WALL-E: Against the Corporations

 Summary:

Wall-E Movie Poster

    The 2008 film WALL-E directed by Andrew Stanton follows the adventure of a robot named WALL-E. WALL-E embarks on a journey into space after discovering a plant while cleaning the trash off of the Earth. WALL-E and his new companion EVE must try to get the plant to the captain of the ship called the Axiom so that the ship can return to Earth. Standing in their way is the Autopilot of the Axiom and the order given by the CEO of the corporation Buy N Large to keep humanity from returning to Earth.

The Issue:

    The big overarching issue in WALL-E is the environmental impact of consumerism. The movie delves into this topic in the very beginning of the movie as the Earth is shown, looking bleak and grey instead of the vibrant blue and green. As the beginning of the movie progresses the audience sees WALL-E going about his job and cleaning up the trash. This gives a perfect look at the world WALL-E is living in, trash everywhere, the world abandoned, conditions so bad dust storms are a natural occurrence no matter the location on the Earth. Credit to Buy N Large for trying to clean it up, but after failing to clean the Earth they decided to give up instead of trying again. That decision is especially impactful considering they are the ones who caused the world to be plunged into an uninhabitable state.

Earth from Outer Space in WALL-E

     The people's compliance and ignorance over the years allows Buy N Large to get away with this decision since there is no one trying to hold them accountable for their actions. Everyone is glued to their screens in their hover chairs that they do not even realize the world they are living in. Buy N Large has managed to hook people into their products and have not had to fear about the consequences.

Environment:

Towers made of trash on Earth

    When looking at the environment and discussing what Buy N Large did to it, one question emerges, how could it get this bad? The answer is simple, consumers kept buying Buy N Large products without even thinking about the outcome, causing mass waste. Buy N Large also sent many satellites into space, cluttering the Earth's atmosphere along with other pieces of trash. The reason Buy N Large did not even try again to clean the Earth is because they worried that the atmosphere had become too toxic to survive in. They did not even try to clean it up until it was too late, showing that they had little care for the planet before the mess. This shows that they were just concerned with making money.

Compliance:

    While the impact on the environment is most definitely Buy N Large's fault, there is another factor that plays into it, and that is the compliance of the consumers. The people who bought Buy N Large's products did not think about the impact they would have. They did not hold the corporation accountable and did not confront the CEO or anyone about the company. They stayed silent and compliant as their home got destroyed by the very thing they gave their money to. As the years went on, the people on the Axiom were fed propaganda about how good Buy N Large is and that the corporation is their friend. The people spend their days on hover chairs tied to screens, living in their own secluded world, never noticing what goes on around them. They stick to the routine schedule that is given to them and do not question it. Their screens are full of advertisements, and they follow whatever the ads tell them to do. This compliance gives Buy N Large power over them, and an easy way to avoid dealing with the problems that they caused.
 

WALL-E watching people on their hover chairs

What about Gender?

WALL-E and EVE in space

When it comes to gender in WALL-E, there are some interesting things to discuss. For starters, the only two named female characters are EVE and Mary. Mary is one of the people on board the Axiom and she does not play too critical of a role in the film, that honor goes to EVE. EVE is a robot built to scan the Earth for any signs that life can be sustained on the planet. Then there is the main protagonist, WALL-E. WALL-E tries to follow the role of typical man trying to help the woman, as he is trying to help EVE. However, he just constantly prevents her from completing her mission, and it is EVE who assumes the role of the male as she helps WALL-E out of each mess he gets in to. Another thing to note is that WALL-E experiences emotions more extremely, something typically associated with women. As for EVE, she's straight to business and work, showing emotion occasionally. The only part of the movie that follow a typical gender relationship is how EVE ends up falling for WALL-E at the end of the movie after he sacrificed himself so that she could complete her directive. Otherwise, WALL-E does not stick to the average gender stereotypes people have come to know. The only critique someone could give is that there is only EVE and Mary as named female characters, which definitely does not do justice for women, but the female characters are not hypersexualized or only there for their looks as is the case with some other female characters in other movies. All in all, WALL-E does a good job keeping heavy gender stereotypes out of their movie.