Comments on: How religious is ‘WALL-E’?

By: Eric Herman

Eric Herman — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:37:16 +0000

I just saw this the other day and didn’t once think of any religious allusions, and none really jumped out at me during the film… And that was after having read this blog post.

By: Andrew D

Andrew D — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:04:53 +0000

I’ve been reading this stuff about the film and just saw the movie this morning with that in mind. I thought it was very slightly preachy about the environment, but not overwhelmingly so. I didn’t really notice any striking evidence of biblical themes besides the remote similarities already mentioned.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:10:17 +0000

This is fascinating. I had no idea there were biblical or christian themes in this movie.

All I’ve heard so far is that right-wing nutjobs have been going crazy saying the movie is full of left wing propaganda. It’s too pro-environment, too anti-corporation, too anti-fat people, even too fascist!

This truly must be a special movie indeed to push so many buttons.

By: Bret

Bret — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:51:28 +0000

I didn’t think of Noah’s Ark at all but instead ran with the Adam and Eve theme. The Plant is the Forbidden Fruit that sends the people living in the Garden of Eden (i.e. they don’t have to work for their food or anything else but sit around and be entertained) into the Lone and Dreary World. I also like the seed idea being planted in Eve by “Adam” mentioned above.

As for the minister, he is certainly asking too much of critics but Eric handled it nicely and he responded kindly (though I think Eric’s last two paragraphs here might have helped the guy even more), so I don’t see why many here feel the need to give him a hard time.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:25:05 +0000

* Mild spoilers *

I just saw “Wall-E” a few hours ago. I didn’t notice the biblical references, until afterwards, when my wife pointed them out to me. Not even the name “Eve” was an obvious sign to me, until after I’d seen the movie. I guess I hadn’t connected a tough gun-wielding girl-bot with Adam’s wife.

I’m a sci-fi buff, so I was actually looking for a lot of post-apocalyptic, dystopian themes in the film. I caught the “2001: A Space Odyssey” references, including the use of the “Also sprach Zarathustra” fanfare, by Richard Strauss. In “2001,” the fanfare was used when the ape discovered he could use a bone as a weapon. In “Wall-E,” it was when the oversized captain began to walk. A few strains from “The Blue Danube Waltz” was in the film as well, and of course there was a “Hal 9000″-ish ‘bot. Furthermore, the barren Earth reminded me of “The Road Warrior” and other post-apocalyptic sci-fi flicks a little bit, but only in setting (desert wasteland).

But, besides all the sci-fi references, what stuck out the most in my mind was this is a love story, and I liked it. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy chases girl, girl notices boy, girl falls in love with boy, etc. “Hello Dolly” served to reinforce this aspect of the story in “Wall-E.”

But, it’s interesting now to see people point out the biblical allusions that I’d overlooked. They weren’t too obvious to me on my first viewing, but now that I’m thinking of it, I do recall seeing such allusions in “Wall-E.”

What a great film, indeed! I think that “Wall-E” is closer to artistic perfection than any other CGI film… ever.

By: Raul

Raul — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:11:30 +0000

[SPOILERS]
I still don’t get a few things about the movie. In the spaceship the humans were eating and drinking and creating huge amounts of trash that was just thrown into space. Where were they getting all the resources to make all their food and all the stuff that turned into the trash? They spoke of the never ending food supply without describing it, but without some sort of magic you can’t create tons of metal and plastic out of thin air to make robots and cups and chairs.
I left the movie wondering how the next few years of life went for the tubby humans. They left their cushy pointless lives to go back into the harsh world without any idea of what they were doing, how to plant and harvest, how to build anything, etc. It didn’t even show that they had animals with them. Their robots may have done a lot of it for them, but even they wouldn’t be programed to till the earth. I wonder how many of the humans would be whining to go back into the space ship and just sit on their chairs.

By: bfwebster

bfwebster — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:09:08 +0000

My reaction was pretty much the same as Rachel’s — I noticed the ‘EVE’, but the overriding themes seemed to be anti-consumerism and pro-environment. Fortunately, the movie was so well done, so funny, and so exquisitely animated that the message came across as gentle chiding rather than heavy-handed lecturing.

My comment to my wife as we left the theater yesterday was that this was the world’s longest, most expensive, and best-done Looney Tunes cartoon ever. And I meant that as highest praise. ..bruce..

By: B

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:26:12 +0000

error instead of era, arch instead of arc, the minister needs to learn that spell-check isn’t infallible.

By: Niall

Niall — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:07:30 +0000

Quote of the year: ‘He must mean “era”‘…

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:06:04 +0000

I was raised in a church-going family and think I’m pretty Bible-savvy, but I totally missed the biblical allusions. I was caught up in the lack of dialogue (which I liked), and the “turn off your cursed Blackberry, we’re all turning into giant blobs!” message. That, along with the obvious environmental issues, seemed to dominate. I think you see what you want to see, or what is most pertinent to your life. My husband’s blackberry drives me crazy, so that is probably why it was so obvious in my mind. I live in the West and we are always trying to conserve, so that also is at the front of my brain. The bible stuff…I see it now that it has been pointed out, but I didn’t notice it at first.