Dystopia:

Wall-e

Loren Masanque, Princess Kim,

Aaron Carper, Alex Araujo

Wall-e is a very interesting movie. The movie is based on

this adventurous, romantic, comedy genre. We get a story

in which we see that two robots live this very interesting

life. The two robots Wall-e and Eva are two genuine robots

with different tasks. We have Wall-e, the old fashioned, old

school robot. Who is designed to simply compact trash and

make piles of it. Later falls in love with this female like

robot, Eva. Then we have Eva, the female figure robot, who

is designed in finding life down in earth so that the people

in space could return. But this movie doesn’t only share a

story of love and adventure, but it shares a meaning in how

we should change our ways of living. It shares how the

smallest things could change our ways of living and doing.

Introduction to film

During the viewing of the film, we sought to be able to define Dystopia (and by extension, Utopia) in order to both understand the topic

and to better understand the film. What made the world of Wall-e a bad place to live, and why did it need to be changed? And after

considering the major themes of the film and the differences between both the beginning of the film and the resolution at the end, we were

able to define Dystopia, and better understand the motivations of the characters.

●Dystopia is the lack of progression or change, the stagnancy of culture and creativity, but also life in general.

●Utopia is founded upon progression, the flourishing of cultural advancement, and life is allowed to adapt and change as it wishes.

This is an important distinction, as while the Earth is obviously Dystopic in its environment, the Axiom is not; people can survive there,

possibly indefinitely, as they have for 700 years. nobody is immediately suffering, and there is no immediate risk to anyone’s life.

However, as we will show, the Axiom is Dystopic as well, albeit in a different way, one that is every bit as important and dire as the

ecological Dystopia on Earth.

Definition of dystopia

During the first act of the film, we are shown:

●A space view of earth, which is brown and without life

●A dense field of space debris around the planet

●Thick clouds of smog, and mountains of trash

●abandoned BnL facilities, currency, newspapers, and advertisements make up everything that is not mounds of refuse

During this, we do NOT see

●Any movement or indication of life besides the main character and a single cockroach

●any vegetation

●any working infrastructure

This shows a stagnation of life on earth, things are not able to grow and change, the old culture of BnL has stopped any progression. We

can see very clearly that things have not changed on earth for a very long time.

During the first act we also see an advertisement from BnL for the space liner Axiom, which details how life aboard the ship is an idyllic

paradise while the “mess” on earth is taken care of, elements of life including the facilities, hover chairs, food in cups, etc is laid out for us

Later, in the second act aboard the Axiom, we are shown that this has not changed, and are informed that 700 years have elapsed since

the spaceship’s launch. All of the elements of the advertisement are present, but they have developed without changing, becoming even

worse through stagnation:

●The hover chairs are now used by everyone

●all food is delivered by cup technology

●as a result, every member aboard is morbidly obese and inactive, not even moving under their own power

●they have forgotten about earth and many aspects of human culture, as evidenced by the captain using the computer to define basic

terms

Analysis from the film itself

We can now see some differences and similarities between

the two locations, particularly in what is wrong with them.

Earth is a wasteland of trash and toxicity, and the forces that

were cleaning it up or changing the environment have all

left, except for the main character. The environmental impact

is significant, but more damaging is that nothing significant is

being done about it. The garbage in question is just being

moved around, not actually removed or recycled into new

products. Furthermore, the earth is culturally stagnant, but

not sterile; Wall-e ponders very human questions about life

and love using the film version of Hello Dolly! as a reference,

and collects human relics.

Furthermore, it can be seen that this mindset of

irresponsibility for the ecology of earth, a mindset of

consuming but not renewing, has led to this disaster. the

BnL presence is pervasive, ads and derelict facilities dot the

landscape, and Wall-e is shown driving over piles of BnL

currency.

In short, Earth has been abandoned, and this inability to be

changed has led to the problems that it faces.

Dystopia of Earth

Compare the situation of Earth to the Axiom. The ship is shown to

be the product of whatever wrought the disaster on Earth; BnL has

advertisements strewn across the ship, encouraging more

consummation of their products, and advertisements on earth

reference the ship and its reason for leaving the planet. The

adherence to the policies of the past have continued and

worsened. Humanity is reduced to having things done for them,

not influencing anything, and having no culture aside from the

consumer culture of BnL. Once enjoyable distractions are now

routine and devoid of meaning, adding to the stagnation.

These two environments are tied together by the statements of the

CEO, ordering humanity to do the “easy” thing and stay the

course, rather than trying to change the situation.

But even more alarming is the cultural stagnation. This is the most

surprising, as you would assume that humans would not have any

problem continuing their culture that they had on earth. However,

we can see that BnL has interrupted this in a number of different

ways; children are learning a language, but their letters are being

taught with BnL terms. The passengers and ship crew don’t know

why they are there, as evidenced by the Captains statement on

the 700th anniversary. They don’t even know what pizza is.

In short, the Axiom has been abandoned as well, and its inability

to change has led to its own problems, as subtle as they are.

Dystopia of the Axiom

Pixar blends hyperrealistic environments with

cartoonish characters, creating a dissonance

of tone.

The humans and advanced robots are very

cartoonish and stylized in their proportions

and textures, but exist in very realistically

rendered environments. The Axiom is a

hybrid of these two methods; it is a very

realistic facade, smooth lines and curving

edges, that acts as a distraction from the

reality of Earth.

Wall-e is a blend of both, with an animated,

stylistic motion and manner attached to a

rusting carapace that frequently falls apart.

This creates an effect of juxtaposing idyllic

behavior and realistic scenarios, and casts

Wall-e into the role of an agent of change. his

presence as an avatar of the reality the

humans have forgotten helps to bring about

the events that return them to reality from a

false paradise.

Animation Method

There is a very distinctive color palette used in the film;

The harsh earth tones of Earth,

and the jewel tones of The Axiom

Both of these palettes serves to reinforce the respective tones of

the environments.

Earth is a harsh wasteland, littered with decaying, sunbaked trash,

and the palette creates a sense of desolation and decay, but also

of uniformity. The lights and found items of Wall-e’s collection,

Eve, and the plant all stand out against this dun background. Any

color is covered over by dust and faded to mute pastels, except for

these important items.

The Axiom, by contrast, is all about color, that is often distracting..

The water is as blue as the artificial sky, the whites are

unblemished and bright, lots of appetite inducing colors (red,

yellow, orange) are around areas of food. all of the colors are

clean and crisp as well, and are not faded or blemished, as on

Earth.

This contrast furthers the nature of both environments as shown in

the Animation Method slide, but is taken a step further with their

similarities; the muted colors of earth are dirty, faded shades used

on the Axiom, showing that there is a relationship between the

two, and that one is caused by the other.

Use of Color

Sound plays an important role within the world of Wall-e as well;

specifically there is a vastly different sound design for each character that

reinforces their personalities and objectives.

Wall-e does not speak until it meets Eve, and even then its voice is made

from modulated sounds rather than articulate speech. Wall-e uses noises

to indicate things to other beings. Furthermore, his “voice” and various

noises are distorted and garbled, as though his voice box was damaged.

This reinforces his character of being a survivor of the Earth wasteland,

of being something constantly recycled.

Eve, by comparison, has the capacity for fairly articulate speech,

although her voice is still not human. This also reinforces her character,

being a product of humanity, of being a representation of the hopes of

humanity itself.

The other robots use the same sort of “noise speech” that Wall-e uses,

this speech often reflecting their purpose; alarm noises, monotonous

beeping, etc. this serves to illustrate that they are merely extensions of

their intended purposes, with no true autonomy, unlike Eve and Wall-e.

There are robots that use human speech, but this is instead a function of

their purpose, rather than true communication; the teacher robots, and

safety robots, all spout prerecorded or prerendered lines of dialogue.

The only other exception to the robots is Auto. Auto speaks, much like

Eve, in a mimicry of human vocalization. but while Eve has cadence and

intonation, even human-like non-vocal cues such as laughter, Otto has a

monotone speech generator akin to a text to speech translator. This

shows an aural indicator of its rigidity, which indicates its contribution to

the Dystopia aboard the Axiom.

Sound Design

Examples of Wall-e’s

speech:

https://www.youtube.com/w

atch?v=QHH3iSeDBLo

Examples of Otto’s speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=xNsCDspCOk4

Examples of Eve and Wall-

e:

https://www.youtube.com/w

atch?v=Cnv-iFhdlqE

Examples of all robots:

https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=iHwIFGi3WPU

Featured prominently in the film are references to the 1968 film

version of the broadway play Hello Dolly!, a show primarily about

the need to escape from the life one has come to know and

embrace new experiences and opportunities. The theme of this is

important to Wall-e, who not only yearns to be amongst the stars

and leave behind the earth, but to find love. Wall-e actually uses

the film to learn human-like emotions of affection and love, as

evidenced by his reactions and desire to hold hands whenever he

views the film. It shares this film with Eve as one of its most prized

possessions, showing great concern when the tape is damaged.

However, the film takes on another role, becoming a symbol for

freedom from the shackles of BnL itself. The opening song, Put on

Your Sunday Clothes, is used again and again as initially a

leitmotif for Wall-e itself, when his presence aboard the Axiom

begins to disrupt normalcy. But then the song is used by the

damaged and malfunctioning robots, as they parrot the tune back,

turning the song into a sort of battle cry, each of them parroting it

after helping each-other to escape the forces of Auto.

The film then takes on another quality after Wall-e’s resurrection,

as Eve attempts to use it to help Wall-e remember. Ultimately it is

not the film that restores Wall-e’s memories and personality, but

what it represented to them: love and affection.

Hello Dolly!

The ending credits of Wall-e show what happens after the events of the film, and present a resolution to the Dystopia that

was initially present both on earth and on the Axiom. The animated images show the survivors tending to the planet, crops

being planted, and civilization returning, but not in the same way it had prior to the events of the film. The art styles of the

animation are significant, mirroring the progression of art in our world; paleolithic style cave paintings give way to egyptian

wall art, Mesopotamian vase and mosaic designs, renaissance era sketches, and finally impressionistic oil paintings. This

shows that the culture of earth has been allowed to grow and change, as the people who made such art are exploring

themselves culturally as well as exploring the world physically. The stagnation of Dystopia is gone, and new life may

flourish, as new life is literally growing out of the remains of the past.

Progression in Culture

The set of Wall-e first takes place in what seems to be a post

apocalyptic Earth, yet it is almost obvious that the fall of

Earth was by the humans themselves and not some alien

invasion. We see traces of trash everywhere and bombarded

with advertisements from BnL. Once Wall-e steps into the

Axiom, he enters a whole new world of advanced technology,

but covered with new advertisements of the same company

we saw earlier, BnL.

From the movie, we can see that all the human inhabitants of

the Axiom are completely out of shape and are totally reliant

on technology. They rely heavily on the robots around them

to do small simple chores for them, which eventually led to

this man falling off his hover chair. He falls off his hover

chair, and automatically calls for help to the robots around

him. The picture on the bottom right shows that he’s only

focusing on the robot, unaware of his surroundings, much

like the lady Wall-e encounters that exclaims “I didn’t know

we had a pool!” after Wall-e disrupted her signal to her

computer. For 700 years, the citizens of the Axiom have

been indulged and spoiled by technology and the robots, but

this is also a future that may be happening right now with our

current rise of technology and how the internet is affecting

our current social life

Impact of Technology

With technology getting more and more advanced with each

day, humans are growing lazy along with it. Right now there is

you can virtually do everything right on your smartphone; maps,

dictionaries, media player, camera, shopping, taxes, banking,

games, chatting, read books, check the weather and time, and

browse the internet (which leads to so much more).

This rapid development in technology can be (and is by many)

viewed as a negative impact on our social lives. In the film,

everyone is focused onto their screens, and disassociates

themselves from the world around them. The two men that

Wall-e meets is an example of how the internet and technology

brings us away from the real world while they talk to each other

via a program similar to face time when they are literally

hovering next to each other. By constantly consuming and

being sucked into the viral world, the humans of the Axiom

have become enlarged and unhealthy not only from their time

in space, but also because of their lack of exercise. The Axiom

is a depiction of how our current state of technology can

ultimately result in a society where we may eventually lock

ourselves in our rooms and live life by the computer. Robots

are doing all the jobs, and the only man working is the captain,

and even he has the luxury of the robots and a hover chair.

Technology and Society

When dealing with the climate of the movie, we can first start off

by talking about earth. Earth is this low life planet. Everything

seems to be dying. There seems to be this loneliness in the earth,

but not just from any human activity but from nature. The clouds

are so gloomy and just out of color. We also get to understand

that planet earth is now this wretched world in which the only

thing that lives in this plant is old abandoned buildings, robots that

don’t work anymore, and just a bunch of trash. These things have

made the climate just this gloomy world.

But when we observe the climate in the space shuttle we could

see that we get this boring environment. The climate isn’t so

wretched. There is more life to the space shuttle. The people in

this space shuttle build an environment in which is not happy but

boring and broad. The climate hasn’t evolved much from that of

earth. It only has gone from a one to a three. The reason that this

is so is for the reason that we can see that people have evolved

into these lazy independent humans. They become too reliant on

technology which makes this movies climate not so good.

Climate Issues

The environmental issues of earth in this movie is very bad. As

we know the earth is all trashed in the movie Wall-e. We could

see that the earth is all trashed and just a waste dump. People

have left earth out to space so that earth could be cleaned. But it

is interesting to see how humans have left robots to clean the

mess of what humans have left. These actions just show how

responsible humans are in this world. We could also understand

that the environment in which humans have left is all polluted and

just dead. The earth has literally become this human waste dump.

Out in space we get an environment way different of that then

earth. The environment here on the space shuttle isn’t so dead

but more with life. But with the ways in which people have

approached the environment of the space shuttle has also made

it dead. We can see how humans have let technology overrule

the way of living on the space shuttle. They have ruined the

environment of the shuttle. They let technology take over their

minds to an extreme extent that people rely that technology will

do everything for them. They are being fed, transported, put

sleep, woken up, by all the technology that surrounds them.

Which has made an environment in which is not worth living in.

Environmental Issues

Psychoanalyst of the early twentieth century. He was an

early pupil of Sigmund Freud, but broke with him after his

disagreement over Freud’s idea that the main motivation

for human nature is sexuality. He went on to develop his

own views on the unconscious. motivation, and

classification of Human beings. He put forth the ideas of

extrovert and introvert, the idea of the anima , or the

feminine in male, and animus, the masculine in female. He

also put the theory out of the collective unconscious and

Archetypes. He termed the phrase collective unconscious

or primordial images, which are things innate within us from

every human from the beginning of time.

Carl Jung (1875-1961)

-A primordial image,

character, or

happening of events

that recur in literature

Jung used the term in

his idea of collective

consciousness, that

people are pre-coded

to be who they are

and fall into

categories.

Archetypes

-The Trickster- a human (usually male) having great appetites for food and women (sex). Usually

immoral or amoral.

Satan, Raven, Coyote

-Deity-Cultural dreams of our progenitores.

-Heroes- believing that some part of diving deity coming down to earth to save mankind. Usually

heroes have some part of divine within them;ex. Being half God half human, or being in allegiance

with deity.

Christ, Muhammad, Judas Maccabeus, Hercules, Odysseus

-The Flood- cultural myth that exists all over the world of a great flood, seen as a rebirth or cleansing

and a new beginning.

Common Archetypes

In 16th Century Italy, The Commedia dell’arte was developed with stock

characters, or archetypal characters, used in improvising a storyline. The plot

was decided loosely, and the show was improvised through to add comedy in

each area.

Stock Characters included: Lovers, Comic Servant, braggart, and pendant. Commedia dell’arte troupe, probably depicting Isabella Andreini and the Compagnia dei Gelosi, oil painting by unknown artist, c. 1580; in the Musée

Carnavalet, Paris

Archetypes used in Drama

In Chinese opera, the color and shape of the

costume showed the status and emotional

state of characters. They would use stock

character ideals in productions.

Ex, status colors

Yellow-Emperor, Light Yellow- Royal Family,

Red- Nobleman, A young person- White, an

old person Brown, a brave and rustic person-

Black.

Ex. Character in Narrative

A Woman wearing a skirt around her chest, it

shows her emotions as fatigue, misery, or

fatigue.

A coquettish female character would wear

blouse pants or a blouse skirt.

Chinese Opera

Wall-E comes from a

mostly Judeo-

Christian society.

Therefore,

Archetypes in the

story will line up with

that type of

mythology

The battle between

good and evil

Symbolism in WALL-E

The usual theme of stories in this archetype are

the state of the world being bleak, and god

sending someone to change the people.

Evil or the Devil, say “Eat, Drink, and be Merry

for tomorrow we die.”

But the prophet/messiah/saviour comes to

turn people to better things.

Main theme in Judeo-Christian Stories

-Prophet/ Messenger

-Noah

-Moses

-Fatalistic

-Adam and Eve

-Savior/Messiah

-Resurrection (Osiris

and Isis)

-Communion

Common Judeo-Christian Archetypes

A large vessel is

used to transport the

rest of humanity and

protect them from a

large disaster.

Noah

In the Noah Myth, a

bird is sent out to find

signs of life and

brings back an olive

branch. In the film,

Wall-E brings back

signs of life on earth.

Noah Continued

The coming together in bringing

new life, as in the elements of the

eucharist with the Catholic tradition,

also found in Wall-E when they try

to plant the new plants together

Communion

Moses leads the Israelites through

the desert into the promised land.

Wall-E causes the change to lead

them to the old home of Humans.

Prayer of Moses after the Israelites go through the Red Sea -

Ivan Kramskoy

Moses

Adam and Eve are

the Parents of the

world. Eva and Wall-

E are the parents of

the new Generation

of Robots and

Humans

Adam and Eve

In the Bible and the Torah,

the main theme is the act

of a messiah coming to

save the world. Wall-E is

the catalyst for change

when he goes to save the

plant, in fact saving the

physical world.

Savior/Messiah

Christians Believe in the

resurrection of the Savior.

In Ancient Egypt, Osiris

was resurrected by Isis.

Wall-E, after rebooting is

reborn from Eva. Mary

Magdalene was the first to

see Jesus after his

resurrection.

Resurrection

Christus, LDS Visitor’s Center

Dystopia is related to

the world of sin, and

it’s lack of

progression, only

preying on their own

desires rather than

the greater good.

Eat, Drink, and Be

Merry for tomorrow

we die!

Fatalism, Dystopia

Then a Savior comes

to disrupt the world of

sin, and send the

world into a place

without sin, paradise.

Fatalism, Dystopia continued.

With his sacrifice,

defeating evil, he

sends humans

salvation of an

eternal paradise.

Fatalism, Dystopia continued

The world Wall-E works for

is a world stuck in a lack of

progression, a dystopia.

His sacrifice and

resurrection in the film is

seen as a final triumph

over a lost world.

Fatalism, Dystopia

In the conclusion of the movie we could see that Wall-e gets Eva… and

they live happily ever after! Now this ending is quite typical for your

average Disney movie, and also average to see in the American culture.

To simply see that the man gets the women of his dreams. That would

be simply just typical. But in this movie we get more than simply

romance and adventure. We get a clear understanding of how the

smallest things could make our world upside down. How the smallest

things could make such an impact to our lives that without those

smallest things we wouldn’t be able to live. Those small things in the

movie Wall-e would simply be the idea of technology which takes an

impact towards the idea of dystopia. We could see that humans in this

movie are so caught up with technology that they are blinded by the

things that are by far more important. We could also see that humans

have become ignorant because of the impact that technology has done

into the lives of the humans in this movie. The ignorance goes out in an

extent that people end forgetting what life is really all about…

At the end we could understand that we shouldn’t let the smallest things,

(technology,) conquer our ways of living; but use it for our good. To

extend in which we are able to balance it all. Technology and the world

that revolves around technology, such as Mother Nature, our friends,

family and what not.

Conclusion to Movie

Tan Ye (2008). Historical Dictionary of Chinese Theater.

Scarecrow Press.

"archetype". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica

Online.

Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 21 Nov. 2014

<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/32765/archetype>.

Archetypes.Leeming, D. The Oxford Companion to World

Mythology

Oxford University Press 2005

Jung, Carl.(Brief biography)

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 3rd ed., Annual, 2002

Eric J. Arnould and Craig J. Thompson, Consumer Culture Theory

(CCT):

Twenty Years of Research Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.

31, No. 4 (March 2005), pp. 868-882

Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. Disney Animation: The

Illusion of Life. New York: Abbeville, (1981). Print.

Citations

Walch, Margaret, and Augustine Hope. Living Colors: The

Definitive Guide to Color Palettes through the Ages. San

Francisco: Chronicle, (1995). Print.

Park, Y. and Guerin, D. A. , Meaning and Preference of Interior

Color Palettes Among Four Cultures. Journal of Interior Design,

28: 27–39 (2002)

Catmull, Ed. "How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity." Harvard

Business Review (2008)

Thomson, Katherine. ""WALL-E": Inspired By "Hello Dolly"" The

Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 3 July 2008. Web. 7 Nov.

2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/03/wall-e-inspired-

by-hello_n_110618.html>.

WALL-E. Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2008. DVD.

Aaron: Film analysis/techniques and definition of

Dystopia

Loren: Archetypes and Judeo-Christian Symbolism

Alex: Climate Issues, environmental issues, introduction

to movie and conclusion to movie

Princess: Technology and society/impact of technology

Contributions