I finally saw Wall-E yesterday after TONS of peer pressure and a well written and RAVING account of the film by Mike Wood. I loved it...most people did. It was creative...most people agree. It addressed some good corporate, enviornmental, and health issues...that was clear. I can't write anything on that because its all been said (and like I mentioned, most eloquently by my baby cousin). However, while I was watching, my brain was instantly shot back to my year of "Womyn's Studies" at UCSB. I was essentially squeezing the major into 3 quarters, so I spent the year analyzing the role of the vagina in everything from Japanese Art History to Lifetime movies to Popular Texts to the Legal System and beyond. This movie jumped out at me as an easy A (even though I'm years out of that)...so here goes what I WOULD have written HAD I been assigned to...
Wall-E is a well done movie and a touching love story. Commentary on the direction of the enviornment, transgressions associated with corporate super stores, and the possible and probable effects of technology on health and good old fashioned human interaction are a very real warning, told with enough light energy so as to reach the masses. Over and above the wonderful animation and original ideas however, Wall-E almost seemlessly breaks down gender roles, adding a layer to the underlying public service of this film. Females and males, for the most part are clearly revealed in this film, Wall-E as the male, Eve as the female, and fairly clear genders among the humans on the ship. Where this film diverges is that unessesary differences and traditional roles have been all but negated without having gender issues thrown at the audience.
Our main character, Wall-E, is a sensitive, slightly flamboyant male character who becomes lost in the throws of love, stumbles clumsily into danger, and often requires rescuing. From the first scenes, we find that Wall-E collects trinkets to adorn his living quarters, where coincidently, he watches the musical "Hello Dolly" and mimics the dance moves. Eve on the other hand is aggressive, almost to a fault. She blasts anything that might be a threat and then swings her gun back into its virtual holster, John Wayne style.
Wall-E falls for Eve fairly quicky and seems to lose himself in the romance. He looks to Eve to fullfill his desire for a narrative much like the old movies, and when it comes down to it, he abandons his life and his purpose to be with her. Eve on the other hand is cautious and looks not to have her directive waylaid. She is independent, and despite her feelings, she follows her objective to pursue the logical line she began. Eve is all business and Wall-E is her hanger-on of sorts.
And the best part is somehow this is all done without coming across forced.
Once on the ship with all the humans, trouble strikes a number of times. Each time, it seems the Wall-E is stuck in a conundrum of some sort, and Eve sweeps in and wisks him away to protect him. Eve also saves Wall-E when he tries to stop a closing mechanism of some sort, and he is not strong enough. Eve comes out the heroic leader over and over, at no detriment to the love story.
Humans too, although made fat, stupid, and lacking in bone density by modern technology, are lacking in traditional roles for the most part. Weight is dispursed the same on all their bodies (don't we wish!). Their clothing, activities, and size do not distinguish them as male or female. When a relationship starts between two humans freed from the grips of their chairs, they seem equally shy and no one is much of the agressor. Also, the pictures of past captains are not all male. Again, making the point subtly but clearly none the less.
The excellent story telling in Wall-E was made more exceptional by the ability to not only portray love, fear, loss, lonliness and hope with very little actual speech but also very little gender stereotyping. Without a second thought, the viewer "gets" the whole story, is not confused about relationships or identities, but is not fed an array of archaic gender notions. Two thumbs up for Disney Pixar YET AGAIN:)
Ahhhh....now if I was only closer to my teens than my thirties, paid $350 in rent, and could run 10 miles a day, and see the ocean from my front door...I would be in college again:)
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8 comments:
Wall-E totally looks like the robot from "Short Circuit"... minus the cheesy 80's style of course
I'm not sure what your point is. Is it good or bad, (in your opinion, and in the opinion of the general "Womyn's Studies" circles,) that Wall-E portrayed men as he did, and Eve portrayed Women as she did? Is it a harmful stereotype or an insightful work of art? Or both?
Personally, I thought these gender portrayals hit pretty close to home, so I liked it.
But kudos on the write up!
Well, point is the gender stereotypes were broken down, and I think such ideas as "it added to the public service" and "what made it even more exceptional" give a small idea of my opinion...did you even READ it MIKE?!
I remember paying $350. Oh the joys. And I remember you graduating as a "womyn's study" major, didn't you have some special tassle or something that made you better than the rest of us? (dude mine was a BS degree anyways you didn't need to rub it in)
It was a sash "a la miss american" pageant. Ironic, eh?
I didn't like Wall-E as much as most people did. I thought it was cute, but merely insightful in an obvious way (i.e. overconsumption is bad for our health and the environment). That being said, if republicans see it and love it, I'm all for raising awareness :-)
As for the Wall-E / Eve character dynamics, I was intrigued; especially because it alludes to the biblical beginning of sexual life, but in a more modern way.
The one thing that kept me from being personally attached to their relationship--and also the relationships between the fattie men and women in the movie--is that it seems to symbolize a period that is sexLESS. In the beginning...
Wall-E and EVE are robots; they can't technically have sex, so their love relationship takes on a different, almost genderless quality. The fattie men and women, ont he other hand, have forgotten their sexual roles (their generation has seemingly never had sex, as well) and thus, when they begin to recognize themselves as sexual beings again, after all this time, the purity of sex and relationships is presented above all else.
But is it to be beleived that this purity--this innocence--is sustainable in the new green world they are about to create? My 8-ball says NO WAY. Still, the beauty of the movie is that this new eco-friendly, newly-conscious world has a clean slate. No one has really recognized gender differences yet (they are still too fat to see their private parts), and Wall-E and Eve have compassion even though they are purely technical beings. Anything is possible for this future; my question is, what is most probable?
I didn't see the biblican connection. They certainly weren't in paradise, and Eve was not created from or for Wall-E. I also think the sexless forms of love and connection were possibly symbolic (this IS a children's movie). That said, those are some good points, and I think SOMEONE needs a blog:)
Good words.
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