Wall•E: Technology and the Downfall of Humanity

Ruffa Aquino

English 1A

November 14, 2011

Paper #4

Wall•E: Technology and the Downfall of Humanity

Human beings may be considered the smartest of all living creatures, but in the animated movie Wall•E, they really have made a mess of things. Set in the 29^thCentury, the movie depicts the planet Earth as a massive garbage dump, decimated by centuries of mass consumerism and its effects on the health and well-being of human civilization. The message: In their rush to embrace new technologies designed to make life easier, people are blindly destroying the world around them. Conveniences such as computers, cell phones and even hair sprays are bringing about social and environmental changes that are causing the extinction of other living organisms and may ultimately destroy the human race as well. Despite its lovable animated characters and touching storyline, Wall-Eprovides a sobering portrait of what can happen to the planet if people do not work to strike a better balance between technology and quality of life.

The movie’s first few scenes provide a bleak portrait of the environmental catastrophe that awaits humanity if it continues on its present course. The planet Earth has become an environmental disaster area, a massive and sprawling garbage dump filled with hollowed-out skyscrapers, mountains of non-biodegradable trash, a debris-filled atmosphere, and dusty, polluted air. There isn’t a living creature in sight other than Wall-E and his pet cockroach, surrounded by the remnants of what by all appearances was once a thriving metropolis with all the conveniences of daily life – trains, superhighways, department stores, televisions, iPods and much more. All the hallmarks of modern urban living – banks, department stores, gas stations, trains, expressways, even a burger joint – are visible and recognizable, but barren and lifeless. A few surviving billboards still flicker with advertisements for the corporate giant Buy-n-Large (BnL), but there is no one around to see the ads. The overall mood is one of extreme solitude and desolation. There are no people, no trees, no rivers, no sunlight – indeed, there are no signs of life except for a cockroach and a trash-compacting robot named Wall•E who is engaged in the seemingly hopeless task of cleaning up the mess.

This dark and lifeless world is intended to show what may happen to the environment if human beings continue sacrificing nature in their drive for more and newer technologies. Humans had all the advantages of modern technology and all the conveniences of modern urban living, but they still managed to destroy their habitat by polluting the environment and plundering their natural resources in the pursuit of immediate gratification rather than long-term survival. This is surely a political statement, but it is much more than that: It is a deeply moral one as well. By destroying their habitat, human beings are committing self-annihilation, violating the sanctity of life, and robbing future generations of their time on Earth.

The moral implications of environmental harm dramatized in Wall•Ehave been receiving increasing attention in scholarly journals and the mass media. In a journal article about climate change, Sara C. Aminzadeh writes that 

[a]lthough climate change is already understood as an environmental problem, and increasingly as an economic one, the social and human rights implications of climate change are given little discussion. Yet climate change threatens food, security, public health, property, and the livelihoods and lives of members of affected communities. Like other environmental issues, climate change threatens the human rights of those living in affected communities.

 

Aminzadeh, Sara C. “A Moral Imperative: The Human Rights Implications of Climate Change.” 30 Hastings International & Comparative Law Review Winter 2007: 231-265. Print.

In their perennial quest for newer and “better” technologies, human beings in Wall•Ehavemade as much of a mess of themselves as they have of their planet. Hundreds of years of inactivity and slothfulness have taken a devastating toll on the human mind and body. Aboard the Axiom, an outer-space version of Noah’s Ark packed with what is left of the human race, human beings are portrayed as balloon-like balls of blubber who spend their days sprawled out in flying seats equipped with video monitors that allow them to engage in mindless chatter with one another without ever having to get out of their seats – which is a good thing because their bones are so atrophied beneath the fat that they can no longer stand on their own two feet (both literally and figuratively). One scene provides a brief but telling glimpse at a series of X-Rays that shows the striking deterioration of bone mass inside the human body over the centuries. 

Unable to do for themselves, humans aboard the Axiom have become completely dependent on robots todo everything for them: to massage them, do their nails, cut their hair, teach their children, even hoist them back onto their flying seats if they happen to tumble out. About the most exercise people ever get is slurping their milk-shake-like meals through straws. Even when they’re lounging by the pool, it never even crosses their minds to take a swim. The pool is crowded, but not one person is in the water. On the day Wall•E arrives, about the most exciting thing that happens to the Axiom’s inhabitants is an announcement over the loudspeaker that they can now change the color of their uniforms from red to blue with the push of a button on their flying seat’s console. “Blue is the new red,” the female voice proudly proclaims as several seat-dwellers switch excitedly to the new color.

Wall•E’s message is both ominous and clear: The same forces that threaten to destroy the Earth’s environment, including human overreliance on technology, also threaten to sap human beings of their individualism, drive, curiosity, creativity, passion and even their physical health. The physical risks have been recognized by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which stated in 2008 that “well-documented scientific evidence has demonstrated that a sedentary lifestyle is one of the leading causes for most of today’s health problems and chronic diseases, such as obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.” Zhu, Weimo. “Promoting Physical Activity Using Technology.” Fitness.gov. President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Sept. 2008. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. The effects of technology on the human mind and spirit are the focus of Neil Postman’s essay “The Judgment of Thamus,” in which he warns that major technological advances can transform the way human beings view themselves and the world around them and therefore should be received with caution and reflection: “Every technology is both a burden and a blessing; not either-or, but this-and-that.” Postman, Neil. “The Judgment of Thamus.” Reading Popular Culture.  Ed. Michael Petracca, et al. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2011. 13-26. Print.

In Wall•E, there is no weighing of the risks and benefits of technological innovation. The scales are tipped decisively against past innovations because they reduced human being to the inert, sterile, mindless, pointless, valueless, soulless and physically helpless existence on display aboard the Axiom. Even the children in Wall•E, who represent the hope for the future, are confined to flying seats from an early age, gaining weight and learning their ABC’s from robots who speak in monotones. Wall•Ecautions that whatever gains society may be achieving today through technological innovation, it stands to lose much, much more if these forces are left unchecked. Just as the movie’s opening scenes depicted the destruction of the planet, the scenes aboard the Axiom portray the destruction of the human body and mind.

Wall•Eseems to place much of the blame for humanity’s decline on the rise of sprawling corporations that are motivated by profit rather than social concerns. The movie’s villain is a monopolistic mega-corporation named Buy-n-Large that presided over the Earth’s destruction hundreds of years earlier and now is determined to keep human beings from ever repopulating the planet. In scenes evocative of Stanley Kubrick’s classic 2001: A Space Odyssey, every aspect of life aboard the Axiom is controlled by Buy-n-Large’s all-seeing, all-knowing electronic “brain,” which engages in a power struggle with the spaceship’s human captain to prevent him from completing his mission of returning the Axiom’s inhabitants to a planet Earth that can once again sustain human life.

The role of large, profit-making corporations in damaging the environment and otherwise diminishing the quality of life is gaining increasing visibility all over the world. A recent study commissioned by the United Nations has concluded that the 3,000 biggest publicly-held companies in the world caused a staggering $2.2 trillion in environmental damage in 2008. The damage caused by these companies “would wipe out more than one-third of their profits if they were held financially accountable,” according to a newspaper report on the study. Jowit, Juliette. “World’s Top Firms Cause $2.2tn of Environmental Damage, Report Estimates.” Guardian.co.uk.The Guardian 18 Feb. 2010. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. Although these companies are nowhere nearly as powerful or as harmful as the fictitious Buy-n-Large, Wall•Ecounsels its audience to view them with deep suspicion.

Wall•Edemonstrates that an animated feature film written for children does not have to sacrifice substance to be entertaining. Wall•Eis a fun and engaging movie that (perhaps ironically) uses the latest technology to bring its animated characters to life and tell a story that is visually mesmerizing and unforgettable. The message behind that story – that blind reliance on technological innovation may be leading society down the path of self-destruction – is as urgent and powerful as that of any adult-oriented movie, even when told through the eyes of a little animated robot named Wall•E.

WORKS CITED

 

 

Aminzadeh, Sara C. “A Moral Imperative: The Human Rights Implications of Climate Change.” 30 Hastings International & Comparative Law Review Winter 2007: 231-265. Print.

 

Zhu, Weimo. “Promoting Physical Activity Using Technology.”Fitness.gov. President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Sept. 2008. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. 

 

Postman, Neil. “The Judgment of Thamus.” Reading Popular Culture. Ed. Michael Petracca, et al. New York: Pearson Education, Inc., 2011. 13-26. Print.

 

Jowit, Juliette. “World’s Top Firms Cause $2.2tn of Environmental Damage, Report Estimates.” Guardian.co.uk.The Guardian 18 Feb. 2010. Web. 12 Nov. 2011.