The Animated Film "Wall-e": Analysis

Wall- e is a kind of animated science fiction film directed by Andrew Stanton in 2008. The film perfectly depicts possible consequences of consumerism and over reliance on technology. Even though some blame technology to be the foe of human beings and this planet but its humans who are turning into their own enemies. The film impressively draws attention to the fact that overconsumption of resources and over reliance on technology is devastating for human beings and earth because consumerism is stripping the planet off of its natural resources and making it uninhabitable for future generations whereas technology is making us useless. Actions like consumerism are threatening the existence of this planet and technology can result in a society where humans will turn into senseless robots and they will no longer care about anything and robots will probably be more humanised like Wall- E and EVE.

The Wall-E is set 700 years in future. In the opening scene we see endless background of universe where millions of stars and galaxies are swirling with serenity. This peaceful view is quickly intervened as the director uses high angle shot and zooms in the camera, cutting through massive clouds of smog only to unveil the lonely planet earth that was once inhibited by humans. The mesmerising green shades of trees and grass and turquoise tints of ocean are now replaced by murky yellow hues of rusted metal. This colour effect is chosen by the director to present the gloomy mode and the fact that something wrong has occurred. If he had opted for bright colours they would have interpreted prosperity and joy which is not the case here. As the director continues to take high angle camera shots to delineate the meagre existence of earth, we see a number of buildings which actually turn out to be piles of waste. There is no sign of life and it is quite obvious that earth has been abandoned. From a high angle shot we see a moving object, that’s Wall- E Who is occupied with compacting the trash into cube and piling them into skyscrapers.

Wall- E is a trash compactor robot and with his binocular eyes, Stanton draws our attention to the multitude of emotions in those eyes which give him a sort of personality. Moreover, cinematographer Roger Deakins and visual FX supervisor Dennis Muren displayed incredible teamwork to give Wall-E photo- real details using the lights affiliated with live action photography. Among the early scenes, we can certainly witness the feeling of watching photography. For instance, when Eve descends down on earth the camera moves so swiftly that it seems to lose focus for a second. Stanton does not stop here. He further confirms the doubts of his audience that this planet is uninhabitable by giving Wall-E a pet cockroach. He could have chosen a cute rat or a mouse but he selected a cockroach because it is know for survive any sort of disaster.

As the film progresses, we witness the arrival of EVE who compared to the petit, outdated and rusted Wall-E, appears to be high tech, advance and new. Despite of the fact that she is equipped with weapons, Wall- E falls in love with her and tries his utmost to get her attention. Stanton dramatically achieves this theme of love in the silent half of the film without using any dialogues. He successfully does it by employing close-up shots to emphasize the emotions in the eyes of Wall-E and at the same time the reflection of EVE in his eyes. Stanton, once again triumphs in achieving this theme by using lighter as a prop to translate the theme of love. In an alluring scene he zooms in the camera into Wall- E’s eyes to show the reflection of flame that is symbolic to kindle love but Wall-E faces the same aloofness from EVE.

Works Cited

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