I saw the movie WALL-E recently. It was totally adorable and I expected that. What I didn’t expect was how the very premise of the film was most likely constructed to teach us all a lesson. If you haven’t seen the film, you should probably stop reading right about here.

So the film centers on a little robot named WALL-E whose sole duty is to compact all of the trash on Earth. At this point in time (many years in the future), the planet has become unlivable due to the excessive waste of the human race, in the form of trash and CFC emissions. Therefore, the human race migrated to a space station of sorts and planned on being there for only 5 years. Instead, they planned on living there indefinitely. The space station operates under the name BnL (Big ‘n Large) and there is nothing explicitly American about the space station, this conglomerate seems to run the show up there with very little human input into anything. Due to the advancement in technology, humans just buzz around on little hovercraft la-z-boys, focused solely on the computer in front of room. There is absolutely no physical interaction of any kind. For this reason, humans are fat people with minimal bone structure and even less muscular definition (as seen below).

OK, I know, they’re fatties. The message seems to be that this will be our fate if we do not change. Right now, we’re living stagnantly. Stagnant life is analogous to laziness. Laziness gives rise to weight gain, lethargy, so on and so forth. The reason we ignore the climate crisis is because it is an inconvenience to pay attention to. And Pixar says, “Here is the cost of our apathy.” Are we so unappreciative of all the beauty of the Earth (the seas, the mountains, the life that inhabits it) that we would allow our petty indulgences to ruin it all?

As the movie progresses, WALL-E’s mission (with the help of Eve, the robot above) is to take the 1st plant he’s ever found and bring it to the space station. Once the captain (also pictured above) sees the plant, he realizes it is time to go back to the Earth– the plant being evidence that life is sustainable again.

The planet is something we are responsible for. If we don’t take care of it, we will suffer serious consequences. Perhaps we won’t turn into amorphous beings, but it’s really ungrateful of us to not take note of the effects of our actions. As a race, especially in the USA, we are always focuses on consumption. What to do, where to go, work work work, what to eat, etc etc. We really need to slow down for one minute and allow change. We need to change. We need to break out of this mundane and eco-unfriendly routine.
I know I sound preachy, but really people!

The fact that the most powerful body of governance was a multinational corporation like BnL speaks to how multinational corporations bear an overly heavy influence on American politics– I won’t name any names. *cough* OIL COMPANIES! *cough, hacking cough*.

OK, so I just called someone out. Who cares really? The point is you know I’m onto something here.

This movie could not have been clearer to me. If you haven’t seen it, get up, move, get out and go see it. It will really affect you.

On another note, it’s adorable.
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