WALL-E-How On Earth Did This Film Get Made?
Saying that Wall-E is a shock... is an epic understatement. Hours after seeing the film, I am still in absolute awe, I mean AWE, that this film was made by a Hollywood studio and shown in theatres with the consent of numerous large corporations. What gives? I do not understand.
Has WALL-E been created and released to serve as some sort of pressure valve, a cathartic experience for an increasingly irritated and betrayed American and global populous? If you haven’t seen WALL-E yet you can’t appreciate how revolutionary the film happens to be. This is a major Hollywood release that is G-rated, kid friendly and very anti-corporate, very anti-processed food, and more than a little irritated with the current political climate. For just a brief 90-minute period I felt as though I was in bizarro universe where the so-called freethinkers of the 1960’s did not betray their beliefs, their children, and all the Veterans that fought for Democracy in World War II, but instead stuck to their guns and transformed Hollywood. This film is amazing, and for you frequent, loyal readers, you know I do not gush easily-hell hardly at all.
As for specifics, the story is too much fun to give away a great deal. WALL-E is simple and straightforward enough but powerful and meaningful. WALL-E takes place in a seriously depressing Earth, 700 years into the future. The planet has been abandoned as a de facto junk heap and WALL-E units have been left behind to clean up the mess while humans wait it out in space. The five-year mission in space for mankind turns into 700 year mission. Umm, a short mission that turns into a never-ending one? Sounds familiar. Meanwhile, the situation on Earth degenerates until only one functioning WALL-E unit is left. This unit is forced to cannibalize his fellow broken down counterparts just to keep his mission going. So our ill-equipped hero is basically forgotten, abandoned and discarded, this to sounds vaguely familiar as well. WALL-E in fact does a marvelous job in creating a Robinson Caruso feel, where the audience truly begins to sympathize with the extreme loneliness of our abandoned hero WALL-E. Eventually, however, a probe sent from humanity does arrive and WALL-E’s world changes forever.
Life aboard the Axiom, the ship that now houses humanity, is where the writers of WALL-E makes some of their most vicious political statements. In our distant future, mankind is a collective of fat, brain dead drones that wiz about on floating chairs unable to walk. There is one, single massive company who own the Axiom and all the robots that catering to the futuristic slobs that humanity becomes. There are definite shades of H.G. Wells The Time Machine, here. In order to give you a, well taste of what life is like for humanity, cupcakes are dispensed in cup form. I mean why not, right? How far can we be from this anyway?
The statements made in WALL-E are nothing sort of extraordinary. A single large corporate apparently takes complete control of the political process and the President is in fact also the CEO of 'Big N Large," the only corporation. In fact the President even tells humanity to “stay the course.” The result of all this unchecked, unrestrained corruption and merger of central government and corporation is a humanity that is hardly human, a world that is polluted beyond repair and a stagnant Axiom where nothing changes.
Perhaps more remarkable than the messages of the film or even that the messages are being delivered via large corporations is that John Lasseter was the executive producer on the film. Lasseter was also executive producer on one of the most morally bankrupt films of all time-Monsters Inc. You remember Monsters Inc, where it is oh-so-much-fun to go work in a factory, don’t you? Monsters Inc is the same film where the factory is full of wonder for its employees, well, perhaps John has found his soul. Then again he is the same guy who appears to be working on Cars 2. Now Cars was one of the more offensive films of the last few years... just check out my review to see why. Regardless, let’s hope WALL-E is the new direction for Lasseter and if it is I will have a new, deep respect for him.
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