time (as he winces expecting more than just a been), and is forever changed.
Taking a step back then, how did Wall•E, a robot programmed for cleaning develop this personality that has him changing how other people look at their own lives, virtual or not? It’s easy - music. In true Pixar magic, music was the catalyst for Wall•E’s change into something more human. I would like to think that perhaps the Ipod was the first of his discoveries, and only after listening to the music (perhaps accidentilly) did Wall•E branch out from his normal activities and start collecting things, finding a video tape that furthered his self discovery (because thats what this movie is TRULY about), and the rest is history. The juxstaposition of kind sweet gentle music playing on a bitter and wasted land through Wall•E’s speakers is a testament to this, and later in the film of course, we see the music change others nearly immediatly.
Back to the Axiom. After M-O, Wall•E is still chasing EVE. He bounces into John, who is forced for the first time to see the world without a display in front of his face, and is happy about it. He starts seeing things that he never saw before, same with Mary when he mets her.
Robots too! When Wall•E meets the robot controlling the door, he waves at him, and immediatley the robot looks at his own hand, and waves it. Later, as Wall•E leaves, the robot waves back. He’s made a decision to do that, more than just his normal activity, he decided to wave.
The Captain, of course, is the biggest display of Wall•E’s ability to help people find themselves. After finding a piece of dirt that Wall•E brought from Earth, the Captain begins analyzing it, and is set forth on a path of self discovery that eventually saves the human race (with some robot help of course.) Human curiosity gets the best of him, and the need to learn takes over, and by the end of one NIGHT, he loves the planet he never saw before. The soothing computer voice telling him everything he wants to hear, he makes the decision that he WANTS to arrive back on Earth, only realized when EVE and Wall•E foil AUTO’s plans.
By now Wall•E has altered the lives of several robots, and people, and by the end of the movie, each of them help Wall•E out. Without discussing all of the changes Wall•E is respsonsible for, the misfit bots (a call out to the misfit toys of Rudolph fame?) are a perfect example of how Wall•E can change people - they too start humming the music that changed him.
The end of the movie then, when Wall•E has been stripped of his memory, his personality presumably now hidden deep inside the new hardware EVE replaced, the music and the touch (kiss?) of his true love, remind Wall•E of who he truly is, and how he can and SHOULD live for something more than what he was programmed for, he can do what he was MEANT for - echoing the tagline that says as much.
Are their other hidden layers of truth? Surely their are. Their are religious tones in the storyline, self sacrifice and rebirth surely echo the story of Jesus. Furthemore, the name EVE doesn’t go unnoticed, as the character that brings plantlife to the alpha male, bringing knowledge - just like the story of ADAM and EVE.
So to me, the movie is about finding yourselves, and being different. The humans in the movie all are changed because of Wall•E, and for the better. Doing things they’ve never done before!