Some other themes explored in Wall-E are loneliness, and the adverse effect of technology.
3. Some examples of references to 20th century media, design and society include the repeated playback of a scene from the movie “Hello, Dolly!”, along with its soundtrack. Other examples include the rubik’s cube, the lightbulb, the flip-open lighter, and a vast assortment of other 20th century goodies in Wall-E’s “home”. These objects play a primary role in linking the future to the past; to show that despite the abandoning of Earth for hundreds of years, these objects have lasted. It certainly contrasts the old-fashioned Earth to the new, hi-tech life of the Axiom, and uses this symbolism to show the vast differences between Earth and the Axiom. However, despite the contrast, a concrete point is made clear, that the hi-tech life gets old after living in it for the greater part of most of your life. The references to the 20th century artifacts make it clear that no matter how advanced technology gets, it can never overtake good old fashioned life on Earth.
4. One of Pixar’s most revolutionary advancements in this movie was the use of character animation - more specifically, the ability to give robots human characteristics, while still making them believably robotic. This enormous feat was done outstandingly well, and Pixar was likely one of the few that could make it so successful. Some key features in some characters gave them distinguishable characteristics. For example, Eve didn’t even have a mouth, yet she talked. She had no facial features, except for eyes, and all the emotion was created predominantly with the use of the eyes, and slightly through the robotic voice. For example, when Eve was serious, her eyes were sort of frowning.
When Eve was laughing, her eyes sort of curved from the bottom, upwards.
The humans in Wall-E had simplified curves, and were extremely fat. The simplified, round, sort of squishy shape that the humans took on in the movie brought out their naivety, and hence, lack of control within their own society. Also, notice in the below picture that Eve is sort of surprised, and most of this emotion is brought out through her eyes.
5. One of the motifs in the play is the repeated playback of the same scene from “Hello, Dolly!”. At the beginning of the movie, this scene shows the extreme level of loneliness that Wall-E feels, where he longs for some company. We again see it in the company Eve, where Wall-E wishes to hold her hand, yet cannot gather up the courage to do so. When this soundtrack is played in the Axiom, it rings a bell of familiarity with the malfunctioning robots, who help Wall-E and Eve return the Axiom to Earth. This scene from “Hello, Dolly!” is essentially a symbol of hope and opportunity – for Wall-E to hold Eve’s hand, and for the humans to return to hope.
6. The apparent reversal of roles between the robots and the humans serves the purpose of showing the adverse effect of technology, that people become lazy, and dependent. Furthermore, they lose control of their own society, and all societal affairs. The same monotonous life is led on by the humans, day after day, almost like a program looping through each day, while the robots have a numerous variety of tasks to perform for the humans. The robots also have emotion, which contrasts the bored, plain face of the humans, as they progress through life.
7. Overall, Wall-E is a great film. The efficient use of many media techniques, as well as the superior animation by Pixar all contribute to the success of Wall-E. One thing I would change, although many would argue that it adds that extra touch to the movie, is have more dialogue. Although they are robots, and they are playing their role, viewers tend to get annoyed when there are only a handful of words spoken by the two main characters in the play. Essentially, all they say is “Wall-E”, and “Eva”, or “Eve”. One thing that can be unanimously agreed upon though, is that only Pixar could have gotten away with the lack of dialogue in the play.
by HM
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