Posted by
Rich from Paso on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:38:14 PM
SPOILER ALERT! I have seen the movie so I have no problem talking about it.
I saw Disney/Pixar's "WALL-E" today. I'm fairly certain that Disney didn't really have a political agenda when they made the movie (or did they?). Whatever the case is, I saw many things about the movie that spoke very well for conservative ideal and very poorly for liberal ideals.
First, all can debate who is responsible for the junked up earth. I'm sure unrestrained consumerism will be the liberal explanation. I, however, have a different take. Yes, the unrestrained consumerism did result in a trashed planet necessitating the evacuation of all humanity. When the CEO of "BuyNLarge", the corporate leader of humanity, ordered that the Axiom human escape ship to remain forever in space, it was because, as the CEO said, the clean up attempts were "too hard". That is a very liberal thing to say. Conservatives stand up to challenges and overcome them, especially if the ultimate well-being of the earth and humanity was at stake. Where were all the environmental types to mourn the devestation of Morther Gaia? They were at the BuyNLarge like everyone else, only they were probably complaining about conditions and were waiting for someone else to take the lead on the solution.
When WALL-E hitches a ride back to the Axiom to pursue his new robot love, EVA, we see that the surviving members of humanity are a bloated, gelletanous globs of fat so incompacitated by their obesity after generations of excess that they all move around in floating chairs and have even lost the ability to walk for the most part. All humans are pampered every waking moment by a plethora of robots of every, shape, size and function. Humans are born to incubators, taught in BuyNLarge schools, and are catered to for their entire lives. This is liberalism at work. Cradle to grave paternalism, government ran schools and a welfare state that tries to be all things to all people creates soft people unable to stand on their own two feet. These are hallmarks of liberalism and an out of control government and not a responsible, responsive government led with conservative principles of self-reliance.
At one point in the movie, the captain wishes to go back to earth. He is overruled by the ship's computer called Otto. Otto tells the captain that he is following orders given by the earth CEO to stay away from earth forever. Liberalism creates bureaucratic functionaries that exist to serve the government not the people. But the bureaucrat Otto is not doing what it is doing because of any malevalence or animus toward humans. Quite the contrary, Otto is trying to ensure humanities survival. The captain tells Otto, after getting signs that the earth is now able to sustain life again in the form of a plant in a boot, that he doesn't want to just survive, he wants to live. That is a major difference between liberalism and conservatism. People ever day are more than content to just survive on the handouts from the federal government. They eat the government cheese, let the government pay their medical bills, let the government teach their children and take government money, all with the sense of entitlement that they are somehow owed the money. There is no desire to progress beyond their current station. This complacency and feeling of entitlement also allows the government to dictate other elements of American society. The government led by today's liberals want to dictate what kind of choices we have in automobile, medicine, energy source, how high we can set our thermostats, who gets on our airwaves, on and on and on.
There is another scene where the captain, after being dumped out of his hoverchair, struggles to stand up again after years of seditary life provided by the robot servants. He can barely see his pudgy toes smothered in the fat on his feet. The captain's struggle even gets the "2001: A Space Oddessy" treatment as "Thus Spoke Zarathrusta" is played. This symbolizes the ability people have to stand on their own feet, even after years of taking the liberal hanouts that rob people of motivation and desire for self-improvement. In other words, it's never too late to shake off the shackles of liberalism.
At the end of the movie, humanity returns to earth and the captain shows the obese humanity how to farm again. It is hard to be self-sufficient. It requires hard work with no guarantee of success. However, the challenges of living, instead of mere survival, requires commitment, determination and hard work. The rewards of living by your own means, even if that means foregoing certain nicities, are self-respect, pride in one's own accomplishment and the knowledge that you can overcome any challenge. Those are the rewards of conservatism and it is nearly impossible to place a price on the value of such rewards.
As I stated at the onset, I don't think "WALL-E" was written with a political agenda. However, there are many examples from the movie that can be used to illustrate conservative principles, especially to our children, of self-reliance, standing on your own two feet, and the dangers of excessive liberalism.