A Catholic review of WALL-E
Inspired by a collection of essays “Theology of the Body at the Movies” by Christopher West. I decided as a lover of cinema I would start adding some reviews of films and the Christian themes I see in them. Below is my essay on the three important themes I found in Pixar’s WALL-E.
The other night, my wife and I watched the animated movie WALL-E from Pixar. I had only seen it once before when I was a teenager, but much of the film I had forgotten. The movie was released in 2008, but it still feels so relevant today. With its themes about the challenges we face as a society, WALL-E is a film everyone should watch filled with many important themes throughout.
The first theme that I noticed was that we need to take better care of the Earth. I am not an ardent environmentalist, but I do believe that we should take care of the Earth since it's a creation of God. The Earth was filled with trash, and from my point of view, that trash was mainly made up of consumer products. We rely on so many products that are not truly reusable, leading to unnecessary waste. This is not a global warming blog by any means, but we could all lower down on plastic use. The Earth is our home, and we need to take more pride in it by keeping it clean. Littering on the ground and dumping all of our trash in the ocean is not how one should show appreciation for God's beauty.
The second theme of the movie is how we all need love. WALL-E, the only surviving robot on the planet Earth along with his pet cockroach, has no reason to keep going but for love - love for his friend, love for his movies, love for dancing, and love for just being alive. We could all learn from Wall-E to be more appreciative and love the simple things in life. WALL-E eventually meets EVE and falls in love with her as well. WALL-E dreamed of a partnership before Eve showed up. WALL-E felt whole and complete with EVE and would do anything for her, including jumping on a spaceship to save her. WALL-E risked everything he had for love - a message we should take from him and apply to Jesus. Let us give up everything and hop on a moving spaceship to who knows where for Jesus. By WALL-E taking that risk, he ended up bringing back mankind to Earth and saving humanity as well. The lifespan of people on the ship was significantly decreasing over the last 700 years and eventually would have gone extinct entirely. The love of WALL-E spread to EVE, which continued to spread throughout the ship, leading them to revolt against the autopilot and get back to Earth. Love conquers all, and as followers of Christ, we are called to love. “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” - Matthew 22:37-39.
The 3rd theme I caught was how the humans were slaves. They were slaves to technology, food, and comfort. Sound familiar? I'm sorry to break it to you but we are those humans who are portrayed in the film. The people on the ship were transported around instead of walking, consumed large quantities of fake food throughout the day, eyes glued to a screen, and possessed the feeling of entitlement to constant convenience. It was eye-opening to me that a 2008 film predicted so accurately who we will be in the future. I know we were already doing some of those things then but not to the extreme we do now. I can take a good guess that you were already on your phone for probably 15 minutes before reading this article, I say that because I'm just as guilty as everyone else in this world. There's a scene in the film where a human has their screen turned off and they noticed for the first time in their existence that there is a pool. What will we notice for the first time when we turn off our screens? Our health is another thing that is taken for granted with the advancement of medicine that allows us to live while being so unhealthy. We are always trying to find the closest parking spot, riding on scooters in stores when we could walk, driving somewhere that is only a 5-minute walk, and asking for our meds to be upped instead of losing weight if possible. We throw whatever we can into our bodies as much as we can. We knowingly consume food that is detrimental to our health, but we justify it with the convenience of not having to prepare it ourselves. If the world ever ends up as portrayed in the film then we are in for a rude awakening. As Christians, we are no longer slaves to sin but are free in Christ! “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another.” - Galatians 5:13
We should use WALL-E not only as a great movie to be entertained by but also as a real warning for civilization. If we all put God first and love everything that comes from Him, we will be fine. By truly loving, we will do the work that Christ requires of us during our short time on this beautiful planet.
