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If you have ever thought about how our world revolved around the use of technology before, look now after Covid-19 impacted us all. From online classes to virtual ceremonies, we can see how much technology is being used in our daily lives. I only know that technology will continue to evolve and form what they think is a “bright future” for us all. I am impressed by the way technology is being used today, such as by Elon Musk and his Tesla products, but the idea of life being 100% managed by technology and living outside of earth sounds even more interesting. We see this technological life in Pixar’s film Wall-E. In Wall-E, we are shown how our home, earth, can come to an end if we allow technology, consumerism, and environmental issues to overpower our human values. Wall-E can show us what many of us consider a utopia, but uncover the reality of how technology is in fact diminishing human capabilities.
In the beginning of the film, we are quickly introduced to the lifestyle Wall-E lives in. Due to Buy N Large, the company that allowed people to purchase anything without knowing how to properly dispose of their waste, there was no more space for the population to continue living on earth. Due to no disposing of waste, this created toxins, which led to pollution in the air. This required the evacuation of people, moving them to a location in space. This is the first example we see of consumerism in the film. The way in which the people lost control of what they were buying and the company, only thinking about gaining money from the people’s purchases, shows how inconsiderate we can be when buying things we don’t really need. This is in fact a problem I have when, ironically, online shopping. Like I said before, the advances of technology have only allowed for consumerism to increase. “Storage units,” (Fiona Macdonald), are our way of escaping planet earth due to no availability of disposing of our waste. Wall-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth Class), which helps clean up the waste left on earth, shows the ways in which technology has served as help to create robots, such as Wall-E and Eve.
I know that sometimes you feel useless and wish that someone else could do your job for you. Gladly, Wall-E introduces the idea of robots that are, presumably, “making our lives easier.” These robots show a technological advance in society. The roles these robots have, like finding proof of life on earth, disinfecting other robots when coming back from earth, and being able to control the shuttle, gives us insight on what a world controlled by technology may look like today. Yet, this does have its disadvantages. Now, where are all my gym lovers at? This one’s for you. I know you would want someone doing your homework for you, ordering your food or having automated chairs take you to any destination of your choice. But how would you maintain being fit if everything is already being done for you? Wall-E is a great example of how obesity is also one of our major problems today. According to Wired, obesity has steadily increased in the past 3 decades. With a continuation of this increase, we are expected to see 9 out of 10 Americans obese by 2030. This is proof that robots may not be such a good idea after all…well maybe not for every aspect of life.
Most of the time we are glued to our phone in our hand, not paying attention to the things around us or the people talking to us. We miss out on many parts of our life just because we were on our phone. When Wall-E rolls by the people on the automated chairs, they don’t even realize he is there because their eyes are glued to the screen. As said in Encartele, the technology habits created keep the people disconnected from the world around them. Even while sitting directly next to one another, they continue to communicate through screens. Because these people are living the way they are, they live with no hope of returning to earth after more than 700 years. Technology’s power can get in the way of expressing and strengthening our human capabilities in order to become a better version of ourselves. The robots in space don’t want the people to return due to them knowing they won’t be needed anymore, but Wall-E and Eve agree with their return to earth because, as said by the pilot, they understand that earth needs someone to take care of it as well.
Wall-E was able to show us how even though we may see technology as the future, our future won’t be bright because our brain isn’t being fed with new information. As well as the effects if we continue to allow consumerism to take over us. When the power is shut down on the spaceship, the people are forced to come back to reality. This happened to be their “lightbulb moment,” in which they realized technology shouldn’t be the only thing important to them. Today, we need to have quality time with one another. Step away from our devices for a few hours and have those talks with one another.
Wall-E, although considered to be a children’s/family movie, showed us that a world controlled by technology has many disadvantages to human evolution. Wall-E helped us compare our world to the one they were living in the film and helped us understand our mistakes sooner. That handing your child an iPad just for them to stay quiet, is not the proper way to keep them distracted. Wall-E teaches us how to take note of our society’s problems now before they become too late.
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