The Gospel According to WALL-E: WALL-E

The Gospel According to WALL-E:

1. Authorship: WALL-E's story was developed by Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter. It was adapted for the screen by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon, Executively Produced by John Lasseter, Co-Produced by Lindsey Collins, Produced by Jim Morris, and Directed by Andrew Stanton.
2. The Genre of WALL-E is Animation, but there are also different themes in this movie. For example, since the movie talks about outer space, robots, and things of that nature, it could technically be classified as "Sci-Fi." There is also the theme of Romance and Adventure, as well. WALL-E, though a simple children's movie, has several underlying themes under the major title of Animation. Some techniques that the directors, writers, and producers used to make WALL-E a hit and get their point across are the use of an adorable robot, WALL-E, his ever so trusty sidekick, Cricket, and the occasional humorous phrase here and there. This is quite a task, considering that there isn't that much dialogue in the movie, so the writers and producers had an extra task to try and keep the audience engaged in the movie in the absence of words.
3. The intended audience for WALL-E is obviously young children, but their parents are going to watch it, too, because of their kids. If one takes a look at WALL-E and looks past the "childish" front, there is actually several deep meanings that can be gleaned from this kids movie. Kids would view WALL-E as a funny, entertaining movie. Environmentalists, on the other hand, would view this movie as the "truth," because of its message of recycling.
4. The Lifestyle/Values that are expressed in WALL-E are that: People are lazy and don't pick up after themselves, we tend to live a lazy, sedentary lifestyle, no matter how much junk we have, unless we have someone to share it with, it's as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, "Meaningless, Meaningless! Everything is meaningless." Also, they're suggesting that we need to take a step back from our busy, technologically filled lives and learn to appreciate the little things, as well as the big things, that life has to offer us.
5. The message of WALL-E is being sent because Disney wants to warn us what the future may hold for us if we don't take a look in the mirror and reassess our current lifestyle situation. Though this world is not our home, we must do all we can to make sure it's taken care of until we can fully enjoy our heavenly home.
6. Though God isn't explicitly expressed in WALL-E, one can infer that God is best represented in the scene when WALL-E is digging through the trash and random junk to find things and he finds a plant. This represents God because it shows how God digs through the "junk" in our lives and finds something that He thinks is precious and worth saving. He then "plucks" it out of the refuse of our lives and sticks it some place so that it can be fostered and grow into the thing that He wants it to be. In the movie, WALL-E stuck the plant in an old, worn out shoe, hoping that he could keep the plant safe from harm. God doesn't always stick our "plants" in old shoes, but where He does place it, He knows that's where it was meant to be and He'll show us how He wants us to use it to glorify Him. Another instance in WALL-E where God could be seen is how WALL-E goes to great lengths to be with EVE, even though she pushes him away. This is like something that God would do. He'd chase after us, despite our efforts to push Him away.

Random Observations (I'm not sure where these might fit, but I was in the analyzing mood.)

1. We do crazy things to impress people that we like/care about.
2. Our reliance on technology is too great. Though technology is useful and can really make our lives much easier, if we're to the point where we only rely on technology to accomplish menial, everyday tasks, then we have a problem.
3. Often times we take the "easy way out" of problems and don't try and work/struggle through it.
4. When things get iffy, sometimes all we want to do is go into our "WALL-E Box" and hide from the world.
5. Sometimes people come into your life at the most random moments, but it often turns out that their timing was perfect.

Brenda Schaffner

Pastor Sam

UNST-101: The Gospel According to WALL-E

7 October 2009