In responding to a friend's e-mail yesterday, I ended up making several more specific comments about the G-rated Pixar film WALL-E than what I had made in an earlier blog post about the movie. Claire read the note and suggested I print them here too. Okay, babe.But please be forewarned if you haven't already seen the film. There are "spoilers" below!
...We especially liked WALL-E because it was such a surprise. Claire and I rarely go to the movies (we prefer old stuff: Astaire and Rogers, Frank Capra, Bogart, Ronald Colman, Citizen Kane, Marx Brothers, Britain's Ealing Studios, et al) but The Point's links to World and CT about the film were enough for us to check it out.
We found the messages in WALL-E vivid and compelling; especially the critical need for emotion and companionship, the enduring power of hope, and the dangers of monopoly (I think that was much clearer than mere anti-capitalism) as well as the dangers of overindulgence and living life as a consumer/spectator rather than an active adventurer.
Regarding that latter area, what you found depressing was one of the things we found most delightful; that is, the realization of the captain (and at least a few of the other "roly-poly people") that they needed to drastically change. Could they pull it off? You're right; maybe they couldn't. But the effort, requiring as it did a foundation of humility (repentance may be too strong), courage, resolve and hard work? Well, the fact that they were willing to start in was terrific. Thus the film ends with a huge challenge facing the principals, but it ends in hope.
One other connected point -- a major part of that hope is provided by the backwards scan provided by the "camera" at the end of the film, revealing that there's a lot more plants that have made it beside the one they've so honorably saved. It provides a most interesting departure from standard "green" doctrines. Man, even if he does his dead level best to kill a planet, just can't pull it off. Earth is damaged but Earth wins after all. It's an attitude that certainly doesn't lend itself to the global warming mania.
We also liked the grown up subtleties of WALL-E (the old film clips of Hello Dolly, the odd bits WALL-E collected, the jabs at giants like WalMart, the use of the theme from 2001 as background for the captain taking on the computer, and so on) and we loved the touching, powerful romance involved in just holding hands. We've traveled a long road down since the Beatles sang of the same sensation, haven't we?
Plus Claire absolutely loved the sound the little robot made. She's been mimicking it for two days now (Waaallleeee, Eeeevaaaa)...
