Friday, March 28, 2014

Movie suggestion: Wall-E

           
            Wall-E is an animated science fiction movie. The story takes place in a far future where a robot named Wall-E is programed to clean up a desertic Earth covered with waste left by the conspicuous consumption of human beings. He falls in love with Eve who is a probe sent to Earth with a mysterious task. Their meeting takes them on an adventure in outer space that will change the fate of humanity.
            One of the most interesting things in this movie is that you understand everything with the images only. With so little dialogue, you are still captivated and feeling very strong emotions while watching the movie. There are two aspects to develop when we see how the future is represented in Wall-E. First, what Earth has become and second, what humans have become. In the future, consumerism and technology turned humans into pieces of meat living life lying in front of a screen. Moreover, without the intervention of Wall-E, no human expresses a single feeling throughout the movie. Humanity is stuck in a dead-end.
            Though he is tiny and relegated to the dirtiest of the dirty jobs, Wall-E truly understands how to find value in sullied things and how to create magic out of useless objects. He is more human than the humans in that way and slowly he begins to show them how to regain what they have lost through sloth and over reliance on technology.
            The meaning of Wall-E is deeper and more profound than the merchandising opportunities found therein. It is a love story, yes, but it is also a story about staying true to your own heart in the blandly evil face of authority. Its is a tale about saving the small things and cherishing the world you live in no matter how imperfect its surface might seem.

Wall-E's "day at work" 

5 comments:

  1. Love this movie! But I have to disagree about the human emotion factor, because Wall-E wanted to be like the movie characters in Hello Dolly, so he learned his emotion from humans. The characters inspired him to hold hands with Eve, therefore humans did express emotions in the movie through the medium of another movie. Still a great choice!!

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  2. I really love this movie, but I don't know that it would make a good choice to discuss in class. I am having a hard time connecting it with what we've discussed in class

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  3. I love Wall-E!

    But having said that, I think it would be really hard to get a discussion out of it about what we have learned in class. I don't see it relating to anything we have read so far.
    Also, is Wall-E a comedy? I mean, it is an adorable movie and I know there are some things that happen that make me laugh a little, but I never thought of it as a comedy.

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  4. I can see others are uneasy about watching this movie in class and I'd have to say I agree too. But you could spin it to be a movie to point out the "lack of self knowledge" about caring for the environment. Comedy is supposed to point out flaws without offending anyone. I sadly say that I would not vote for this movie, but at least I can see where you might be coming from.

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  5. It might not be an obvious choice but there are certainly some clear connections to be made (in my mind) between Wall-E and comedic structure. Think about Frye's causes to help you conceptualize the plot as a "comedy" of sorts...

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