The Philosophy of Pixar: WALL-E

WALL-E is Pixar's warning about the effects of consumerism and our throwaway culture. In the very beginning of the movie, the audience is shown a dystopian world covered in trash. In fact, there was so much waste that the WALL-E's stopped disposing of it and started to organize it into tall skyscrapers. The whole beginning sequence has a hopeless feeling. In fact, the trash problem became so overwhelming that the entire human race left Earth perhaps thinking if they left it alone long enough it would fix itself. Although it is not explicitly stated it is pretty obvious that the corporation Buy and Large is the main culprit of the trash epidemic. They are greedy and want to continue their sales, so they purposefully make their products break easily so it will be thrown away and the consumer will buy more. On the Axion, the ship that holds the human race holds a dark implication. There is not nearly enough room on the ship to hold the entire human race. This shows that the rich were allowed onto the ship, and the poor were left to die in the waste. Only the rich could continue the greedy cycle of consumerism. This is a darker implication of that world's (and our own) throwaway culture. There are too many humans, so they leave them to die while they waste away on an automated paradise.

Another issue that WALL-E brings up is the over dependance on technology. On the Axion, the humans have become so dependent on technology that they literally cannot walk or function without it. It begs the question if they have given up their autonomy for automation. They have purposefully forgotten Earth's diverse culture to mold into a culture so desperate for a way to make things a little easier and more comfortable that they never grow. The captain of the ship is portrayed as a baby-esque figure. When he receives the Manual of the ship he commands "Manuel" to show him what to do like it's a robot. He has never seen a book and is mystified by it. The scene later cuts to him going through the computer's encyclopedia and learning about dancing, farming, and many of Earth's lost cultures. He literally has to fight his addiction to technology when he battles the autopilot to regain control of the ship, and the human's future.

This movie parallels our society's addiction to technology and how it stymies our growth. It also depicts an exaggerated depiction of what our throwaway culture will do to the Earth and the people who currently live there.