Vol 2 - Wall-E

Note : This is the "unedited" version of the article found in the pamphlet. It's more tangent-ridden, but, I feel, is more richly infused with my personality and unique style. : )

Upon entering the Skytrain yesterday I noticed that two of the people with whom I was sharing the car were : obese. It inevitably saddens me to see people who are overweight. Why? Because I was one of them. I know how painful it is. Knowing that pretty girls (or vice versa) aren't even bothering to look at you because you are so unattractive, shreds one's soul to pieces. I could not really fault the beautiful people though. Human beings have an instinctual love of the aesthetic. Anything that is gross, or distorted, jars our sense of balance and harmony, and sets itself against the unfettered flow of the cosmic current. Simply put, "it doesn't feel right." Why? Being overweight is not the natural, nor the optimal, state for a human being to exist in. It doesn't look good, nor is it healthy. Ergo : unaesthetic.

I was having a very memorable morning and this fact contrasted itself sharply with the unfortunate state I saw these two poor souls in. The man wore a look of perpetual discomfort as he tried not to fall off his seat. The woman had a face which was both resigned and defiant, resigned to being unattractive, defiant in daring someone to point out that fact and give her an opportunity to vent her despair and frustration. Naturally nobody would give her this opportunity. Nobody would acknowledge her. Not even me... I did not want to subject myself to a tirade of grief which I could not abet.

I want to help though. I want the obesity to stop. I can recall my own time being fat and ugly. The question is why did I eat? That is simple to answer. I ate because I was unhappy. I ate to fill the void in my heart and my soul. Ice Cream was a substitute for the lack of love I felt in my life. Remember Fat Bastard from Austin Powers 2. Mike Myers pokes fun at being fat, but he provides one brief moment of humanity for poor Bastard near the end of the film when the Scottish Hippo makes his weighty confession. We as a society understand why people are fat, now we need to FEEL it.

Wall-E was not just an excellent, kiddie movie. Far, very far, from it, for me. It was a timely, cautionary commentary on our species' current societal model, and the unfulfilling existence it is leading us towards. The Mega-Corporation's name in the movie sums up the innately flawed Capitalist model adroitly : Buy N' Large. In a Universe which is not designed to support heedless consuming, doing so invariably leads to a system's collapse. The panoramic shots in the introduction to the movie, displaying the endless rash of billboards and advertisements which inundate the city made my stomach drop : what are we trying to block out so badly that we drown ourselves in sensory, stimulation overload? It is quite simple really : the absence of love, real love in our lives.

Leave it to robots, life we human beings create in inorganic imitation of ourselves, to show us the way.

Now, the first question I feel compelled to ask is : why did Wall-E survive for so long when all of his robotic companions have ceased to function? Simple : Wall-E was a mutant. Not an X-Men per se, but a deviant. Mutation is often an adaptation producing a survival mechanism specifically tailored to a changing environment. What was the adaptation of Wall-E? Simple : Wall-E asked for more out of life. Wall-E found "hope", hope in the form of finding love. How many times did he watch that movie Hey Dolly! Over the course of 700 years...a lot. While his fellow bots were collapsing around him from a routine which wore itself down to nothing, Wall-E strived to survive, his programming adapted, he repaired himself, he continued to seek out stimulation in his existence. The message is clear : people need a purpose to survive. How about to thrive?

That's where Eve comes in.
I have a telling saying, "A Healthy Relationship is one where both people (or robots) are strong apart, but, made stronger together."
Eve is the dedicated workaholic. Wall-E is the romantic and dreamer. They are both strong in who they are. The two of them complete each other (although I think Wall-E is inarguably the catalyst for the relationship). Finding corporeal existence's ultimate purpose, the two robots find realization.

The robots are definitely the stand outs of the movie, but, we (the humans) demonstrate why we have become the species with the greatest potential our planet has produced.
In the movie human beings have become fat and weak. That is plainly obvious. Yet, there is a subtle and surprising suggestion made in the movie that is not so obvious. Human beings are nice when their basic needs are fulfilled abundantly. When there is plenty of food, water, shelter, comfort and human companionship, human beings are instinctively gentle, kind, easy going creatures. It was a delight for me to witness. I feel in my heart that this is true. We human beings are sweet creatures, just hard living makes us hard. If the living is easy, we are kind. The magic is this though : no matter how hard we get, the core of kindness and love never goes away, no matter how much it is squeezed and compressed. Strength too.

The Captain of the Axiom (the largest ship humanity has escaped Earth on) is human kind's champion in the movie. Easy living has made him fat and dulled, but the vital human spark of curiosity and wonder, which lead to the growth of the Neo Cortex in the brain (which makes us wholly unique from all other species on the planet), has not disappeared, and when presented with the opportunity to grow beyond his shallow and meaningless existence, the Captain seizes it, and does not let go (the wrestling match with Auto, the ship's autopilot drone, was rousing!).

John and Mary are also perfect examples of the truth that human beings are naturally kind and gentle and giving. When there is no reason to engage in emotions of hostility, people are genial and good natured. Meeting Wall-E sparks the desire in them for more meaning in life. And when the occasion presents itself for them to rise up to a challenge, (saving the children) they do so, unlike their fellow human beings who react helplessly because the vital spark of their limitless potential has not been kindled by Wall-E within them.

While I was at Wal-Mart shopping yesterday, I met an overweight Mother and her overweight Son. I overheard the poor boy talking about how he feared his Father.

The Humans of Wall-E are fat and florid.
There society makes them so.
I want to live in a society dedicated to making people strong.

The story makes a virtual panoply of commentary on human nature based on robot behavior.

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When I ride the Skytrain I see many people with earbuds in their ears listening to their iPods, or I see people holding a stylus in one hand and a Nintendo DS in the other, or I see people with the omnipresent cell phone : texting, surfing the net, or plain old chatting. We human beings have a love affair with our gadgets. This does not surprise me at all. Human beings are defined by the presence of our tools. They are an extension of us. My observation of the tools incorporated while riding the skytrain though is : they block out the world.

Wall-E carries this phenomenon to its extreme. Human beings are always in front of a screen, interacting with a cyber world. Despite the fact that they are surrounded by fellow human beings, there is no physical interaction, all relations are carried out through the electronic filter of the screen. Information. Entertainment. All participation with existence is carried out through a screen. It truly is little different than cell phone, iPods and Nintendo DS's.

What purpose does interaction with people through a tool which removes one from direct physical contact with people serve? Just that : it removes people from direct physical contact with each other. Why?

In the case of the humans aboard the Axiom, it keeps people properly numbed and subservient, which is what the ship's autopilot Auto is designed to do in order to protect the species.

I feel that this is certainly the case with us as well, but, unlike the humans aboard the Axiom, we isolate ourselves from each other with our tools because of 1 thing : fear. Fear of rejection by our fellow human beings. Fear of the threat of possible physical violence. These things feel removed and distant when passed through the protective filters of our tools.

So, it is certainly easy to understand, the vision of fat, wholly disconnected humans portrayed in Wall-E, as an example of what our own evolution could look like.
However, the movie, also presents the solution to insuring that this doesn't become our future, and that solution is simple : purpose.
When people have a purpose, a reason to reach out and interact with each other, something that inspires them, and makes them want to share the experience of life with one another, they will cast aside their protective, filtering tools and embrace what they really needed : human contact and shared experience.

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Our tools are an extension of ourselves, an expression of how we feel. When we use our tools to create distance between each other, we must ask the question why that is.
Wall-E is the story of a robot, left behind to clean up the mess we made of Earth because of our subscription to a system which tells us that heedless consuming will fill the void in our hearts and souls.
But Wall-E grows and finds life's ultimate purpose : to make connections, and he becomes the tool which inspires ,anew, purpose in the human beings who created him.
Wall-E is a great movie, which teaches on many, many levels. I give it 2 Thumbs Way Up! _| -_- |_
And hey! Being fat can be solved with one thing : a powerful purpose.