Sad and lonely in a city of garbage, a lone, battered robot goes about his duties of compressing garbage. His sole companions are a cockroach and a pathetic seedling growing in a discarded boot. All the humans have left for the luxuries of a robot-run spaceship until the day when life can be found on Earth once again. The bleakness of the landscape created from cubes of compressed garbage provides a sad contrast to the soundtrack from “Hello, Dolly.” Like most science fiction, the animated film Wall-E is a warning about how bad our future could be if we continue on our current path.
Wall-E, abandoned on Earth by the humans for 700 years, displays human-like personality traits. He collects various discarded items that interest him, and he watches a salvaged videotape of “Hello, Dolly” over and over on a rescued VCR. He only finds the love and companionship he longs for when a probe robot arrives on Earth to search for signs of life. Eve, the new robot, also displays human-like traits, such as a glorious aeronautical display when the ship leaves, as if to celebrate her freedom. At times, she is clearly put out with Wall-E, and later in the movie, she displays concern for Wall-E. Most of the robots in the film act like robots, computer-driven creations incapable of feeling or reasoning, beyond what they are programmed to do. This movie, like most, requires the willing suspension of disbelief. A few of the robots are clearly capable of human-like thoughts and feelings, while others do nothing but what they are programmed to do. If you can get past that minor discrepancy, the movie is a fun, entertaining film with some great messages.
The humans in the film, through reliance on robots and computers, grow lazy, fat, unobservant, and incapable of thinking or caring for themselves. This is a warning about the danger of relying too much on modern conveniences. Yet when the autopilot tries to take over and prevent the ship from returning to Earth, as it was programmed to do, the human captain must make a decision about which set of orders to follow. He and a few of the passengers have to exert their long-unused willpower and weakened physical strength in order to act. Their actions demonstrate one of the advantages of the human mind over the computer; namely that computers can only follow orders, while humans can make the decision not to follow orders. Computers can follow logical processes, but are incapable of making moral judgments and determining right and wrong, as humans do.
Modern conveniences can be amazing time-savers, freeing us up to do more important tasks. The problem is that we get so used to using them that we eventually forget how to do without them. I have had roommates who, when the dishwasher broke, could not seem to do the dishes until the machine was repaired. When the television remote control is lost, we frequently spend much more time and energy searching for it than it would take to simply stand up and change the channel. People forget how to cook without a microwave, or how to use a manual can opener. I had a neighbor once who apparently could not bake cookies for her husband without an electric mixer. In Wall-E, the humans used computerized chairs to get around, until they were no longer able to walk on their own. They sipped away at liquid foods, while trundling around in their hover chairs, and I can only imagine that they would have also had trouble chewing.
Wall-E also warns of the danger of not taking care of the planet. In the film, the Earth had become so covered with garbage that nothing could grow. Wall-E was the last of the solar-powered, garbage-compacting robots. There was so much garbage that he was constructing skyscrapers from it. The human race had become so obsessed with buying new stuff and discarding the old, that they destroyed their own home and themselves. I believe the writers of Wall-E were suggesting that we could do the same, if we continue our consumeristic, environmentally-apathetic attitudes.
At the same time, there is also a message of hope. The captain, once he wakes up from his stupor of letting the computer think for him, is able to take charge again. A few of the passengers do the same, in an attempt to help Wall-E, and to rescue the babies from being dumped out and crushed. After 700 years, Wall-E is still able to find growing, living things on the planet. I believe this is a message not to give up, that it is never too late to make a difference.
We all need to be taken care of: people, plants, computers, and the Earth alike. Computers need regular maintenance. People have both physical and emotional needs that need to be met. “Things” aren't enough to combat loneliness. For that, we need companionship from living, breathing organisms, even if all we have is a cockroach and a plant. We need to remember that the planet also needs us to take care of it. It only takes a moment to do something that makes a difference, because all those little moments add up into a lifetime.
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