wall-e ideas.

"The creators of “Wall-E” have, strangely enough, denied any political intention behind their film. However, I find it hard to believe that this Pixar film does not paint a picture of a dystopian society that has followed the tenants of neoliberalism to its ultimate conclusions. The creation of a neoliberal system (in our current global-economic world) has “entailed much destruction, not only of prior institutional frameworks and powers (such as the supposed prior state sovereignty over political-economic affairs) but also divisions of labor, social relations, welfare provisions, technological mixes, ways of life, attachments to the land, habits of the heart, and ways of thought.” I feel like, whether the creator of this film want to admit it or not, “Wall-E” is racked with neoliberal messages.

To begin, “Wall-E” takes place in a futuristic setting where formal (or conventional government ) has essentially disintegrated, only to be replaced by the omnipotent “Buy-n-Large” corporation. People have abandoned social interaction and have become these isolated and insular products of consumerism. Every man, woman, and child is the center of gravity in their own world (which is ironic given the fact that they are all morbidly obese). They have completely severed all contact with nature and refrain from interpersonal or communal interactions. Remember though, this is just the beginning.

 In this dystopia, planet Earth is uninhabitable due to excessive pollution, which has, in turn, poisoned the atmosphere. As a result, all these overweight consumers have been forced to leave Earth behind and live life in the confines of a space ship (though I must give credit to the space ship’s luxury). This is where our protagonist fits in. Instead of using Earth’s destruction as an example of how not to live life, these people look to neoliberalism to manufacture a solution. The resulting products are cleaning robots named Wall-E’s. While humans live in the blissful ignorance provided by their Buy-n-Large overlords (pejoratively speaking), Wall-E must clean up the wasteland that is planet Earth.

 The whole film seems like it has a pretty leftist agenda . The underlying message lies somewhere in the idea that we need to think about preventative measures to pollution and environmental indifference. There is a glimmer of hope, though. The end of the film suggests that even the direst situations can be remedied. When the captain of the ship and his fellow humanoids begin to think as a community and stop relying on someone or something else to cater to their every need, progress is finally made. The idea here being that we can’t think of ourselves as solely consumers. If we do, then we buy into the tenants of neoliberalism that caused the problem in the first place."

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