Where does beauty come from? Is it a mere roll of the dice, a collaborative collision of nuclei, cells, chromosomes and genes? So completely accidental. So arbitrarily random. Is it purely chance, like discovering a vein of gold in a rock slide?
Is that why we value it so much? Because it’s so rare?
Wall-e, the little trash compactor robot, wasn’t made with beauty in mind. He was designed to perform a task– a dirty task at that. Accordingly he is boxy, durable and economical. Hardly sexy.
Moreover he is behind the times, obsolete and rusty. And scarred.
But Wall-e is a poet. No he doesn’t speak it–he barely speaks at all–he whirs, and beeps…And sighs. He doesn’t write it either.
Poetry in motion? No. He is slow and clunky, patched together with spare parts that are always breaking down.
Wall-e is a poet at heart. His scroll and quill are the deeds inspired by his own gentle soul.
Take his relationship with Hal, only Wall-e could find the beauty in a cockroach. When we turn on the light and a cockroach scurries across the floor we are horrified. (Okay. Not all of us. Most of us. Bear with me here.)
We do at least one of these things:
- Scream.
- Step on it.
- Spray it with bug spray.
- Call our significant other to step on it.
- All of the above.
Not Wall-e. He nurtures Hal. He’s happy to see Hal of the mornings and, of course, Hal is happy to see Wall-e. When he accidentally rolls over Hal, he is mortified and heartbroken. Thank goodness Hal is virtually indestructible. He shakes it off, just a little worse for the wear and tear.
(Sigh…Cockroaches and Keith Richards.)
But while Hal is utterly content with his garbage filled world and endless supply of Twinkies, Wall-e is not. He longs for a specific kind of companionship that Hal cannot afford.
Enter Eve, a state-of-the-art, voluptuous robotic probe. She is sent to earth to scan for organic signs of life.
(No. Hal doesn’t count.)
Efficient, disciplined and mission orientated she is disinterested in, and annoyed by, Wall-e. If she had a nose it would be turned skyward.
Wall-e thinks Eve utterly beautiful and himself outclassed, but he is so smitten that he cant help from perusing her–deferentially, tenderly. And to his dismay, clumsily.
Gradually, Eve’s reserve and superiority complex starts to thaw. She begins to understand what we already know…She really is out of Wall-e’s league.
This is my favorite Pixar film. The first part reminded me of a Chaplin type film… with Wall-e as Chaplin playing the lowly tramp.
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It is my favorite as well. You know…I never thought about the Wall-e, Chaplin connections but I think your on to something. Wall-e and the little tramp have a lot in common. I love them both.
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The way Wall-e acted plus with no dialog. Just a great feel to the movie.
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I loved Wall-E,its also one of my favorite Pixar films,lots of laughs and its very moving. Great entry!
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Thank you Michael. I love Wall-e; he is kind and life affirming. We can always use a good dose of that.
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I have never watched this film, Pam. But you bring the character to life in this article.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I highly recommend Wall-e Pete. It’s a great pick-me-up film when your feeling a little down.
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I will happily take your recommendation, Pam. I tend to avoid anything ‘Pixar’ like the plague! 🙂
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Ohh…I’m curious…Why do you avoid Pixar? Overrated? Nauseatingly wholesome? I’m not judging, mind you. I have some of those biases as well…
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I am just old fashioned. I like cartoons to look like cartoons. I have favourites like ‘Dumbo’, ‘Snow White’, etc and love to see them over again. But when I saw my first Pixar film, ‘Toy Story’, it just didn’t feel ‘right’ to me, and I have avoided them since. I really can’t give a better explanation. 🙂
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Fair enough…I love Dumbo too. The crows are marvelous. The whole film is magnificent. Snow White too.
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Love this movie and love what you said about beauty and Wall-E. So true that he was built for functionality but he somehow does convey beauty in his “body language,” which I suppose is another irony.
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Thanks Lily. It is a beautiful movie about a beautiful soul. Win. Win.
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Great post 🙂 Wall-E is a masterful Pixar film and I do believe that his personality shares trait with Charlie Chaplin If not his visual look. I also found it amusing on Pixar’s part or the writer (who knows) to name the cockroach friend of Wall-E’s Hal. Hal is the name of the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey though I am aware that you have yet to see the film. Anyway, keep up the great work as always and I just posted a new blog entry in the form of a review of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead 🙂
https://cinematiccoffee.com/2018/11/02/john-charets-take-on-night-of-the-living-dead-1968/
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Interesting about Hal…One more reason to watch “2001”. Yes, I agree, now that it has been pointed out to me, (Ha!) that Wall-e and the little tramp have many similar characteristics.
Thanks for the kind words, John.
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The Keith Richard comparison is hysterical! And true. I am not much for animation, I think the only one I have seen in recent years and this was a while ago was The Lion King (my wife wanted to see). That said, I really enjoyed reading this and if I do get to watch this film you definitely opened up my eyes to it.
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I watch very little animation myself, John, although I sometimes kick myself for that–there are so many good animated films. This one is wonderful.
Thanks for the kind words.
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It has been years since I saw this movie, but I recall it being absolutely lovely.
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It is a lovely film. It brings about a smile and a tear or two for all the right reasons.
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