- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley; Chapter 3
Let's take two pieces of art and stand them next to each other. Brave New World is a masterwork that depicts our future as a haven of human-hatcheries, brain-washing, rationed drug use, and legally enforced orgies, all designed to keep us happy. The new Disney-Pixar film, Wall-E, bravely envisions Earth as a barren wasteland drowning in garbage and dust. Humans no longer inhabit their world. Instead, they live like barnacles aboard "The Axiom," a space cruiser designed by the global conglomerate "Buy 'N Large," where our every comfort is provided for by busy-bodied robots. Humans are animated as elephantine consumers, pushing buttons and staring lazy-eyed at glowing screens that advertise the latest products. The Captain of the ship requires the use of a computer to define words such as "Earth," "farming," and "dancing." To suggest that Andrew Stanton, the film's director, was influenced by Huxley's novel is perhaps speculation, but they are inspired by similar impressions on our possible future. If anything, Wall-E is a "G-rated" version of the aforementioned literary work; it focuses on the machine of consumerism and advertisement. They analyze the harsh truth that we are a species governed by greed and self-service, and technology seems to only advance our ability to do less and use more.
The opening shot of Wall-E is immediately haunting; the camera sweeps over mountains of discarded refuse, clumped around motionless windmills that once seemed to be our best idea at "alternative energy." In fact, the so-called "energy crisis" that we hear about in politics is hardly an issue in Stanton's approach to the future. Wall-E, an acronym for "Waste Allocation Load-Lifter, Earth-Class," is solar powered, a condition that eventually becomes a huge plot point once he leaves Earth behind. The Axiom must have an impressive power source; the ship uses gravity, light, a generated atmosphere, and enough electrical power in a day to light Disney World for a decade. While the film-makers neglect to address the question of how a mighty space-cruiser can use so much energy for so long, it's clear that the issue at hand isn't America's addiction to oil or our inability to quickly come up with an alternative power source for our devices. The windmills are there. The use of solar power is there. In fact, there is plenty of energy. And for 700 years, what purpose does all this energy serve?
To clean up our Big-Mac wrappers and keep us sedate on hovering reclining chairs. But Wall-E's audience won't see it that way; instead, many will dismiss it or codify it as "preachy" and avoid the discomfort of investigating what has been preached. It has been deemed an "eco-film" and a "green movie," terms that will shelve it next to An Inconvenient Truth. But Wall-E goes beyond preaching such a shallow and over-heated sermon. Just look at its main character.
Wall-E is a robot. An unfeeling, mechanical being. Or at least he's supposed to be. But after 700 years of crushing garbage into cubes and piling them higher than the Sears Tower, he has become rather curious, hawking away Rubik's cubes, brassieres, spoons, and a copy of "Hello Dolly" (he finds a hub-cap and uses it as a hat in order to dance along). Wall-E has taken seven centuries to learn that humanity has its quirks, eccentricities, and traits worth fighting for -- and of them, the most important is human connection. He watches as two lovers hold hands on an old VHS - and we can see, in his binocular-like eyes, that the robot is feeling something much greater than any human will during his day. And so when he meets EVE, an egg-shaped robot on a classified mission, he falls head over tread in love with her, despite her tendency to blast anything that moves with her deadly laser. And so begins his great adventure to rescue her from the evil around her and the confusion in her own tormented robot soul. As he does so, Wall-E inadvertently saves the human race; but every choice he makes is performed in pursuing his one Love. The parallels to humanity's great Mission - and its failure - are remarkable.
Think back to a long time ago, 700 years ago multiplied by 10 or 20. What would have happened in the Garden if Adam did what he was created to do, and fought for Eve at the moment of temptation? The Bible clearly states that he was right there next to her. Although re-tellings of the Great Fall commonly report that the woman was tempted alone (even the Apostle Paul sees it this way), Adam was there, or at least he had to be close enough to have a clue. He must have watched it happen. And he failed to jump in front of bullet, to take the hit, to possibly sacrifice the woman's approval so that God would remain satisfied. And men today also fail continuously. Men choose to be worshiped in the place of God. Men want to be served by women and ignore the Biblical instruction that clearly tells them to "die daily," or put to death their own desires, for the sake of the women they love. Is it so ridiculous to look at a silly animated movie about a ROBOT and say that he did better than our Fore-Father?
Comparing Wall-E to Adam isn't a stretch at all, really. At one point each was the only being on Earth capable of human emotion. And when a female arrived and changed everything, only one had the courage to jump out of his comfort zone and risk certain death and destruction in order to save her. Men are not solely at fault here. Greed and self-righteousness are equal sins between the sexes, and no gender is greater in guilt than the other. But our collective human greed, especially in America (where we apparently have unalienable "god-given" rights to do whatever the hell we want), is starting to collect a mighty debt. Rather than focusing on our debts, though, reflect on the answers to these questions in your own life:
1. Where were your clothes made?
2. Where was your vehicle built? Who built it?
3. Where did the fuel in your vehicle come from?
4. How full is your garbage can? How much of what's in it is paper?
5. Where does that garbage go when you're done with it?
Now don't start feeling guilty, or making up a recycling plan here. This isn't a "Go-Green" article; in fact, I think reducing the "global crisis" to a catch-phrase like "Go-Green" is a horrible idea. The answer isn't in windmills, solar power, hydrogen cars, and so on -- I think Wall-E got it right in showing us that alternative energy will do little to ease the real crisis. Because it has nothing to do with where we get our energy. It has to do with how badly we need it. And we need it desperately.
Imagine a day with electricity or gasoline. No car ride. No lights. No refrigeration or television. You wouldn't be reading this. It would make your job at work more difficult, no doubt. Arranging a meal would be a lot harder, for sure. But that I'm afraid cooking and work weren't your biggest concerns. So often I've heard men and women my age state that they "couldn't live without" a certain object, such as an Ipod, television program, or certain thing that requires energy or waste. We lust after our hobbies, our comfort, and the ease with which we can get things.
6. Where does your wasted water go?
7. How often do you shop at Wal-Mart?
8. Think of how much packaging is used to sell all the items in one Wal-Mart. Then multiply that number by the 100,000 some-odd Wal-Marts in the world.
9. In the last month, how many times did you eat fast-food?
10. Who grows your food? How much are they paid, compared to a non-farming job?
And the worst part is that I'm just as guilty as anybody else. The problem isn't that we will soon run out of oil, and when we do, we'll be choking out over $10 a gallon for it. The disease we must cure is our lust for comfort and self-indulgence. As a species, we are getting fatter, lazier, and more and more self-justified. And we're totally okay with it. Who needs to learn to play the guitar when guitar hero makes it so easy? Who wants to prepare an enormous and nutritious meal when KFC sells Family Buckets for only $11.99? And why should I pay $3.99 for a box of cereal at the local market when Wal-Mart sells it for $2.89? That dollar and eleven cents is important, and I need to save money. I work hard, dammit. I deserve it. I'm an American.
The final moments of Wall-E are rather sudden, but also incredibly potent. Not an eye will blink or mouth will peep. There is a period of mere seconds, though it is sickeningly long in your heart, where you will fear that Wall-E has lost all that has made him so beautifully giving - and you will ache not just because his love for EVE may be lost, but because his innate ability to show ridiculous compassionate and self-sacrifice may be forever lost. And you realize, as hot tears begin to fight their way through your resistant eyes, that a robot is teaching you what it means to be human.
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