Podcast Transcript

Risha: Hey guys, I’m Risha.

Cristopher: I’m Cristopher.

Kee-Wan: And I’m Kee-Wan, and welcome to our first episode of a podcast that we just started.

Risha: So today we’re going to have a discussion about WALL-E and its connection to modern day society.

Kee-Wan: I watched this movie again after almost 7-8 years, and I was surprised at how good it still was. The wonderful visuals and Pixar’s peak animation are still there even after more than 10 years. Besides that, I now realize the little details hidden in the movie, as well as its warnings. It’s still applicable today, which is creepy. 

Cristopher: Yeah Kee-Wan you’re totally right, as a kid you don’t see how dark the movie truly is. Visually seeing the waste and trash piled high on Earth’s surface, it’s a really frightening reminder that we are currently facing our own environmental crisis at this moment.

Risha: I agree, it definitely hits different after watching it after so many years. As a kid, I think I was mainly focused on WALL-E’s little adventure and his relationship with EVE. Seeing him all by himself on the trash world, I see this contrast between him looking all rusty and crusty compared to EVE, who’s all sleek and futuristic. We see this contrast more when he boards the spaceship, but I think most of the time I was just rooting for WALL-E and his friends in their battle against AUTO, the evil robot who’s trying to control humanity. And even though this side of the story is just as entertaining as it was to me all those years ago, I think seeing the environment and how it was impacted this time around was more eye-catching for me. 

Kee-Wan: Adding back to the environmental issues, the symbolic scenes of the trash mountains in WALL-E are still amazing, at the same time shocking. The humans originally estimated it would take only 7 years for the WALL-E robots to clean up all the mess they had made on Earth. Later, as you can see, it almost took them more than 7 centuries and the Earth is still covered in trash. Imagine having to leave Earth because it became so dirty, hard to imagine right?

Risha: Yeah, it was definitely crazy to see. It kind of reminded me of what I learned a few years ago about developed countries like the United States. They produce proportionately more trash than other countries but they don’t really suffer from the consequences of that because the developing countries that don’t have the resources have to deal with that stuff. It just kind of reminded me of how the people on the spaceship don’t have to worry about those things, they just kind of left everything to the WALL-E’s to clean up after them.

Cristopher: That’s a good point Risha. It seems to me like people in general, but mainly the more rich and affluent, almost refuse to acknowledge the harm that they're doing to others and the environment. Their actions don’t directly affect them, they usually only affect the poor people or the people of color. And when presented with the facts, they choose to ignore them. Instead, they leave those most vulnerable to deal with the repercussions. It's honestly so gross that greed is such a powerful motivator.

Kee-Wan: Another great satire that I think WALL-E introduced fantastically is how humans became so fat and infant-like and reliant on technology. They’re basically being domesticated by robots. One of my favorite scenes is when the captain shows all of the former portraits of the captains, you can just see they get fatter and fatter over time, eventually becoming the baby, blob-state the humans are now.  

Risha: For sure, that was definitely crazy to see. It also reminded me of how they’re becoming detached from who they are and they don’t really have fun until they become aware of their surroundings, they’re just so reliant on technology. For example, we see that they have this pool on the spaceship that no one ever uses until Mary and John, the 2 humans that help out WALL-E, they look away from their screens for the first time and they interact with each other, and they end up splashing around in the pool and having fun. I feel like it’s at that moment that we see that humans, when they’re away from technology and they’re not controlled by these rigid, boring schedules, they actually have fun. 

Cristopher: That thought is even more disturbing when you think about the fact that it is essentially happening to us as we speak. We are becoming more and more reliant on technology to do simple tasks for us.

Kee-Wan: Especially until now, it is humans using algorithms and AI’s to create something that controls other humans, when in the movie, it is robots themselves who control and use humans. I think one of the symbolic scenes is when AUTO, the pilot AI of the ship, defies the captain, which is extremely scary, like the old movies Terminator and I-Robot.

Risha: It was definitely spooky. I think as humans, we start to feel out of control in that moment, and we really begin to question how much control we have over technology that we’ve created ourselves. 

Kee-Wan: Technology is definitely beneficial in my opinion, but only if we use it wisely. We cannot let technology dictate our lives. What you said made me reflect on my lifestyle as well, whether I am using technology or technology is using me.

Risha: I’ve thought about that as well. Just like how we were talking about the AI pilot AUTO, he’s basically just domesticating the humans on the spaceship, and there’s this guise that they’re living in comfort on the spaceship and not caring about anything, when in reality they just wish for a change in their lives and to return to Earth. But they’re all kept in the dark because of AUTO and him becoming self-aware and realizing that if humans discover that Earth can be reinhabited, he’s just basically going to lose control over everyone. It just reminds me of modern AI in that everything is programmed with a goal, but you have to take certain precautions that are built into the AI, otherwise it could do dangerous things while achieving that goal. 

Cristopher: AI’s are scary man, anyway, make sure to visit our website to learn more about the complex meanings hidden behind the movie WALL-E, and if you enjoyed listening to us, make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts so you don’t miss future episodes.