My husband, being generally more optimistic than I, really wanted to believe that the preachiness of Wall*E would be trumped by the general cuteness and maverick goodtimesness that Pixar is known for. His disappointment was palpable as we left the drive-in, the few initial moments of pensive silence gave way to a stunned disbelief and, eventually, an angry and disappointed rant against all that was bad about the movie.
There was much cuteness. Much adorableness. Much creativity. But what little sugar glaze was there got lost under all of the relentless message-giving. Like Oprah before them, it seems that perhaps Pixar has mistaken their relevance as entertainers for a relevance of a different kind. Like Oprah before them, people enjoyed what they had to say on a topic, and they mistook that enjoyment as a demand for a message. A demand that just isn’t there.
What bothers me most about the message isn’t even what I thought would bother me. Environmentalist doom-saying? Nah. Fat people are lazy? Nah. I’d been warned about and expected both of those. What I didn’t see coming in advance was the Big Corporate Villain. A thinly-veiled substitute for Wal-Mart, the Blocky-letter, red and blue logo of Buy And Large is splashed over everything. We learn that the corporate policies of Buy and Large have led mankind into a slothful disregard for everything around them. In and of itself the story has nothing new on other dystopian future pieces–they’ve cribbed everything from Brave New World to Planet Of The Apes and, of course, I, Robot.
What gets me, what has me seething, is the unmitigated gall of their hypocrisy.
This picture is put out by Disney. Who, as much as I love them, is the very definition of “Corporate Behemoth.” But even worse is the ancient redwood log in Pixar’s eye. Because while they can piss and moan about how Buy and Large ruined the world….
You can rest assured that Wal Mart has all of the Wall * E Merchandise you could want.
As does everyplace else. Wall*E books, toys, video games, lunch boxes. You can even get your own Wall E Robot.
Merchandising will kill us all–but please, before you hop into your one-way handbasket to the heated underworld, won’t you buy some assorted Wall*E Memorabilia?
In the final and most ironic twist there was one sole piece of merchandise from the movie that I would have purchased. And I can’t find it anywhere. The item? The plant in an old shoe.
Update
I guess I’m not the only one who feels this way:
All this from mega-company Disney, who wants us to buy WALL-E kitsch for our kids…
Much to Disney’s chagrin, I will do my part to avoid future environmental armageddon by boycotting any and all WALL-E merchandise and I hope others join my crusade.
How paying customers will react to being told they’re porky slobs, or are headed in that direction (WALL-E is set 800 years in the future) will depend on how closely the people in the audience ignore the people on screen and concentrate on WALL-E and Eve.
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Wow, that reminds me ever so much of why I hated Josie and the Pussycats. It was so much exaggerated product placement for the sake of parodying product placements that it went right ahead and took payment for those over-the-top, ha-ha-aren’t-we-clever contextual advertisements. Doesn’t matter because it’s ironic, right?
Oy. It sounds like that message in Wall*E is one I could be politically sympathetic towards were it not for its blatant hypocrisy. Thanks for the warning.
Oy. It sounds like that message in Wall*E is one I could be politically sympathetic towards were it not for its blatant hypocrisy.
Anyone—anyone–who believes in any form of Earth stewardship, whether they’re right, left, libertarian, communist….anyone could get behind the general idea.
Use less. Make less waste. Be more actively involved in people instead of in things.
The showing we went to gave away free plastic (!) watches to all of the kids.
It boggles the mind.
Ugh. I was looking forward to seeing this, but now….
To be honest, I wondered when Pixar would go overboard and from the sound of things, I guess it must have happened.
I guess you can only try so hard to keep topping yourself before you have to realize you just can’t do it anymore.
Oh well, I guess not all of Pixar’s creations can be libertarian allegory.
I loved the movie, and make no apologies for it.
For one thing, I don’t blame the Pixar guys for the Disney marketing machine. If they can use a marketing machine to critique itself, more power to them.
I don’t have kids, don’t plan to buy any Wall-E merchandise, and so whether or not such merchandise is being sold (at Wal-Mart or anywhere else) is completely irrelevant to me. All I care about is what was onscreen, and what was onscreen was tremendous — funny, and beautiful, and exciting. And I thought there was a little bit of a wink to some of the apocalyptic aspects (like the “Buy-N-Large” logo and music stinger at the very, very end of the credits).
I don’t know if any of you noticed, but “Ratatouille” (not to mention “Big Night” or “Chocolat”) was shown in theatres that sell popcorn and Milk-Duds. Does that make it hypocritical as well?
It’s one thing to be aware of movie messages. It’s another thing to apply such a political microscope to every movie that we lose the joy of moviegoing.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve pointed out, but even with all the political and sociological silliness, I still think its the best movie Pixar ever made.
I view the movie just as you’ve said you do The DaVinci Code. Wall-E was a masterpiece of storytelling, and that made everything else not matter so much.
I was amazed to see exposition with almost no words. Most people (and especially, I suspect, writers) have no idea just how hard that is to do.
I can tell you, I “felt” this romance far more than I have for any romantic comedy I’ve seen in the last 5 years.
The “dance” scene was absolutely beautiful. The score helped young audiences understand the emotion of the moment, without being overbearing.
The color palettes were perfect for the mood being set.
The Jesus parallels newar the end were fun to watch, even though I’m sure Lassiter didn’t do it on purpose.
I have more thoughts on this, but I don’t want to accidentally post spoilers, and there’s a Dirty Jobs marathon going on right now.
My kid went to see it as part of a friend’s birthday party and lugged back home the watch. I think that was just part of the opening weekend promotion everywhere.
I don’t know if you’ve seen the Veggie Tales with Madame Blueberry and her compulsive home- and habitat-destroying addiction to Stuff-Mart, but it strikes me that this particular theme has already been done in Christian cinema about a decade ago to very enjoyable effect. Not exactly little sad-eyed robots in love, but you can’t have everything.
I don’t really get the outrage here, and I can’t say that I saw their anti-conglomerate message at all. It’s a cautionary tale about how the world COULD be if we put our own comfort ahead of more important things. The humans in this film have forgotten – or were never taught, rather – that life is not supposed to be easy. That the world does not revolve around us and our own personal needs and wants. Unfortunately, the generations before them decided that their own comfort *was* more important and sold out their lives and their planet to anyone who would assure them that comfort. (I mean, could there have BEEN a more obvious parallel to the Bush administration? “Stay the course” indeed.)
I know that movies are supposed to be entertainment first, but I don’t understand the ubiquitous mistrust there seems to be for any movie that tries to have a little more to it.
I can’t say that I saw their anti-conglomerate message at all.
???? Okay.
I mean, could there have BEEN a more obvious parallel to the Bush administration? “Stay the course” indeed.)
I don’t understand the ubiquitous mistrust there seems to be for any movie that tries to have a little more to it.
Not that I’m a big fan of the Bush Administration, but you kind of answered your own question there. People don’t like to pay money for a scolding.
If you’re into the message it doesn’t necessarily come across to you as a scolding.
Wall-E was a masterpiece of storytelling, and that made everything else not matter so much.
If they had kept the whole thing on Earth, or even if they had cut some of the extended ZOMFG! FATTIES!!! stuff on the ship, I’d agree with you.
But what started as masterful, Chaplinesque story-telling veered off once they got on board the Axiom. Even the name of the ship with the lazy fatties is telling. (From Wikipedia: In traditional logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proved or demonstrated but considered to be self-evident. Therefore, its truth is taken for granted, and serves as a starting point for deducing and inferring other (theory dependent) truths. In other words, humanity’s eventual destruction of Earth and slide into sloth is self-evident.)
I don’t know if any of you noticed, but “Ratatouille” (not to mention “Big Night” or “Chocolat”
was shown in theatres that sell popcorn and Milk-Duds. Does that make it hypocritical as well?
If the point of Ratatouille, Big Night and Chocolat had been that the eating of Milk Duds and Popcorn would destroy our very soul, then yes. Those movies were all about how “Great food is a wonderful experience”.
All I care about is what was onscreen, and what was onscreen was tremendous — funny, and beautiful, and exciting.
Some of it, yes. I loved the parts where Wall*E is going through his collection. I loved the trip through space. I loved the dance sequence.
But as an overweight American with disabilities and limited mobility, when we got to the spaceship and watched all the fat people on carts I felt something probably similar to what black people feel watching a minstrel show. I expected it because I’d been warned. (Someone even told my husband to not take me to see it at all.) But there’s nothing quite so much of a buzzkill as having one of your rawest nerves be a punchline in a movie.
So that joy of movie watching you speak of was already killed for me anyway.
???? Okay.
Anti-consumerist, yes. Anti-corporation, no. There’s a huge difference, in my view.
I can fully understand your reaction – Pixar was in no ways subtle this time.
Although I read the subtext not as “fat people are lazy”, a blatant, prejudiced untruth. I read it as “lazy people are fat”, which is somewhat less untrue (somewhat less untrue? I sound like a drunk philosopher!).
I think an important distinction, also, is that “modern” people (in the movie’s world) are not the bad guys, they are victims who end up having their own heroic moments. WE (in the past) are the bad guys (along with WalMart). This, too, could be viewed as offensive: Oh, you poor, fat person! You don’t even know what WalMart has done to you!
But, I really believe that Wall*E’s humanity, humor and heart overcome all of that. This was not a Michael Moore propaganda piece – it transcended, something a small man like Moore could never dream of doing.
Despite the title of the post containing my name I was going to avoid commenting, but thought I’d clear up one little thing.
Someone even told my husband to not take me to see it at all.
This isn’t entirely true. You mentioned in your post last week that you didn’t expect to enjoy the movie because of the various messages you expected to lectured on. Obesity was not among them and knowing, as anyone who is a regular reader of your blog would, that you can be pretty sensitive to this issue, I thought it best to bring it up.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Wall•E myself and while I could attempt to sum up my feelings on it, Slarti and others have done a much better job that I could. Wall•E almost exclusively a love story and a fine one at that. All the other stuff you mention is there is you want to examine it but serves mostly as a backdrop. Or did for me anyway.
More distracting was the animation itself. Not that it was bad, it was fantastic. Knowing a tiny bit about computer animation I couldn’t help but look at all the textures and the and the construction of the sets and think of the staggering amount of care that went into creating Wall•E’s world. I mean maybe huge piles a trash can be mostly generated procedurally like the armies in LOTR, but since it all has wildly different shapes and textures, I’m betting not. Fortunately I moved past all that after the first 15 minutes or so, paid attention to the story itself and not the film’s construction.
WE (in the past) are the bad guys (along with WalMart).
Yes. That is what I’m saying. That’s the message that is blatant and painful and condescending and rude and a bit stupid coming from a large company who does frequent volume business with Wal*Mart.
I see what the rest of you guys are saying about the beauty and skill transcending the message. I just can’t get there.
I see the beauty. I see the skill.
But to me it’s the same as the way some women around these parts say “Bless Your Heart” in a nice-seeming way, when all the while they mean “f—- you, idiot.”
I agree that the issues about big corporations, etc, are all just a backdrop to a really wonderful love story, and I don’t understand why there’s such a negative reaction to it. The movie just took these issues (consumerism, the environment, personal health) and exaggerated them to make fun of our own stupid behaviors and to set up an environment in which Wall-E’s story can unfold. While I think it was there for comic effect, I don’t think the exaggeration diminishes the messages.
Let’s face it—people are *a lot* less active these days than they ever have been, and this in combination with our love of fast food and sweets was just taken to an extreme with the population on the Axiom. This wasn’t poking fun at overweight people—it was poking fun at *all of us* by exaggerating the bad habits all of us have at one point or another in our lives. Have you known someone who would either text or email or IM the person in the next room or at the next desk rather than getting up to go over and talk to them? It happens all the time.
The core of this movie, set against this comically over-the-top background, is about love and dedication. Eve is dedicated to her mission of finding a way to get humanity home. Wally is dedicated to his own simple work and then is dedicated to following Eve. These are universal themes, and it’s this sort of care and dedication that humanity will always come back to in order to save itself from its worst habits. I believe that was the whole point of the movie.
BTW, I’ve seen some fascinating arguments that Wall-E IS indeed a libertarian allegory.
The way the argument goes, it’s a cautionary tale about what can happen when you let your life be run by an authoritarian entity.
They called BuyNLarge a corporation, but Fred Willard was a defacto government leader. He even gave speeches from what looked like the President’s podium.
Eve (one of our heroes) followed her heart (directive), no matter what the authorities told her to do. Wall-E was the ultimate “individual”.
The more I think about it, maybe Wall-E WAS a libertarian movie.
I really think you missed enjoying a great movie. I also think you looked so superficially on the surface you fundamentally missed anything you might have learned. “Fat people are lazy????” I have no idea what made you think this unless you simply looked on the surface of a 20 second clip. Seriously. It could have just as easily been “Fat people are heros.” or “Fat people can overcome the greatest obstacles”.
Also, the “anti-corporation” could just as easily been “anti-large government” or any authoritarian controlled society. It was, at best, an allegory to what happens when you stop thinking for your self and simply do as you are directed. “Blue is the new Red”.
It is a cautionary tale of what happens when the deadly sins of Gluttony, Greed and Sloth combine to take over all of man-kind. More importantly, however, is it is also what happens when individuality, loyalty, hope, love, dedication and determination work together to save not just a single person (or robot) but an entire society.
Add to that an amazing sound-track, phenomenal animation and the orchestration to skillfully splice all of this together with almost no dialog, and I find this to be among the best Pixar film to date. The movie is so well done, you can easily ignore the “message” and simply enjoy the theatrics.
My advice to those that have yet to see this movie. SEE IT. It is an amazing feast for the eyes and ears and mind.
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I’m angry about the promotional watches.
We sat down, and started to see that lots of the kids had these things, and wondered about where we could get one.
When the movie ended, in the row ahead of us, two of these watches had been dumped on the floor. They didn’t even make it out of the theater before they became garbage.
I’m not sure — did the message of the movie take?
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Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
Hello !!
My name is Piter Kokoniz. oOnly want to tell, that your blog is really cool
And want to ask you: is this blog your hobby?
Sorry for my bad english:)
Tnx!
Piter Kokoniz, from Latvia