Entry#3 Wall-E's Future Technological World

After watching the Wall-E clip about the future world and humans, I had a shifting reactions. At first I was shocked and kind of humored by the laziness and dependency on technology. But once I started making connections between the fictional future world and the world we are living in today, I realized that Pixar's version wasn't so far off from reality. 

The very first thing that I noticed was a bunch of obese people riding around on some sort of futuristic electric wheelchair, with their faces literally stuck in a screen. As the video continued, I read the electronic billboards (giant t.v. screens); all of them were talking about buying things. "Buy-N-Large, everything you need to be happy." is what the giant screens were saying as the people rolled through; taping away at their keyboards, holding conversations through their personal chair screens and eating their lunch through a straw. I can quickly make a connection between our own reality and this animation. For example, many people come home and pop a snack in the microwave, open a bag of chips, or pull one of their many snacks from the pantry. Then, with snack in one hand and cellphone in the other, they sit down on the couch in front of the television. All throughout the t.v. program there are "commercial breaks". What are most of these commercials about? Adverting products for people to buy. 

One part of the clip that stood out to me the most was in the very beginning. There were these two fairly large men riding through the city alongside each other having a conversation with each other. Now, I'm sure that we all would expect them to be looking at each other, speaking face to face, right? 

Not in the very least, they were actual speaking to each other through the screens (something like advanced Face timing) although they were only about two feet away from each other. 

Surprisingly, this seen wasn't as shocking as their conversation. "...Roll over to the driving range and hit a few virtual balls into space." said the first guy in a dull voice. Then guy number two said, " Nah, we did that yesterday. I don't wanna do that."

"Well, what do you wanna do?"

" I don't know, somethin'."

They sound so completely bored and unmotivated, that it is almost depressing to watch.

Another part of the clip that stood out to me was the daycare seen. Their was a classroom full of babies, sitting in chairs similar to the adults, staring at large screen as the robot-teacher spoken. Like most young children, they were learning their ABC's; but not the typical alphabet. "A is for Axiom, your home-sweet-home. B is for Buy-N-Large your very best friend" said the robot teacher in a monotonous voice.  

This scene shows that the society of the future is being taught only to depend on technology and that buying material things is happiness.

I enjoyed watching this clip. While it is obviously a fictional, animated over-exaggeration of what the future looks like, it isn't too far off from what is actually going on today. It kind of makes me wonder whether our society is becoming a little too dependent on technology in our everyday lives and whether consumerism may be getting out of hand.