Analysis of Satire in Wall-E Essay Example

Wall-E does not require humour to poke fun at its target, but I believe the real intention is to criticize the current track we as humans are on to destruction of our planet. Society has so many issues driven by the relentless human need of more. More things, more food, more money, more attention from others. The fact is, consumerism is not only impacting the health and wellbeing of humans, but also our planet and everything that lives here. Wall-E serves as a warning for the future of Earth and criticizes the behaviour of humans. It highlights three main social issues, being a rise in reliance on technology, our relationship with the environment, and the takeover of large corporations. I think it encourages us to find a balance between the desire for more and our effects on the world around us. 

EXAGGERATION

In Wall-E, exaggeration is used effectively and most prominently to show the turn Earth took based on the negligent actions of humans. First of all, over 700 years before the story takes place, Earth has become overwhelmed with toxicity to the point that it is uninhabitable and all of mankind must evacuate and live in space. Even most of the robots left on Earth to clean up after humans have died out as a result of the poisonous environment, Wall-E being the only survivor. Of course there is so much trash scattered across the world that one little robot such as Wall-E will never be able to clean it up all on his own. 

The start of the movie demonstrates the destruction of humans on Earth, but it also subtly hints at the reliance of technology with robots being the only thing left behind. It began the era of humans being too lazy to do things on their own when they realized that they had destroyed their planet. However, they just packed up and left without really attempting to do anything about it for themselves. Instead, they leave tiny little robots expecting them to fix what they had created. Later, this idea of human reliance on technology really comes to light when we are introduced to life on the Axiom. Pretty much all of their lives rely on robot assistance, from basic skills such as being able to move on their own, to the loss of intellectual capacity. Humans have evolved into the laziest form they could be, and it’s all owing to the fact that the major corporation, By n’ Large, have created a technological society that does absolutely everything for people that they should be able to do on their own.

Another concept which the movie slowly unfolds as it progresses, is the idea of  By n’ Large, the major company that seems to have more power than even the government. It probably seems quite odd how everyone on Earth was able to leave and live this “dream life”. Who composed this plan? What were their motives? Throughout the movie, it is revealed that By n’ Large was the reason for everything, and that they were trying to save Earth while everyone else was away. They created all of the robots, built the Axiom, devised the plan. However, we realize that they actually have no intention of fixing Earth, rather want to keep people in space permanently because they are generating a profit off of it. I think this factor imitates major corporations in our society such as Amazon or Facebook, where, for example,  they unethically track users’ data to generate a profit. It’s a business model based on manipulating the users, which is demonstrated (but exaggerated) in Wall-E with everyone’s life on the ship. 

INCONGRUITY

In this film, everything is so exaggerated that it creates a storyline full of questionable or unrealistic aspects. As I watched it, I noticed many things that just didn’t make sense to me since they were so bizarre. For example, starting at the beginning of the movie, how does one plant begin growing in a toxic environment with no sunlight after no life had ever been sustainable for over 700 years? Why is the scale of Earth in Wall-E so small, confined to basically one city? Why are robots the only thing left on Earth to clean up the mess that humans created? These subtle yet existent details only in the introduction of the film contribute to the heavily exaggerated dystopian warning that Wall-E poses to viewers.

In my opinion, life on the ship is quite unusual, with the way everything works being the most strange feature to consider. I would probably say the biggest thing that had me confused was the fact that the Axiom somehow experiences daylight and nighttime, even though they are in space (which is always dark). How does this work? Another thing is that Earth in the present day has a population of almost 8 billion people, and according to the storyline, everyone was evacuated onto one ship. We also know that as time goes on, our population is increasing even more rapidly than ever before. Consequently, it doesn’t quite add up how they all fit on that one ship and there’s probably like 20 babies total on the entire thing. Not to mention, there are no kids (population is limited to a very small number of babies and adults), teenagers, elderly, etc., and most people all look and behave the same way. Granted, this is probably because of the brainwash they are all under, but the profile of the general population doesn’t really make sense compared to the diversity of modern society. 

CONCLUSION

There is sufficient evidence of both exaggeration and incongruity in Wall-E, but they are used to communicate the message rather than make fun of the topic. It’s not a joke, these are real problems facing our society today. So yes, Wall-E is a satire, but it is exposing the flaws in human behaviour and encouraging the addressment of these issues.