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*WARNING! This post contains spoilers!*
Wall-E is the story of a trash compacting robot left to clean up the Earth after humans have completely screwed up the environment and are forced to leave. Wall-E, actually the last of his kind, has (as revealed over the course of the movie) been doing his job for over 700 years. He spends most of his day pressing piles of trash into cubes which he stacks into gigantic towers. When I first saw previews for Wall-E, I hoped the first half hour or so would have no dialogue and mostly be him going around cleaning things up. I got exactly that. For the first third or so of the movie, you are introduced to how a 700 year old trash cleaning robot goes about his life. The film opens with the song “Put on Your Sunday Clothes.” But rather than just being a Randy Newman-esque score piece, it is the first look into the personality of Wall-E. As the camera pans down from space to the surface of the planet, you discover Wall-E actually plays the song on his built in speaker while he is working and humming along. Wall-E carries around a Rubber-Made ice-chest which he fills with toys and curiosities he finds throughout his day. One of the items he saves at the start of the film is an old hubcap. Upon returning to his home, Wall-E puts on a tape of Hello Dolly and it becomes apparent he wanted the hubcap so he could use it as a cap and practice dancing along to the movie.
Wall-E obviously has a little bit of an uneventful life but one day, as he is heading back into his house, a giant spaceship descends through the clouds and out pops Eve. Eve is everything that Wall-E isn’t. She is new and sophisticated and fancy and clean. She is the Macbook to Wall-E’s Thinkpad. Oh, she also has a sweet plasma cannon in her right arm. Anyway, Eve proceeds to search the area for something. Scanning and scanning and scanning she slowly becomes more and more frustrated. After finally visiting Wall-E’s house, it is revealed she was looking for signs of life when Wall-E shows her a small plant he found. To Wall-E’s surprise, Eve puts the plant in a small compartment in her chest and then appears to shut down. What Wall-E doesn’t know is that she has become an interstellar homing beacon, setting in motion the return of humans to Earth.
Now, this movie will receive a lot of attention from people who want to claim it is about the evils of commercialization and globalization. The true meaning is actually far deeper than this en vogue soapbox. Wall-E is about purpose and connection. This is evident throughout the film. Wall-E is a fan of Hello, Dolly. He watches it every night, his favorite scene is when Cornelious and Irene hold hands at the end of singing “It Only Takes a Moment.” From this point on, Wall-E can be seen practicing holding hands while longing to take Eve’s hand in his. Eve, however, while she takes a liking to Wall-E is driven by her “directive” which she states is classified. After scanning a plant Wall-E gives her and securing it, seeming to shut down in the process, it becomes apparent Eve’s “directive” is to find signs of life on Earth and report them back to the captain of the starcruiser Axiom (where humanity has been waiting the previous 700 years). Eve is at first prevented from successfully completing her mission as a result of the ships treacherous Auto-pilot. When Eve is finally able to break into the captain’s quarters with the plant sample, the captain plays back her video memory to see where she has been. It is at this point that Eve sees how much Wall-E cares for her, having looked after her when she shut down to await return to the Axiom. While still in the captain’s quarters, Eve and the captain are surprised by the Auto-pilot and a small security bot who capture the plant sample with the intent of destroying it (having already tried to do so unsuccessfully once before). However when they toss the plant into the trash shoot it drops no more than a few inches because Wall-E has climbed up the shoot in search of Eve. Wall-E’s valiant save and actions last for only a few seconds however as Auto-pilot shocks Wall-E with what looks like a cattle prod and overloads his systems. Wall-E falls back down the shoot with the plant followed closely by a deactivated Eve.
After a narrow escape from a trash compactor, Eve comes to Wall-E’s aid. She discovers the shock delivered by Auto-pilot has fried Wall-E’s controller card and he is dangerously low on his battery charge. She immediately begins searching the trash compartment for a controller card capable of fixing Wall-E. But Wall-E is aware the only way he can be fixed is if they are able to return to Earth and his stash of spare parts. Holding hands, Wall-E implores Eve to finish her “directive.” With aid from the captain, they begin the process of activating the ships return to Earth. Auto-pilot temporarily regains control of the Axiom however and puts at risk the lives of the humans and, in essence, even the success of its own mission to ensure the survival of humanity. While Eve rushes to save the people who are in danger, Wall-E selflessly sacrifices himself to buy Eve the time she needs to save the humans and guarantee their return to Earth. Crushed and lifeless, Wall-E is held by Eve as the Axiom makes the jump through hyperspace back to Earth. Upon landing, Eve rushes Wall-E to his home and quickly replaces his broken gears and components with fresh ones. However when he is reactivated, Wall-E shows no signs of recognizing Eve and proceeds to start compacting the toys he used to collect, seeing them now as trash that needs to be cleaned in accordance with his “directive.” In one last ditch effort to remind Wall-E of who he is, Eve takes his hand in hers and gives him another “kiss.” This was the “spark” Wall-E needed and he recognizes Eve as the movie comes to a close, the two robot heroes having found what they lacked at the start of the film (Wall-E a companion and Eve her “humanity”).
As I said, this is a movie about far more than the surface message of the evils of over-commercialization. Here’s why. . .
First off, this is a movie about what it means to be human, to really live. The main characters in the film all start off lacking an essential piece of their humanity (forget for a moment that Eve and Wall-E are obviously robots). Wall-E lacks community and companionship. Sure he has his little cockroach buddy, but this is hardly more than a master-pet relationship. Wall-E watches Hello, Dolly and longs for someone to love. Eve starts out the film with her life dominated by her “directive.” Nothing will stand in the way of her mission to find signs of life. Upon meeting with frustrations and obstacles, she lashes out with her plasma cannon causing great destruction. As the film progresses Wall-E comes to find the love and companionship he craves in Eve’s company and Eve comes to discover there is far more to life than your “directive.” The ship’s captain most clearly makes this point when arguing with Auto-pilot. After spending all night awake combing through the ship’s onboard encyclopedia (dude, holographic Wikipedia anyone?) reading about the history of Earth and human culture he rejects Auto-pilot’s insistence their purpose is to simply ensure human survival. “I’m through with surviving, I want to LIVE!” he exclaims.
I was wondering through the film what the Axiom stands for, such a seemingly intentional name choice. The “Axiom” of the film is once your eyes are opened to the possibilities of what a fully lived life entails, you will no longer settle for going through the motions. This is further backed up by the side characters of Mary and John, two passengers who begin to discover the world around them after finally being separated from the bubble of their slurpy loving hover chair existence. In their brief on screen appearances they discover the majesty of space, the fun of splashing in a pool, the excitement of human contact, even the thrill of being in danger. Wall-E as a film may skirt the edge of some sappy romance an comedy tropes, but it holds a profound message for the human race. Quit settling for survival and get out there and start living.
And finally, a quick section refute my friend Brandon’s insistance the message of Wall-E is that technology will save us:
1) Technology has clearly failed even as the movie begins. Wall-E keeps himself functioning by cannibalizing parts from other units that have long since ceased to function. As Fred Willard’s character (the CEO of Buy n Large/ global president) states the conditions on Earth are far worse than they though and all hope is lost for ever fixing the environment. The fact a lone plant is able to finally germinate after 700 years (hmm, I didn’t think of this until now but where the heck did that seed come from?) is more a testament to the eventual resiliency and self-restoration of the environment than technology’s ability to save us.
2) An argument can be made that Eve’s motivations for escaping from the trash compactor and initiating the return to Earth are as much about her love for Wall-E as for her directive to deliver the plant sample to the captain. She is willing to abandon her directive to stay with Wall-E and it is only after his pointing out their return to Earth is the only way to fix him that she takes action.
3) Finally, Wall-E and Eve couldn’t have completed the return to Earth without the aid of the captain of the Axiom who physically overpowers Auto-pilot and rights the ship. Without his aid they would have failed.
All right, hopefully you will now go out and watch this gem. And when you do, let me know what you think!
Over the last few weeks there has been a movie being filmed at Mount Hermon as part of the summer program. After a small bit part earlier in the film, I got to participate again, this time playing a paparazzi photographer at a red carpet event. Of course I took the shots for realzies and it was actually a really fun time. I also got to borrow a Canon 580 flash for the evening. I don’t currently have an external flash and since it is a part of Canon’s big summer sale, I’ve been thinking about picking one up. While the majority of my low light shooting is at Vintage and in situations (like during the service) where using a flash isn’t a real option, it still would be a very useful tool to have. The onboard flash on the 30D is woefully inadequate and as I’m looking toward a 5D (which doesn’t have a flash) as my future camera it’s something I’ll need eventually anyway. Head on over to flickr to check out the shots.
