Wall-E: A fun film with an uncluttered message

If you haven’t already seen it, let me recommend that you head to the theater this weekend and watch the latest Pixar film Wall-E. In addition to being filled with adorable robots and impressive animation, the film carries a poignant message about the ills of over consumption.

A part of me left the theater wondering if the animator who was responsible for creating all of the images of trash became a minimalist during the process. I can’t imagine going into work every day for more than a year drawing and rendering piles and piles of trash.

My husband joked as we were leaving the theater that there will be great irony when Costco and Wall-Mart sell the film on DVD later this year.

Thank you, reader Lindsay, for the suggestion that I go and see it!

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Posted by Erin on Jul 12, 2008 | Comments | Tweet This

32 comments posted

  1. Posted by Jordan - 07/12/2008

    It’s definitely the best movie I’ve seen in a while and I loved the green, uncluttered message!

  2. Posted by Michael - 07/12/2008

    The irony could be worse. It could be on one of those self-destructing DVD formats (with the dye layer that changes after exposure to air for a short time) intended for rentals you don’t have to return.

  3. Posted by Tim Visher - 07/12/2008

    Please tell me I misunderstood the underhanded swipe at my beloved Costco. ;)

    Seriously though, there’s nothing wrong with buying in bulk and it does save you trips to the grocery store if you do it right.

    Haven’t seen the movie yet, but this is just one more stellar recommendation for it. I can’t wait.

  4. Posted by Alexia - 07/12/2008

    I agree!
    We finally went to see this movie just last night and I thought it’s timing couldn’t have been better.

  5. Posted by Frank - 07/12/2008

    Actually the irony began when the Wall-e branded stickers and coasters and pajamas and lunchboxes and waterguns and keychains and knickknacks of all shapes and sizes came out BEFORE the movie.

  6. Posted by Jen - 07/12/2008

    there is a great interview with the director on fresh air-http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=13&prgDate=7-10-2008

  7. Posted by Krista - 07/12/2008

    I work for a waste campaign here in London with the objective of getting people to take ownership for their local environment.

    One waste campaign partner has adopted Wall-E in their efforts to appeal to younger audiences. I think the film is a great way to make children more aware of the role they play in minimising waste.

  8. Posted by Peter - 07/12/2008

    If you enjoyed Wall-E, I think you’ll love this Wall-E desktop on Flickr.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/5.....6/sizes/o/

  9. Posted by Katie - 07/12/2008

    …Until you see how much merchandise they are selling that ties in with the movie. too bad huh? it would have been cool if they didn’t. so they have a message on anti-consumerism, but are taking part of it themselves.

    Also, whats with the re-inforcement of a male & female relationship? they are robots, they shouldn’t have a sex.

  10. Posted by Andy - 07/12/2008

    Actually, that’s not really ironic. Do you expect a film about trash to be less likely to be sold in Wal-Mart? I don’t see why.

  11. Posted by sjwilde - 07/12/2008

    From what I’ve read, the movie takes makes a nasty case for obesity as a major cause of destroying the planet. What do you think? If true, it sounds like it’s playing to prejudice rather than showing things like hummers and buying useless junk as the villains.

  12. Posted by Erin Doland - 07/12/2008

    The obesity in the film doesn’t take place until the humans have left Earth. Additionally,it is explained that gravity in space functions differently and desroys bone density, which makes exercise more difficult. If you see the film, you’ll hear the explanation. Also, to Katie’s comment above, no robots are having “relations.”

  13. Posted by Steve-O - 07/12/2008

    and the robots aren’t boys and girls. that is never said. Some robots have female voices and some have male but…. wait. Why am I writing this on unclutter?

    The message is a good one… and how could you not love a robot who’s job it is is to unclutter the planet.

  14. Posted by Erin Doland - 07/12/2008

    @Andy — If you see the film, you’ll understand the irony behind my Walmart and Costco comment. One of the major “characters” in the film is named BNL (Buy-N-Large). It’s a Costco-ish chain of stores that runs all of society. My favorite BNL product is the cupcake in a cup.

  15. Posted by jocelyn - 07/12/2008

    As far as the merchandise goes, I am at least impressed that there are no Wall-E Happy Meal toys. For another example of Wall-E related Disney-machine-obliviousness, check out the article on the new “Dream House,” unveiled the same week Wall-E opened. It comes complete with the ability to manufacture plastic junk in your own home with a 3-D printer. Sigh.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07.....1&_r=1

    For more fun, Buy-N-Large has its own website: http://www.buynlarge.com/

  16. Posted by Jenny - 07/12/2008

    dude, quit trashing on Wall-e.

    It’s a love/friendship story/journey of a robot. Who cares about the sex of the robots? Pixar doesn’t need the protests from gay rights activists in their face for depicting just male/female relationships and kids don’t need to know the controversy.

    Also, the characters came first, not the uncluttering message. Maybe all of you are too focused on that aspect of the movie that you missed the rest of it?

    Read some more on wiki if you’ve already seen the movie…

    **Andrew Stanton (screenwriter) commented on the reaction to the film by denying any specific agenda beyond telling the story about the last robot on Earth. He said that people were making connections that he “never saw coming”, and that the circumstances of humanity’s abandoning the Earth arose merely as a way of telling the story, “reverse-engineered” from the initial concept of using refuse as both a visual shorthand that would be easy for children to understand, and as a way of depicting the title character as holding a low-status, menial job.**

    Lastly, if you are curious you should go to their official website http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/wall-e/ and watch some of their movies. You can see some of the animators’ workspaces while they’re talking.

    (walks away thinking ppl have watched waaay too many Michael Moore movies)

  17. Posted by alphan - 07/13/2008

    I was thinking of the excessive packaging on the movies when the Costco/ Walmart/ Suffmart. And the other products. Movie was great.

    Here is a list of the 350 product tie ins that were connected with the movie “Cars” Haven’t seen the Lighting McQueen stapler before.

    http://kokogiak.com/cars/index.html

  18. Posted by jocelyn - 07/13/2008

    You could say that buying Wall-E merchandise is like buying Fight Club merchandise.

    On the other hand, though, Wall-E sets aside items when he goes about his work everyday and his dwelling isn’t quite a study in minimalism. He sees certain objects as treasures.

    On the buynlarge website, the Money Monkey (so named for the revenue the toy generates) is a bit like Pixar making fun of the whole merchandise machine.

  19. Posted by Morfydd - 07/14/2008

    Actually, I love the idea of being able to produce plastic “junk” with a 3-D printer.

    Think about it. It takes just-in-time inventory to a new level. You don’t have to have a widget around just in case you need it – when you need it you can download a blueprint and print it out then.

    Sure, some people will use it to create junk and make a mess of their lives. I think it could, in the best scenario, help free us from “stuff” and the need for more “stuff”.

  20. Posted by Karen - 07/14/2008

    I thought the movie was long and boring and anti-human, the kind that liberal movie reviewers gobble right up. Not to mention, fairly bizarre. I hate going to a movie, especially a kids’ movie, and having messages crammed down my throat. Give me a break!

  21. Posted by Erin Doland - 07/14/2008

    @Karen — How is over consumption a political issue? You can be anywhere on the political spectrum and still think that clutter, trash and over consumption are less than desirable qualities. This website, for instance, was started by Jerry Brito who is a staunch Libertarian.

  22. Posted by STL Mom - 07/14/2008

    That BuyNLarge website is hilarious. I especially like the privacy policy.

  23. Posted by Empress Juju - 07/14/2008

    I saw the movie yesterday, and I had a good time!

    Wall-e certainly had some character flaws: what person or movie character doesn’t? He was a little obsessive, and frankly kind of stalker-ish, but I’d probably be, too, if I were the last robot on an abandoned planet.

    I thought the humans were portrayed as victims of the marketing machine that was designed to take from them without adding any value to their lives, and I left the movie with the idea that regaining clarity and taking some level of action toward personal responsibility, however small, can yield meaningful and lasting results.

    And that happiness isn’t something you can buy in a plastic cup, but rather it comes from connecting with like-minded souls, however imperfect their personalities might be.

  24. Posted by Lorie Marrero - 07/14/2008

    Hi Erin! I had written about this movie too, because I think Wall-E was a great organizer! He knows how to respect his collection of stuff. So many people have collections and they don’t organize them or even display them.
    http://www.clutterdietblog.com.....a-gre.html

    Thanks,
    Lorie

  25. Posted by jocelyn - 07/14/2008

    A comment on cuteoverload that sums up the movie well:

    “Having seen the movie, I feel obliged to defend it against some of the misconceptions that have been going around about it. This is NOT a movie against mass production, or consumerism, or reliance on technology. If you’ve seen the trailers, you should’ve already seen the scenes where Wall-E find wonder, beauty and enjoyment out of all sorts of commercial products. And do you really think the folks who made Toys would be against, well, toys? Without giving too much away, what the movie is actually against is using commercial products and technology in unimaginative and lazy ways. It’s an ode to curiosity and progress, to making more of ourselves and the things we have. I don’t see any conflict between the movie’s message and the product tie-ins at all. If a Wall-E toy brings someone a fraction of the joy a simple jewelry case brought to the inquisitive robot, then all is well.

    And yes, the movie is so cute you’ll vomit washers. Here’s one of my favorite scenes from the movie:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=TCQxbx30TI0

    Penetration | Jul 09, 2008 at 02:03 PM”

  26. Posted by jocelyn - 07/14/2008

    FieldingBandolier on Slate.com
    “The film is saying something far more damning (and accurate) than an attack on consumerism and wasteful consumption. No, the movie masterfully portrayed a kind of distracted passivity [very American] that led people to become so disconnected from their environment (and thus to neglect it) that they weren’t aware of the pool, the track, or even really each other (or in times past, all the litter piling up). By allowing themselves to become distracted, they became slothful, neglectful, obese, etc. by default. The root sin isn’t sloth, or neglect; those are secondary. The root sin is to allowing one to become so completely distracted from one’s environment (even one’s body).”

  27. Posted by Alex Fayle - 07/15/2008

    Wow! What controversy such a “throw away” blog post has created! _grin_

  28. Posted by Ricky - 07/15/2008

    @Peter – that wallpaper is funny because Eve was actually designed by the person at Apple that designed the iPod!

    http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/0...../index.htm

  29. Posted by patrick - 07/17/2008

    Wall-E totally looks like the robot from “Short Circuit”… minus the cheesy 80’s style of course

  30. Posted by Kim - 07/18/2008

    I found this movie to be incredibly boring. The best part was the spaceship world and the obese humans in it and yet this was the least developed plot line. Completely over- hyped. Where do I get my two hours back?

  31. Posted by Michael G - 07/23/2008

    I found the first segment of this movie beautiful. There were definitely some pertinent anti-clutter themes throughout, especially the first part. I was struck by the movie’s similarity to Mike Judge’s Idiocracy. Did anyone else think that the similarities were too many and too pronounced to be accidental? I did a post about this: http://enjoyparenting.tumblr.c.....-idiocracy

  32. Posted by Michelle - 07/14/2009

    I love this movie, it is one of my favourites.

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