Progress

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

WALL-E, preachy or just with a moral?

I recently saw WALL-E on DVD, after having passed on seeing it in the theater. I loved it. I have heard some right-leaning political types saying that it is over-the-top with preachy lefty enviro-whacky lessons, but I didn't see it. The environmental message is there, but it doesn't hit you over the head. There is no "Oh those HORRIBLE trashy people who destroyed the world!!!" or "Watch out or it will happen to YOU!!!" and certainly no "Mother Gaia is CRYING!!!"

I have even seen some left-leaning critics decrying the film for falling short of the environmental lesson it could have seen through with more diligence. Can't ask for a better recommendation that that.

The lessons about sloth and personal fitness are there and are more prominent than the ones about the environment. But, never are the people portrayed as being bad because they are fat. The message is overwhelmingly that people long ago stopped trying and became fatter and fatter. They let robots do all the work for them and paid the price slowly, without even realizing.
The people in the movie's present are very fat. They have never walked a single step. The captain standing and walking to fight Auto is accompanied by heroic fanfare as a monumental achievement. These fat people are heroes who rally to save themselves and each other when the time comes. If anything it is a POSITIVE portrayal of fat people, they can be smart, brave, and fierce. When presented with the chance to change their lives they took it. They fought for the opportunity to live on a re-emerging Earth as farmers. No one was shown wanting to stay on the spaceship and keep going on as they had been.

I loved the movie. My kids loved it. I can (and have already, even after just a few days) use the lessons of the movie to get them away from their video games and computers and off to play with their real arms and legs.

2 comments:

Andrea said...

My kids LOVED WALL-E.
As a matter of fact, there is one watching it now.
I haven't watched it yet! I think I may have to.;)
Go to San Antonio! You will love it!

andrea

Unknown said...

To be honest, only the first half was good. The second was bloated with overly preachy leftist nonsense.