The Image of Dystopia in the Film Wall-E

Murder, crime, corruption, these are all some of the characteristics used to describe dystopias. WALL-E is an animated film targeted to the younger audience, a film that illustrates its own version of a dystopian society in a softer approach. In the the film humans can no longer sustain life on earth due to environmental damage caused by humans. This causes everyone on Earth to board a massive spaceship, the Axiom, and fly out to space, leaving behind an uninhabitable planet. Once on board the spaceship humans grew complacent to their new environment.

They faced many issues we see in contemporary society. Unhealthy lifestyles, embraced monotony, grew dependent to newer technology, and ignored the growing issues within their environment, all of which contributed to the downfall of their society, something we may see ourselves.

Humans fled Earth as it started to produce a harsh environment incapable of sustaining any kind life. In the film they built a robot called WALL-E to help clean up Earth and make life sustainable once again while people lived on the spaceship.

The recovery effort was too late and what was supposed to be a short trip aboard the Axiom it became humanity’s new home. Today we are facing environmental issues that have caused devastating natural disasters across the nation. Despite efforts to increase awareness through multiple campaigns spawning across the globe, many organizations including the government do not do enough to prevent the further decay of our environment. Pollution is at an all time high, the atmosphere is deteriorating and global warming is causing unpredictable climate all over the planet.

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All these issues contributed to the collapse of the planet in WALL-E.

Aboard the Axiom humans can be seen sitting in floating chairs living a sedentary lifestyle. Screens are attached to the chair, food is delivered, they don’t have to stand to do anything. In the movie it is shown that humans aboard the Axiom have almost no bone density after centuries of not using their legs. Living an unhealthy style brings disease and death to humans. An unhealthy life style combined with a deteriorating environment aggravates the issue. Throughout history, mutating diseases have been known to wipe out entire civilizations. In WALL-E the lifestyles humans live make them incompatible for life on earth, its an extreme representation of what’s going on today. People with diseases like diabetes, are causing amputations, disability, making it hard to survive. In the film, the spaceship tips over and humans are thrown off their chairs. They struggle to get up and move as they are being thrown across the floor. Their unhealthy lifestyles made them incapable of adapting to their environment. They soon realize this and begin to take action.

Technology is advanced aboard the spaceship Axiom. Everything is a press of a button away. It even goes as far as changing clothes in an instant all while sitting down. The floating chair transports humans all over the Axiom. Conversations are held not face to face as we usually have them, they use screens which are fixed to their chairs.. Weather is controlled by technology, their entire lives are controlled by it. They are indulged in everything technology has to offer. They don’t make their own choices or goals, they let technology take over. Something we see nowadays, people are so fixated onto their phones they are completely unaware of their surroundings. There’s people that trip over things or even worse, get hit by vehicles. Being too dependent on technology can make it seem like it’s the way to go, but being too dependent on it can kill a persons ability to think for themselves, it takes away survival instinct.

With technology so advanced inside Axiom, it has taken control in the form of Auto, a robot that knows everything and controls everything. At the time of evacuation, the President announces in a classified video that earth is destroyed beyond what was imagined and that the short voyage away from earth was now permanent. He executed an order to Auto that said they would to never return to earth no matter what. Auto became corrupted and wouldn’t let the captain steer the ship back to earth after the captain found out that earth was once again habitable. Corruption is one of the biggest issues in society today, a leading issue in every dystopian society. On board the Axiom it was determined that people accepted the fact that their lives were being completely controlled by technology and those behind the technology. Back on earth such control was a lot harder to obtain, people were a lot more aware of their environment.

On the Axiom their acceptance of monotony blinded them from what was going on around them, In the film they mention that they have been on the ship for more than 700 years. Those people settled for so little and gave their lives no meaning. They have no control over their lives. In todays society the government censors people, makes it impossible for some. citizens to vote, people are thrown into jail for petty crimes and forced into slave labor. Politicians take bribes and pass legislation based on the interest of private corporations, not the best interests of citizens. Corruption leads to private corporations taking control of everything and running society into the ground.

In WALL-E a dystopian society is illustrated by showing how technology consumes people and takes away the ability to think for oneself. In todays society you can see that by those who rely on a single source of information and live their lives by that single perspective. Furthermore technology can make people accept monotony and allow others to control their lives. Corporations allow the destruction of the environment as long as profits are being made. People stuck in consumerism are blinded by what’s going on and allow further damage. WALL-E does a good job to show that people can change before its too late.