Is WALL-E's love for EVE purely aesthetic?

Pixar's Feature Films WALL•E
#1

I was talking with a few friends the other day about how love and romance and all of that sort of thing should be based more on personality than on looks, and though they agreed, they questioned whether this was represented much in the movies, as it seems that in the film-world, generally characters originally fall in love with each other based on the way they look (even if they do end up liking each other’s personalities later on).

They asked for any examples of when this was not the case, and as a Pixar fan, of course I brought up a few Pixar films. A good case in point is Atta and Flik’s relationship in A Bug’s Life, but as I started to think about WALL-E and EVE’s relationship, it seems that although EVE is obviously purely attracted to WALL-E’s sweet and innocent personality, WALL-E was first smitten by EVE’s sleek looks and movement. Everything he does after he firsts sees EVE seems to be based on the fact that he loved her shape and probably how different she was in comparison to the sort of robots WALL-E was used to. Of course, he eventually gets to know her personality well but even then, it all seems to be about seeing her as this angel, almost, as this idealistic and beautiful object.

I don’t mean to criticise their romance- I love their relationship!- and later on in the film the two make a real connection, but it seems that at first it was quite a…Well, I hate to use the word ‘shallow’, but perhaps in WALL-E’s case, it was. :laughing:

I’m not asking any questions in particular, just sharing my random thoughts, as usual, but I’d like to hear your opinions.

#2

I’m not sure…I think I’d agree with you, lizardgirl, if anything. I mean…this topic doesn’t really strike me as interesting. I’m not tryring to sound rude or anything, though. :confused:

#3

I just typed a 4 paragraph response to this and my computer shut off D:

ugh. I’ll try to type it again later though because I’m too mad right now. :angry:

#4

Computer going down in <13> seconds. yawn

Reboot if interesting topic appears. big yawn

This topic closed due to lack of interest…javascript:emoticon(‘:?’)
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Seriously, this particular aspect of Eve and Wall-E was even talked about by one of the major Pixar players, perhaps Stanton himself. Wall-E was desperate for just about anything. Was this an improvement over his workaholic life? That’s debatable. You’re right lizardgirl that Eve’s decision to hang with Wall-E was much more based on an informed decision we can respect. Still, the moment she started talking to him was just after she blew up stuff, and was very forlorn afterwards, as if reflecting on whether she was questioning her programming too. Then Wall-E inched over to get her attention.

Wall-E acts like a kid, so he is immature. He has had almost no contact outside of Hal. It’s hard to expect him to make a sophisticated choice. He just has a crush on Eve, altho I admit he should be repelled by her behavior. Persistence is a Wall-E virtue.

Remember that Wall-E got his sexual/partner imprinting from the Hello Dolly tape. He had lived alone for a very long time. Eve seemed to be shut down all but a few days a year. So was Eve really morally superior to Wall-E in carefully deciding whether to be with him? Was this just exchange of one form of programming for another? Was it free will or just repudiation of a function that had become frustrating?

I would guess that the Japanese movie book about Wall-E that one guy was boasting about last winter had some Philosophy articles that would shed some light. :confused:

#5

Well when you’ve been alone for a thousand years chances are you’ll be wild about the first “living” thing you see too.

But really, it’s a very ‘opposites attract’ thing.

#6

WALL-E was also attracted to EVE’s tenderness with Hal. It could have been initially physical attraction that WALL-E fell for, but it was also her grace, I think. When you think about it, in most cases, you are attracted to someone’s physical features since that can tell so much about a person, but then the deal-breaker, for most people, is how they act and who they are on the inside. I’ll have to rewatch WALL-E again to see what WALL-E finds attractive about EVE.

soue1313 - Then why post in this thread? :neutral_face:

#7

He may have been smitten by her looks at first sight, but clearly WALL-E is not the type of bot to fall for looks alone. Think, if EVE had turned out to be the purely violent soul she at first may have appeared to be, wanting to do nothing but blast things to bits even after WALL-E took her to his truck, I doubt that first impression would last. But once he “got to know her” during her visit to his truck, I think it’s clear he fell for her personality too. Someone else has also mentioned her reaction and laugh at Hal, which also initially caught his eye and is pure personality.

#8

How dare you accuse Wall-E’s character of being anything other than perfect! :laughing:

A few theories i’ve thought of after reading this is partly agreeing with some others about how alone he would have been for all that time. And then there’s the consideration that EVE is the first robot he has come in contact with for a good long while. I would imagine that, mixed with his general curiosity about most species and things he comes into contact with could have been the start of a blooming relationship for him.

However, another part of me thinks that he may have just been seeing it as a protocol in a sense. After constantly watching Hello Dolly, perhaps his yearning for romance and love was so strong that he was willing to accept anything just to be like the movie he had watched for so long. I think it’s fair to say that Hello Dolly has had a huge influence on that little robot.

I would argue that the very moment that EVE becomes attracted to Wall-E is after she notices how much Wall-E did to care for her while she went into hibernation. I’m not sure if she falls for his innocence as much as she did for his compassion towards most things. Which by the end rubs off on her. I think she only starts caring for Wall-E when she notices how much he cared about her. Which, as a result is what makes them both determined to save the plant.

I think ultimately, Wall-E is more interested in the idea of love to be shallow about looks. I think it’s just a case of becoming smitten, or for him…love at first sight?

Just a theory though!

I do like these sort of topics, it’s always good to talk about well written characters.

#9

Someone posted that EVE was graceful, I totally agree: and that IMO would be a prime factor. :slight_smile:

But mostly I think that a recurring idea regarding the movie is that eve is efficient, very efficient: she sticks to that thing she’s relentlessly searching for on earth (even if this is also the source for outbursts from her), and possibly wall E may also become intrigued by that extroardinary resolve…

I would definately like to peer on the translation of these japanese articles reflecting on that relationship…

#10

That’s not been mentioned anywhere I’ve read and it’s an interesting idea. Wall-E seems to be immensely curious about Eve from moment one, but it was her flying around that seems to have made him lovestruck. Would Wall-E have liked Eve if she just flew around and did no ‘work’, or if she just stood at an intersection like a high tech traffic cop? …doing nothing because there isn’t any more traffic.

I think some of these ideas have been covered in the ‘Philosophy of Wall-E’ thread here and at the Walleforum, and perhaps in that untranslated Japanese movie guide to our little friend. I don’t have access to that brochure, and there is so much over at the Walleforum, it’s almost impenetrable, they send me emails 2x a week and I missed their anniversary thingee cuz I feel snowed under…

#11

i think they both truly love eachother

#12

Some very good points that I really hadn’t thought of! I forgot about how good EVE was with Hal, Rachel, though that must’ve appealed to WALL-E. Especially considering that he was alive at a time when there were thousands of other WALL-E robots like himself, and other robots generally, who were much more ‘mechanical’ in their emotions, so to come across a fellow robot who also has a developed personality must’ve made EVE seem all the more appealing.

Mark-E- I know, tap me on the wrist! :laughing:

I agree with all of your points, though expanding on when EVE first fell in love with WALL-E, I too think that this was when she saw how much he had cared for her. The problem is that this means that EVE’s love for WALL-E is potentially flawed. It’s like, we were talking about this sort of thing in a recent English lesson (as our topic for the year is ‘love through the ages’) and someone said about how it is impossible to love unselfishly, because, for example, the reason a daughter loves her mother is because she relies on her for her own survival. And then, when the daughter gets older, the only reason the love continues is because the daughter unconsciously knows that if her mother were to die, she would suffer grief and so she therefore tries to prevent the death of her mother- not because she cares about her, but because she doesn’t want to experience any negative feelings.

Aanyway, back on topic, this makes it seem as though EVE’s love was selfish, because she wasn’t able to fall in love with WALL-E when he was just being himself and all sweet, but when she saw how much he cared for HER, that made her fall in love with him. Ironically, as they’re robots, it’s a sort of evolutionary thing so that EVE is protecting herself by being with another robot who will look after her.

That’s obviously quite a pessimistic way of looking at love, though. :laughing: It’s very possible that EVE just really did love WALL-E for who he was and that it just took a long time to realise it.

#13

I would personally see this another way round:

Indeed, I quite agree on the prospect of love being driven by motive, but that doesn’t mean it’s not in a way noble…

Indeed, EVE is awestruck at the moment when wall-E is shown how much he cares, which triggers in her the true feelings she’ll field for him. However, please don’t tell me that that large calibre plasma weapon of hers serves only for pyrotechnic displays. :laughing:

The fact is EVE is more than capable of defending herself alone: she doesn’t need wall-E for that. especially since, despite the estethics, she has a strong military knowledge and protocol (she salutes the captain) which also explains her efficiency.

What astounds her, is the fact that someone cares of her well being despite her, to the point of desperately trying to awaken her. She sees that anguish, and that alone explains a lot: Mostly she is taught by wall E her value to his eyes (ehm… occulary sensors :laughing: ) and that is possibly the greatest gift or achievement we (humans) can present to our kin… Those values, given the high personnalities of the robots, are also present here.

One of the reasons I like that wall E/EVE relationship so much compared to everyday’s boring romantic TV show, is that in this situation it’s all acts/no words… And somewhere, perhaps our feelings today would be more meaningful if they followed that pattern.

Of course, those are my opinions only…

#14

The way I see it is that interest and love is where the separation should be made. I believe when Wall-E first sees EVE he is very interested. Interested in her grace and design. After EVE interacts with Hal and they meet lens to lens it starts to turn. When she turns around and leave Wall-E has this contented sigh that I read as putting a romantic spin on “She didn’t kill me”.

#15

I guess now that I think about it, maybe it was her looks that he first found attractive. But it’s not unheard of for that to happen. I suppose in a sense that may appear to be a little shallow. The look of EVE may be the thing that caught his attention, but I think he stayed for other reasons. :slight_smile:

#16

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

barges in all crazy like

THAT. IS. NOT. WHAT. HAPPENED! xDDDD

Actually, at first I thought about this too, but here’s how I see this.

WALL-E never fell in love with EVE solely because of looks. If that was his thing, then he could have fallen for any one of his little gadgets that he has in his home. Yeah, WALL-E was a bit awestruck (and possibly a tad desperate) by seeing something CLEAN that MOVED after 700 years.

BUT.

WALL-E doesn’t go beyond awe and curiosity until a crucial moment; when EVE starts flying around after the Axiom leaves. This is when WALL-E gives off a sound that almost sounds like a longing. Will I say looking pretty had NOTHING to do with it? No, cause that’s going against what Stanton himself said that he thought she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen right off the bat.

So of course, he follows her. And she laughs. She shows dedication. She shows EMOTION. For the first part of the movie when WALL-E is getting to know EVE, every time she shows some sort of emotion is when WALL-E falls harder or when he attempts to court her. (Flying around just for freedom’s sake, laughing at Hal, being curious about the lighter.)

WALL-E didn’t just fall in love because EVE was pretty, but because he sensed LIFE. This may seem kinda silly to a human, cause we sense other human life all around us. But for WALL-E, he’d never seen a robot with life before; somebody just like him. Even in videos, all he’d seen were humans with life. He’d never seen something just like him. And not only that, but the times when she did break free of her directive, she was more bold and strong than he was (at first anyway)

All the same, I do feel WALL-E has a change of character as the movie goes and does have an issue understanding what love is at first, and yeah, you can take it as a bit shallow; WALL-E starts the movie only desperately wanting somebody to be with. While EVE sees the love and compassion WALL-E has for her when she looks at the flashbacks, WALL-E also acted a bit selfish towards the start if you think about it. You could almost see him caring for EVE not for her, but because he didn’t want to lose her. Paradox, right? Yeah, sorta, but hopefully that kinda makes sense.

As the movie progresses, however, WALL-E gains a willingness to TRULY put EVE first. Not just sacrificing his time so that she’ll be with him, but giving up everything for her even if she’s not with him to the point that he pushes her away at one point. That’s why WALL-E seems to mature a little as the movie goes, not because of any aesthetics.

#17

Netbug009: I came in to explain this myself, but you just made the most epic post ever in WALL•E fandom history and now leave me with nothing to say. :stuck_out_tongue: 'Cuz when I saw this thread I totally almost passed out. I mean, seriously, why question their beautiful and innocent love?! Haha just kidding - it’s a legit question, since we’re dealing with robots who shouldn’t be thinking and feeling in the first place. :wink:

little chef

#18

Very excellent post there, I love it. I feel the same way, I love the expressions and emotions shown by the two throughout the movie. Very cool.

#19

Haha, thanks. ^^