Writing On The WALL•E
So like millions of Americans, I went to see PIXAR & Disney’s latest animated film, WALL•E this weekend. For those of you living under a rock, the film tells the tale of a brave little robot who is left to clean up the Earth after mankind dumps so much trash that he can’t live here anymore. Adventure, romance and of course humor ensue for the tiny bot with a Johnny 5 complex.
Reviews from critics and the movie-going public have been overwhelmingly favorable, and it’s easy to see why. Behind the futuristic facade of WALL•E lies basically a love story between WALL•E himself and the angelic EVE. The story also cleverly taps into an topical issue that is sure to raise the ire of some of the more conservative audience members – environmentalism.
Back in August of 2007, I wrote a post about PIXAR’s advanced PR for the film, via the Buy n Large viral website. Buy n Large is the company responsible for the vast consumerism that ultimately makes the Earth uninhabitable to the human race in the film. The message in WALL•E is clear – if things keep going the way they’re going, we won’t have a planet left to live on. This moral imperative is one of the major plot points of the film, and I’m betting it won’t be very long until we see right-wingers railing against Disney and PIXAR for “green propaganda”.
I’m willing to bet that by no later than this Wednesday, Michelle Malkin, Bill O’Reilly, Neil Boortz or some other misguided blowhard will do their best to alter WALL•E’s portrayal as lovable protagonist to that of a mechanized propaganda bot intent on brainwashing your kids. Rest assured it will happen, and when it does, I’ll update this post with which offender was first to pull the trigger.
In the end, nothing these people can say will diminish the movie’s endearing success. WALL•E is nothing short of an animated masterpiece that has its heart and message in exactly the right place. There is plenty of emotion and humor to keep audience goers smiling and parents safely content. And if kids get interested in recycling or gardening, let’s just say it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
UPDATE: Here’s a tweet that illustrates what I’m talking about. It’s starting.
UPDATE II: DING! DING! We have a winner, or rather a big, fat ignorant loser… in the form of everybody’s favorite shill from CNN, Glenn Beck. Think Progress has more too boot. To quote Weird Al, “Man, I hate it when I’m right.”
I can’t wait to see this movie!!! geez. It looks gorgeous and the reviews speak volumes. Pixar did it again. It’s a shame that here in Spain we have to wait til august 6 …
Green Propaganda FTW! much better than plain propaganda.
I wanted to go see this movie, but got to the theater too late for it and wound up watching “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” instead. It totally sucked, I wrote a blog post reflecting that, and was actually planning to write about how some of these animated films compare to the “comedies” out there. I actually think these animated films are doing a much better job of making compelling and fun/funny movies. I can’t wait to see Wall-E. And Kung Fu Panda for that matter.
You called it: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/01/right-wing-hates-wall-e/
Good grief, Left-wing and Right-wing are so mixed up now that I am not sure they mean what they used to, and I am pretty sure I disagree with both.
I really want to know when taking care of the environment became a “leftist” idea. Seems to me its a moral imperative no matter what side of the political fence you sit on. I don’t really get how “conservative” means over-consume, trash the sea, air and land etc.