http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/WALL-E is a Disney-Pixar film, in which humans have given in to every consumer desire and the world then becomes so full of their waste that WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load-Lifter, Earth-class), a computerized robot is left alone, with his only companion, a cockroach, to clean up all the trash. The human population lives on a ship, travelling through space, subsisting off of a liquid diet and never leaving the chairs in which they sit. They are so many generations removed from their forefathers who created the mess on Earth that they don't even know what Earth looks like and have completely lost their sense of the culture they had on Earth, as well.
Earth, as it is portrayed in this film, is a prime example of Buell's Virgilian mode. In the end, the human population returns to Earth, sees the destruction and devastation that their lifestyle can cause, and that their previous generations did cause. The Kafkaesque image of Earth that they see before them encourages them all to try to begin to clean up the mess and have a fresh start on the planet.
I <3 Wall-E.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it cool how he is the most "humane" and in touch with feelings and nature, even though Wall-E is a mechanical creation? It kind of reminds me of the Simalcurum (What was that word?? The Disney Land argument thing again). Because Wall-E isn't a real person, but he is actually more human than the humans. And it isn't until they are exposed to Wall-E that humans become more real.
It's pretty nostalgic, too, yeah? I always liked the Hello Dolly scenes, because not only would I follow Barbra Streisand to the end of the Earth, it's a reference to an old movie. Hello Dolly is already old to the audience watching the movie Wall-E in 2008, so it's even older to this little robot. It's kind of pastoral view, isn't it? The past was better. The present kind of sucks. But it leaves on a happy, hopeful note. Maybe a high E sung by Barbra Streisand. Maybe not that high, maybe a B.