Half-Masked

I’ve seen Wall-E four times in the first three days I’ve owned it, and I suspect that number is only going to grow. Since then, I’ve realized one of the many reasons why I like this movie: The lack of an artificial Disney Bad Guy. Evil has no place in this film. There is nothing mean-spirited about it. There are antagonists, yes, but everyone in this movie is acting in what they believe is the best interests of humanity.

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=Buy N’ Large CEO=

Played by Fred Willard(which is always a good way to start off a sentence), “Shelby Forthright” could be seen as the “villain” of Wall-E. He is, after all, at least partly to blame for Earth’s perhaps not-so-fictional future predicament. His company and its attitude encouraged the lazy, self-serving downfall of his planet. He’s a man who knows how to wink at the camera and read the teleprompter, and give off that hokey charm that the average person confuses with sincerity and intelligence. But this is a character who either grossly underestimated the situation he was in, or was dangerously under-qualified and irresponsible at what he did. This was not an agenda, this was an example of incompetence. Though no less-deserving of revile, it does not make him evil. He’s more George Walker than Dick Cheney. His Earth Cleanup act did not meet with success in his lifetime, forcing everyone into the stars. And yet, in the end it was a product of this very plan that ended up saving the day.

Wall-E, the last functioning Waste Allocation something-or-other robot was one of many that were supposed to clean up the planet and trumpet in the re-colonization of Earth. Because of Wall-E, humans returned to a cleaner Earth. Because he did end up fulfilling this directive, even if it was through circumstances he nor anyone else on the Axiom predicted, one could say that the Earth Cleanup was a success. Albeit in spite of its CEO.

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=Auto-Pilot=

This is the most obvious choice. No one directly attempts to thwart the heroes more than the monotone-voiced Auto-Pilot/semi-sentient steering wheel of the Axiom. He operates under direct orders that overlap those of the ship’s Captain to keep the humans from returning to Earth. Not to be insidious, not keep them from enjoying their lives or anything of the sort, but because the CEO of BnL had no reason to believe at the time that Earth would ever be safe for humanity to exist on. It has been programmed to believe that a return trip would be a hopeless waste of human life, so when Eve brings the plant aboard, Auto sees it not so much as a sign of hope, but a siren call.

It is the Auto-Pilot’s duty to ensure the survival of the human race, but machines are only as smart as their programming. And who’s to say that just because this one tiny plant thrived, that millions of humans could thrive on a refuse-infested planet? I can sort of see Auto’s, and by extent the CEO’s point. Again, I don’t think there is anything malicious here. What we have are several people with different ideas on what’s best for mankind.

Out of all of the machines in this movie, he is the most machine-like. He supposedly lacks all human emotion and even thought. Almost all of his actions are by protocol, not from consideration or spirit. Therefore he is incapable of -directly- afflicting hatred against anyone or anything, although in his haste to maintain the status quo, he unintentionally jeopardizes the safety of the Axiom’s passengers. His actions may not have been “right”, but he doesn’t know that.

Thinking back on the ending, what place would the Auto-Pilot have had on Earth? This is by and far the closest character in this movie to being soulless. He’s almost a prop. But even in its monotone computerized voice, there was a hint of panic. There is desperation in its actions, sometimes endangering the people he was built to protect. Strangely, I pitied it. The only life the seemingly lifeless Auto-Pilot has is on the ship. What is the point in a machine that humanity no longer needs or wants?

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=Gopher=

Gopher was just a dick. (Right down to the Nazi-esque shoulders and “salute”)

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In the end, perhaps the greatest antagonists in this film is human civilization? The human race in Wall-E lets the world become an uninhabitable wasteland of shit, and gets morbidly obese relying on technology to solve all of their problems for them. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. This movie is critical of where we are and where we are going, but it is not condemning. I think the simplest underlying message of Wall-E is that the only way things can get better is if we all do our part, no matter how small our role may seem in a cosmic sense. It has optimism in its audience that we will make sure movies like this stay as fiction.

Its director, Andrew Stanton has said that it was never really intended to be a political jab at our morals in regards to the environment, or a vehicle for any agenda. At worst, it’s a poke in the ribs. But the message is loud and clear: If we don’t get off our asses and apply our strengths to keep our home suitable for our descendants, then we may just revert back to the point where survival is more important than living.

If I had to pick who I would consider to be the real villains here, I’d have to go with:

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=The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences=

Those fiends.

I’ve heard some critics(and fans) were upset when Wall-E wasn’t nominated for Best Picture.  This is just one of many damning examples of that particular Academy Award broadcast. The best-written film of 2008 was segregated into the kiddie-table of movie categories at that wretched award show, because it was animated and wasn’t about the Holocaust, did not star Meryl Streep and was not distributed under the Fox Searchlight banner. Of course it was the “Best Animated Picture”! That’s like saying Stephen Hawking is the “World’s Smartest Cripple“.

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~A.H.