WALL•E: A Reflection on Society

I had the opportunity to see the newest Pixar gem this weekend, Wall•E and it was fantastic! As usual, the CGI was out of this world (no pun intended) and the story was very original on several levels. Being a designer, I was utterly impressed with how far the CGI technology had advanced since Ratatouille, Pixar's last feature film. Pixar has made further advances and improvements to its Renderman program not thought possible only a year ago. There's been much fuss about the likeness of Wall•E to the iron-clad heroin #5 in the movie Short Circuit, released in 1986. There may be some truth to it, but I highly doubt that all of Wall•E's likenesses are attributed to #5. The only likeness I see is in the "binocular-like" eyes, and even that is minor at best. You can immediatley see George Lucas' strong influence as well as many overt (and covert) references to Apple.

The Star Wars influence can be seen in the robot design as well as the environmental design, particularly in the exterior and interior of the Axiom spaceship, where the last of mankind has been relegated, many light years away. There are several humorous Apple and Mac "ad plugs" as well. When Wall•E's solar power runs out, he hastily whips out a solar reflector and points it to the sky. When charging is complete, the familiar Mac "bing" is heard! Very clever! Wall•E, who is an avid collector of unique "junk" even has modified a first generation iPod into a big screen TV! Wall•E's friend, EVE, who is introduced shortly after the beginning of the movie, bears a striking resemblance to the sleek white design of the new generation of Macs as well. Of course there's always a minutiae of other details that one can make out only after seeing the movie several times.

Critics wondered how and if Pixar could pull off a movie that relied more on robot pantomime than the usual human conversation. To my surprise, it was done beautifully. Pixar animators put tedious hours into making every robotic move more pronounced in order to communicate every human emotion into the robot world of Wall•E. Every "bleep" and "blip" is choreographed seamlessly for each robotic character to portray just the right emotion and at just the right time to allow of just about every punchline to work. I do wish that EVE was able to say more than just "Wall•E" during the film, however that little detail is easily overlooked when put into the broader context of the film.

Wall•E is really a story of love and a social commentary all at once. One would think it difficult to pull off a love story involving cold-hearted robots. Not so. Pixar does a fantastic job melding the softness of love with the cold-steel of robotics. As the movie progresses, Wall•E and his "flame" EVE becoming more and more human-like with emotion, allowing the two characters to grow on the viewer. Wall•E's longing for love and friendship is played out throughout the film to the tune of Disney's "Hello Dolly". And he introduces EVE to "Hello Dolly" as an ice breaker for the friendship.

On a second level, Wall•E portrays the destruction of the earth's environment by lazy and arrogant humans. The last of the humans have blasted off in the spaceship Axiom to the outer reaches of the galaxy to continue their survival while they have left a handful or robots to clean up the mess, Wall•E being the last of those to survive.

The visuals that Pixar uses are relevant to what is going on in our world today. Vast, desolate regions of nothing but trash heated to a stench by the hot sun and blown every which way by dust bowls that Wall•E and EVE have to avoid every night. Mass commercialism is also run rampant. Everything is owned by the B&L Company (or Buy and Large Company). Everything from buildings to slurpees is mass produced by B&L. It is evident in the rusting remains of earth as well as the Times-Square-like atmosphere of spaceship Axiom. Lastly, we are introduced to the humans aboard Axiom. They resemble a weird morphism of a Cabbage Patch Kid and Teletubby-ish goo held together only by their red jumpsuits! Highlighting our current problem of overweight kids and adults, humans on Axiom never use their feet to walk! They are transported everywhere by robots and are served hand and foot by robots as well. Again, not too far from the truth of today's rushed world. There's many references to robots taking over the world, as in Space Odyssey 2001's HAL 9000 computer. The captain of Axiom is controlled by a HAL-like computer (complete with the red glowing light). In the end, Wall•E, EVE and the captain become the story's heroes, waking up to the fact that they hold the continuation of mankind (and robot-kind) in their hands (and microchips!).

Without giving away the ending, the story turns out for the best with a moral to be taken to heart. Wall•E is film for the whole family while at the same time catering to those like myself who big Pixar geeks as well as part of the progressive movement.