I remember being concerned about the “green-ness” of the film, not because of the message per say, (it’s good to keep the earth clean!) but because I didn’t want it to over take the storyt. I hate it when movies sacrifice a good story for the sake of a message, when an animated film stops becoming a film and turns into “Cartoon All Stars to the Rescue” (bonus points to anyone who knows what this is ) Not because it’s bad to learn something good, but because spoon feeding ideas into your audience’s mouths is patronizing and really chops up the narrative.
However, I trust Pixar now, they have always been able to subtly give messages without making you feel stupid. Take for instance, in Finding Nemo, when they were in the bay… see how dirty and grimy it was compared to the rest of the ocean? You get the feeling that it was not taken care of that much, and it made you feel sad for the fish who had to live there (not to mention the fish getting caught it the net). Yet, they never bring this to your attention, no fish commenting on the dirty water, no close ups on trash (I’m looking at you Happy Feet). It was all there in subtext, the use of the lighting, the particles in the water, the rust, etc. they didn’t just, stop the narrative (once again, I’m looking at you Happy Feet!!) and say “HEY KIDS! POLLUTING IS WRONG!” They simply showed the way dirty water looked like. No one felt silly and dumb. They were going along with the story.
Pixar are masters of storytelling, unlike other animated movies, they can always make a good, heartwarming plot with a subtle, message that can be understood in different ways. That’s why Pixar appeals to so many different kinds of people methinks.
Hmmm… I don’t think the central theme of this is the planet actually. I think there’s the obvious hint there, I mean, Earth is a dump man, but I think the theme here is love. Not romantic love, but just love. I think that the movie is more about us getting so much into our stuff that we forget that life is about loving others. That’s what I think it is from the promotional info I’ve heard. I could be wrong though.
I don’t think Pixar is trying to put emphasis on the humans being fat so much as they will emphasize consumerism. I did read the Pixar looked into spcae programs to learn that bones atrophy due to loss of gravity, so hopefully the film will say that’s why everyone’s a lazy couch potato, and not because they’re greedy pigs.
I read in the book that there are other blob characters, such as ‘John’, who - thanks to WALL-E - rediscover the will to live and love.
Actually, having read through this thread, I think the reason Andrew Stanton (and everyone else) aren’t commenting on the message is that it’s already really obvious, so it’s more refined and subtle to shut up, already.
To check out EX-ACT-LY what they think on a number of issues, the site BuynLarge.com (and thank you so much for posting the link!) is a repository of all that ails the modern world. Cash being done away with for sinister purposes? Check. The world controlled by a single super-corporation? Check…
…I find it interesting that the ‘quiet desperation’ is hinted at in this article about artificial robot mates (buynlarge.com/NewsCenter.html?storyId=27) in this passage: the tester states that one of the robot’s ‘bugs’ is that he "[s]ometimes cries at inappropriate times and bangs his head on the wall screaming, “Please kill me!”
…oh, wow, that’s just chilling. Another confirmation that it’s the robots who have the feelings in this strange new world. Darn, now I really can’t wait for the movie…
Putmoneyinthypurse, you bring up a really good point that I haven’t really thought of before. The reason why I got so excited about WALL-E’s promotion is how much that fake buynlarge website really mocks any consumerism. It takes nasty materialistic goods and worships it as if they were gods. I laughed at the “Xanadou shopping pill” to help you stay awake so you can go shopping, the shopping mall turned into a city, and the buynlarge controlling al of government, I guess they’re clearly pointing out the underlying messae yet hiding the environmental commentary from the general public (I have never seen an ad for buynlarge.com except on these kind of fan message boards). The good thing is, if you want to see it, it’s there, and quite enjoyable to read and ponder.
Oh, and since I created this thread, I’d like to announce that I’m visiting Pixar tomorrow morning with the SF Chronicle when they interview Andrew Stanton. Since I didn’t want to make a scene on the message boards, I was going to wait until after I go to further the discussion. I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I was told to not to tell anybody, not take pictures, and not geek out there, but here I am, sharing it at the bottom of my post. Look for a new thread here really soon.
i really, really hope wall-e won’t be lecturing us about environmentalism, though i’m 99.9% it will. i hate in when producers put in their own veiws about current events in children’s movies. that just strikes me as taking advantage of young minds who believe anything they hear. not all children are like this, but a lot are. i would have liked happy feet SO much more if it did not do this. pixar been so good about this.
i agree that many of these things are important, and that they need to be discussed. yes, our world is becoming very material and shallow, but those should be brought up by adults and in adult movies. i’d feel more comfortable if children could just ask their parents about these issues, and the parents could decide to tell them or not (they’d have to, eventually). i do not believe that we are causing global warming (if it exists), i think it is just natural. happy feet, as i mentioned before, went into all this political hoopla about 3/4 the way into the movie, with a very dark tone and extremely opinionated scenes. in a movie about a dancing penguin! that ruined what could have been a very good movie for me. i hope pixar stays smart and avoids this.
wow, did i just sound, like, 40 years old n that post?
So interesting to note that even though there is an anti-consumerism message Wall-E does a good deal of collecting of earth’s debris for his own collection. [spoil]I still laugh to myself when I think of the spork scene.[/spoil]
***Possible spoilers, I’m not really sure to be honest ***
I loved the message in Wall-E. It did not come off to me at all as a mock of obesity. It showed the path of earth’s future in a shockingly realistic view. I don’t care what your views on global warming and such are, but obesity is, for the most part, a physical result of our own over-indulgence-- which is something you can not deny.
I think that the depiction of obesity as the future gave the movie a new dimension of hope. People say all the time that the world has fallen too far into the depths of destruction and there is no hope for repairing the damage we have done. The humans in Wall-E were not, in the end, consumed by consumerism. They were just stuck on “auto-pilot”. Wall-E is a wake up call and [spoil]the people in Wall-E return to the trash-ridden earth not with disappointment or ignorance but with the desire to clean it up and make it the great place it had once been.[/spoil]
It was actually a very good message in the movie. We seem to get more dependent on technology everyday and we have an overwhelming amount of trash… if we rely on machines to move around everywhere, then yes, obesity could very well be in our future.
But all in all, I liked the movie and the message is one we should all listen to. I think that Pixar meant to have it in there for a reason, and that reason was for all of us to see it, use it, and take it to heart as something to live by.
I liked the message about detaching yourself from your machinery to actually look around.
As I was going to the movie theater to see the sneak screening on Wed, I noted to my co-worker that I went to the theater a few days before to see ‘Incredible Hulk,’ and just then noticed that one building had had glass and balconies installed…The building had been there for some time and it had just truck me.
I was riding the El train on Friday morning to work, and it felt somewhat sad and scary that everyone is just so isolated-there must have been 50+ people crammed into that car, and almost no human interaction…I myself was not exemplt-was plugged into my ipod touch listening to Wall-e.
Ahh, your description of the humans in WALL-E are perfect. What I love so much is how they’re depicted as people with souls. They care, but they have been trapped into society’s belief of being stuck in autopilot. The humans just haven’t even been giving the opportunity. What I LOVED so much was the scene [spoil]when WALL-E and EVE are flying through the Axiom and we get a medium shot of a bunch of babies who obviously are in school, but the only thing they’re being taught is “A is for Axiom, B is for Buy N Large, your best friend.” GENIUS. If that’s how kids will learn how to read in the future, then our society will never learn to think for itself and do what’s actually best for the world and the environment that we live in. Beautifully crafted indeed.[/spoil]
Does anybody notice [spoil]how much personality the robots in the repair ward have? Now, I’ve read a lot of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and it irks me to see even positive reviews say that that scene was unnecessarily stretched out and pointless to the plot. The BuyNLarge corporation has fixated people on some belief that their social life has to be digital and that robots have to hand them food in a cup. But these “broken robots” have more individuality and heart than any of those humans sitting in lounge chairs have.[/spoil] And I think it takes a lot of guts for Pixar to be making such a valid point about our carelessness for our environment and gluttony on ourselves.
I’ve just decided after much analysis of the genius of this film, I rank WALL-E up with The Incredibles as my favorite Pixar film. Especially because it has a subtle yet powerful message on the environment.
JamieLew: That was beautiful. There isn’t much that I can add to that. I feel the exact same way about Wall-E’s environmental message. [spoil]Seeing the humans in their automatic chairs, drinking their “food in a cup” was honestly gross to watch. But it is realistic! That could very well be our future in hundreds of years. I think it was a shocker to the audience that will hopefully encourage us to keep the earth and all who inhabit it healthy. [/spoil]
My only hope is that films like WALL-E with environmental themes get taken seriously and not just labeled a “left-wing” view of the world. It came to my mind after the viewing last night that after the film ended and I was wrapping up the speechlessness of how impressed I was of the caliber of the film, I saw TONS of trash throughout the theater. Worse, is that half of the stuff there could have been recycled, instead of left for the cleaners to pick it up and add to the wasteland in WALL-E. I managed to grab a few plastic bottles to recycle.
as long as it’s not all global warming and anti-conservative (which seems to be the theme of a lot of animated movies lately) i’m fine, but i would rather it did not. i do beleive we need to watch our trash export and obesity.
I liked how the message wasn’t really in your face, but was still there. It really didn’t seem like it was “left-wing politics” either, but more just appreciating the Earth and all of it’s wonders instead of just sitting on your butt all day and being so reliant on technology or being so consumed by commercialism.
I don’t get how people are thinking that it’s a jab at overweight people more than just a jab at how lazy we’re getting.
Your view on it inspires me and I agree completely.
Here’s an excellent editorial on WALL-E’s environmental message from CHUD.com. Although it can seem like a long rant, I think it has a lot of valid points about (you have to admit it) the hypocrisy in the marketing for WALL-E.
Andrew Stanton has clearly said that there is no political aspects of the film, probably because no matter how good a film is, people will not be affected by it. We’re just too stubborn. In orer for people to change the world, they have to change people first.
) Not because it’s bad to learn something good, but because spoon feeding ideas into your audience’s mouths is patronizing and really chops up the narrative.
There isn’t much that I can add to that. I feel the exact same way about Wall-E’s environmental message. [spoil]Seeing the humans in their automatic chairs, drinking their “food in a cup” was honestly gross to watch. But it is realistic! That could very well be our future in hundreds of years. I think it was a shocker to the audience that will hopefully encourage us to keep the earth and all who inhabit it healthy. [/spoil]