The Final Threat to Humanity... Technology

Wall-E is a story about a dystopic future in which Earth has become lifeless due to unsustainable levels of trash. Unaware of the situation on Earth, the cruise ship the Axiom leads the last sliver of humanity on a numbing space cruise with no foreseeable return date. The background to the dystopic setting is never explained and is meant to be an axiomatic element of the story; interestingly, it is the Axiom which drives the story and allows Wall-E to embark on his adventure. From the axiom that is presented to us, the ideas the film is meant to provoke can be analyzed.

Within the Axiom, the last of human life has lived in complete isolation from the world around them, which because they are now in space is nothing, and have become completely numb to communication that isn’t the screen directly in front of them. Although the scenario is nonsensical in many ways, such as where is the food source for the ship or how have new generations of humans been brought up in such a manner, it forces us to examine our ever growing relationships with the screens in front of us. The quintessential human drive that has led to the growth of civilization is lost upon those on the Axiom. Those on board are pacified to the point that technology is no longer dependent on humanity for existence, but rather humanity has become dependent upon technology for their continued existence. Although those onboard are given every avenue to escape their solitary lifestyle, whether through the infinite banks of knowledge accessible through their screens or the gyms available to them to exercise [potentially their options..], but instead remain stooped in passivity to continue life in the same mechanical fashion.

Only those who come into contact with life are able to escape the repetition they are caught in. Within the movie, though, the humans on board can’t truly be considered life since they are stuck in the same autonomic cycle as the Axiom, rather the only life is that on Earth, Wall-E and the cockroach. From them the seeds of humanity are once again planted within what’s left of society as a result of the new-found plant. Upon first contact with life, the characters gain the highly contagious free will that makes us human. It forced the cleaning bot to deviate from its set path, caused John and Mary to abandon their screens and communicate face to face, and of course it allowed the Captain to break his autonomic routine and begin to question the world; which is an essential human characteristic. By doing this, Wall E juxtaposes the ever increasing amount we communicate with technology with the corresponding decrease in interpersonal communication. The screen was the mode of pacificity for the people onboard the Axiom and once removed the blinders on them seemed to disappear. By making the technology the vehicle through which interpersonal communication is resumed, though, Wall-E doesn’t attempt to demonize technology as the cause of the problem. Rather, human over-dependence on technology is highlighted as the cause and cooperation between the two the resolution.