Environmental? No. People trying to pass it off as purely environmental are the same people who act like they’re better than you for buying “save the Earth” T-shirts at Kohls. (OK, maybe not just those people, but still) There may be some underlying messages in the film, but that is definitely not what its about. And even so, its the type of environmental messages I don’t mind. “Clean up our waters, don’t expand our landfills.” Good enough. What annoys me is when people try to connect WALL-E with global warming or something like that. “WALL-E was such a great movie. I loved it because it preached on the environment. Pixar wants us to end global warming!”
NO. WALL-E didn’t even MENTION global warming. Environmentalism =/= global warming!
As for the consumerism…well, yes, in a way. It does have some very good points about us not communicating as well as we did and how we are depending too much on technology. It still wasn’t saying that consumerism is evil.
It was consumerism that was the downfall of the people of Earth, but consumerism was also the seed of their redemption. Wall-E, having packed the transport truck full of stuff, was really just as consumerist as anyone else. It was through this junk that he learned humanity and was thus able to reteach it to the people on the Axiom.
I also really like how the movie didn’t condemn technology outright, unlike many sci-fi. In the end it wasn’t the humans working alone that restored them Earth but the humans and robots working together. Even during the end credits you can see them working hand in hand rebuilding the Earth. You shouldn’t shun technology, nor should you become totally reliant on it. It’s a tool, nothing more.
So essentially I didn’t see it condemning or praising consumerism or technology but saying that people need to maintain a proper balance. (Hey… I only bought Wall-E and Eve action figures and not the whole line. That’s balance for me)
It’s certainly not the main theme of the film- that’s the relationship between WALL-E and EVE, as others have said- but it’s definitely present there. I wouldn’t call it anti-consumerism, but rather anti-not-doing-stuff-for-yourself and anti-not-living-your-life. It’s very true that technology has meant that people are seeing less of their friends and family face to face, and part of that is because we have become a more consuming world in which we’re expected to buy the latest gadgets and that sort of thing. I’m as much part of it as anyone, but there’s no doubt that one hundred years ago people spent more time outdoors and socialising, and that’s part of WALL-E’s message, which is no bad thing.
That’s exactly what I was thinking too Fett101! I think what I find the most hilariously ironic about the film is that while mass merchandise is what destroyed the Earth, it’s ultimately a mass produced robot that brings humanity back on it’s feet (no pun intended). It sort of mirrors the double edged sword of technology: it can have you hating it just as much as it can have you in love with it.
Just last week I saw pictures of some of my family for the first time in 6 years. One in-law (non-relation) was archaic and might have lung cancer. One older brother was just over the obesity line and the other was halfway to being an Axiom Crewmember, and this guy was the athlete in high school and went on to study Sports Medicine and did that for big firms to help keep their employees in shape, then he did like 10 miles of running per day. Now look at him: “I am the Walrus, koo-kooka-choo”, I barely recognized him, no wonder he just sends pictures of his kids at Xmas and never himself and his wife. And, lizardgirl my parents keep bugging me about not having bought a cell phone yet: “You just avoid modern technology and conveniences”. Actually they become controlled by these technologies. And btw, it’s hardly likely they have even seen this movie, or liked it if they did. Old folks generally disdain fantasy. But my dad isn’t a blimp, he has managed to keep in shape physically even tho he rarely challenges his mind.
Anti-consumerist? Stanton is an honest man, but at first it seemed hard to believe that a satire against modern society this movie wasn’t conceived as.
I had seen WALL-E on opening day and being the Pixar fan that I am, dragged the rest of my family into seeing it later. I came out beaming and giddy and asked my dad: “SO?” But he didn’t have much good to say about it. He liked the Axiom scenes, but thought that everything on Earth promoted environmentalism and yadda yadda yadda. I was crushed myself, because I saw it as another brilliant Pixar film with a fantastically told love story. But there are a ton of people like my dad who just don’t see it like that. I suppose that’s okay. It’s just a movie after all. But when they refuse to even pay attention to the main story, well…
I’m always amazed that being environmentally conscious is seen as a bad thing by so many people. Obviously, the hippie ideal of living in tepees and becoming a vegetarian who doesn’t shower would be an absurd proposition to force on everyone. But simply being aware of and making some effort to mitigate the impact humans have and are having on the planet shouldn’t be a political issue.
It’s been my experience, that the unsophisticated mind is the one who likes the Axiom over Act I. If you read the critics, they always trumpeted that first act and had lesser things to say about acts II and III. Some people I know who are young and watch a great number of movies were upset about the lack of dialogue on earth. I know my own dad well enough from his own movie experience and lack of imaginative books in his collection for almost his entire adult life not to even bother to recommend the movie to him. Perhaps I will one day, if I find out he liked Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.
I think those are the type of people that probably have a short attention span with those kind of slow scenes and want to get to all the exciting stuff (but I can’t be one to judge since I was probably like that with movies myself). I thought having silent characters that relied on physical acting for most of the film was kind of refreshing when other animated films with those celebrity voices seem to be loud and obnoxious sometimes.
Remember that when Stanton came up with the idea of Wall-E, it was to make the last robot on earth, “the loneliest scenario I could imagine.” So his team then had to figure out why he would be the last robot on earth, and it was because the human race had left it, and all the other robots either went with them, or had been turned off, or had just plain malfunctioned.
Now why would people have to leave the earth? Pixar could have come up with some outlandish or weird reason, but instead chose a ‘safe’ one. Little kids can’t see CO2 gas, and that’s too obvious: garbage overflow and toxic gases from incineration are somewhat weird environmental mandates. Stanton says that he is apolitical and that it is his wife who scolds him for not recycling. So we should probably believe him, he does seem to be an honest man. However, things do seem to have been carried away with the trampling over the money and the “Outlet Mall coming soon!” blurb on the moon.
It’s possible has…any votes? Strange. No, no, and no again. Read a single quote from Andrew Stanton, the person who’s opinion actually matters on this subject, and you will see that it is about as far from propaganda as you can get. The background story is the background story, and you see it however your prejudices want you to see it. Stanton had no “message” in mind for said background story, it was just the way to get the story told.
Please don’t dumb down this film by calling it some kind of environmental message. It deserves better. With all due respect, if someone thinks that is the message of the movie, I can only assume the whole movie went right over their head.
Just as a note, I do not believe that WALL·E had any sort of underlying environmental message (and if it did I don’t care) other than it’s poignant theme of rebirth and romance. The views shared by Fox News and the ones quoted in my first post are not mine, I’m just relaying them.
But how is having environmental messages “dumbing” the film down? If there were any, it would only make the film that much more intelligent.
Since when is pointing out that taking care of the environment, encouraging responsible care of the earth, and respecting nature and it’s resources “leftist” or “evil?” Nature, left to it’s own devices, does what it needs to do. The damage is done by mankind, and that is a simple fact. NOT an opinion–but a fact.
Clear cutting, cheap mining claims bought by mega corporations who pollute the land and water supplies with cyanide and then leave it for the American taxpayer to clean up, mountain top mining, and the resulting poisonous river sludge, ocean pollution the size of North America floating in the oceans, untested GM crops being forced on farmers and the American public being denied the right to know what’s gm or not, private farmers being denied the right to test their cattle for
All in the misguided belief that it’s “free market.” It’s not. Most of these corporations are HEAVILY subsidized by the AMERICAN TAXPAYER!
Not to mention that virtually every bible of every religion, including the christian bible, demands that mankind take care of whatever god they choose to believe in gave them.
Nature’s resources are an amazing gift the earth has given us. I love that Wall-e very elegantly points this out.
Anyone who thinks this is an “evil leftist” or even POLITICAL statement is just plain nuts.
Um, I didn’t interpret pro-environment messages being “bashed” in this discussion; only the anti-consumerism messages seem to have been “bashed”.
The sad truth is, many environmentalists, whether you’ll admit or not, Funkypunk, are indeed left-wing, anti-consumerism people. Take the Animal Rights movement, for instance. You claim that the common people are manipulated into opposing the environment. In the case of AR extremism, at least, only the common people being manipulated, period, is true. AR extremists are actually the ones manipulating the people through media stations. You also don’t need to do much research to know that the biggest AR organizations support domestic terrorism and lobby politicians to do the following (it is NOT limited to these, however):
Ban hunting, even when it is absolutely necessary to control a population of a species, like deer over where I live.
Force mandatory spay/neuter laws on pets to keep the children of the future from having them and appreciating animals.
Outright banning some species, almost always by promoting lies and propaganda to get people to support it, as is the case with the snake ban pitbulllady has mentioned on this board.
On top of that, most of the politicians that work for these organizations to strip us of our rights just so happen to be left-wing Democrats.
There is also no REAL right or wrong in terms of certain environmental topics, such as responsible pet ownership, despite what you seem to think.
Additionally, though I acknowledge that calling left-wing people “evil” is extreme, most people over 8 years old who’ve seen this movie KNOW it has environmental messages, which usually are political as well. Thus, you probably insulted most of the people who read this by calling them “nuts”.
Ironically, no longer addressing Funkypunk, Fox News is NOT the conservatives they claim to be, proven by their blind support of the aforementioned AR extremists.
I acknowledge that romance was involved as well, but environmentalism, while I’m not going to argue about whether its apolitical form is wrong (which it isn’t), was DEFINITELY involved as well. Purchase the soundtrack CD if you want proof other than movie details: the case is made out of recycled cardboard.
I don’t see the apolitical form of environmentalism as bad, either. I just tend to become strongly opposed to it when extremists (one type of which you have perfectly described) bring it into politics, which would only force it onto the people, which you yourself seem to be opposed to as well.
Despite my anti-AR talk in my last few posts, I am NOT anti-environment. I believe in the preservation of life, and I love seeing nature when I am skiing this time of year. I also wish to conserve whatever non-human life there is on this planet, and animal captivity, despite what AR extremists say and want, is one way to do so.
Typical paranoid fringe right talking points. Seeing as how you garner your thoughts from the drug addict rush limbo, there’s no point in arguing your ignorance.