Cristopher Castillo

Chenglin Lee

Writing 39B

27 November 2021

Rough Draft

    For our Imitation Project we decided to focus on a sci-fi classic: WALL-E. At first we were set on Star Wars, especially my partners. But, because I had never seen a single Star Wars film, I suggested WALL-E and we instantly agreed upon it. WALL-E has so many ties to our society today that it was kind of impossible not to choose it. So, we set off and began brainstorming topics that the film covers that are still relevant today. Eventually we settled on our topics: two of the major problems facing our society today are our lack of care for the environment and our overreliance on technology. Everywhere you look you can see someone using the newest piece of tech while ignoring the constant pollution all around them. These issues can lead to very serious consequences in the future if we do not mitigate our problems now, something that is covered surprisingly well in the 2008 Disney Pixar film WALL-E. Our Imitation Project focuses on connecting the aforementioned children’s movie to present day society by showing how the movie’s own plot details serve as a warning for us today.

    To begin, you must understand the fact that we as humans are currently facing an extreme environmental crisis - one that we must take action to stop otherwise we will suffer the consequences. For example, Scott Neuman writes in his article for NPR that the “current rate of greenhouse gas pollution is so high” that we have “​​about 11 years to rein in emissions” if we want to avoid the “damage from climate change in the future.” Essentially, the Earth has a very short amount of time to slow pollution before climate change permanently damages our planet. And our podcast covers the fact that WALL-E is able to show these consequences quite effectively: the Earth is portrayed as a barren wasteland, polluted and covered in trash with seemingly no life anywhere. As children I do not think we were as focused on this aspect because all we really wanted to see was robots in love but as adults it is hard to not think about the potential of this movie to actually come true. We are capable of understanding the complex issues happening all around us so the movie just holds a deeper meaning. Although the movie might be a bit exaggerated, the visuals really do get the message across. Our podcast dives even deeper by discussing some of the people or groups who are really at fault for exacerbating the issue. For instance, Risha brings up the point that it is mainly wealthy countries, such as the United States, that generate the most trash while also doing very little to stop their pollution. Instead they rely on others, usually the poor countries, to solve their problems. Similarly, it is the wealthy that benefit from the pollution of the Earth, as their companies and corporations continue to thrive while the people below them suffer. Additionally, they are usually the ones to take the least amount of action to help the planet and instead encourage others to do everything when it was their fault in the first place. The rich will always be protected by their money and unfortunately it will be the poor, people of color who will have to endure the consequences first. We connect this idea to the fact that the humans left the WALL-E robots on Earth to clean up after them while they went to space to live. We are stuck in a constant cycle of indifference that we will be unable to fix our issues until it is too late.

    We continued our connection of WALL-E to society by pivoting to the idea that humans are overly dependent on technology. WALL-E shows us how humans have been so reliant on their technology that they have been essentially ‘domesticated’ by the AI’s they trusted. They only participated in activities that were given to them by the robots and they were given everything they needed without them ever having to lift a finger. Nowadays, it seems as though we are getting closer and closer to this becoming a reality. In fact, according to Sejal Arora, we have become so dependent on technology that some of us use “technology to maintain a sound sleeping cycle, avoid distractions, make more friends and get more imaginative.” Additionally, with services like Uber, Doordash, and Amazon Prime, we can get whatever we want almost as fast as we want it - without having to leave the couch. Even though technology is very useful, especially the services for those incapable of doing errands themselves (during a pandemic, disabilities, etc), it is the over-reliance on these services and technology that are the real issues. Unfortunately, technology will only continue to become more advanced and complex, so much so that it will be extremely difficult to cut down our dependence on it.

    These problems can seem sort of far away in a sense because they do not directly impact our lives right away or on a large scale. But the effects and warning signs can be seen even in our own city and on campus. Living in California means we will always have heat and that we will always be in danger of a drought. Climate change will only make these worse, raising the temperatures and opening up the risk for other dangers - most notably wildfires. Smoke from these fires, combined with the already heavy smog from car traffic, will pollute the air and make the air quality significantly worse, posing many potential health risks. Plus, as a campus we produce a lot of waste which can only contribute to our issue. How that waste is disposed of falls onto the school itself but we can still seek answers and find better solutions. As for the reliance on technology, one of the main pieces of evidence are the ‘zotbots.’ The little robots that bring us food from wherever on campus are extremely convenient and can only make people lazier. Otherwise our dependence can be displayed by everyone always holding a device. Whether it be a phone or a laptop, no one cannot survive without technology (and only because we as a society made it that way.)

    In the end, WALL-E really serves as a warning for us all. The detail on certain topics are pretty relevant today