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Wall-E doesn't say anything
LA Times ^ | 13 July 2008 | Charlotte Allen

Posted on 07/13/2008 6:24:04 AM PDT by shrinkermd

...I can understand where the conservatives are coming from, because liberal critics and pundits are treating "Wall-E" as a piece of G-rated schoolroom propaganda designed to drill into childish heads the duty to climb aboard the climate-alarmist, capitalist-bashing bandwagon. The most blatant example of this came from Frank Rich of the New York Times, who wrote, "At the end, [the kids in the audience] clapped their small hands. What they applauded was ... a gentle, if unmistakable, summons to remake the world before time runs out." Gaagh -- give me Dirty Harry any day. The irony of all this is that if "Wall-E" is didactic, what it has to teach is profoundly conservative. For starters, the film never even goes near the climate-crusading vocabulary of "global warming," "carbon footprints" or even "green," which used to mean "verdant and lovely" but now means "twisty fluorescent lightbulbs." The crime of the humans who vacate Earth isn't failure to drive a Prius but strewing detritus. Conservatives detest litterbugs and other parasites who expect others to clean up after them. "Wall-E" champions hard work, faithfulness to duty and the fact that even a dreary job like garbage-collecting can be meaningful and fulfilling.

...In its portrayal of the overweight slobs on the spaceship, "Wall-E" isn't denigrating consumerism but passive dependency. Junk-food-fueled obesity correlates inversely with socioeconomic status, and it's those on the low end who the liberal welfare state tries to scoop up as permanent clients. "Wall-E" is also pro-life. When Eve shuts down after retrieving a green plant from Earth (she's literally in a "persistent vegetative state"), Wall-E doesn't decide she has a "right to die" so he can get rid of her; he carts her around tenderly and decks her with some still-functioning Christmas lights he has retrieved from human disposables.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: conservative; liberal; walle
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To: shrinkermd

Excellent movie. Sam’s sells the WALL-E robot toy for about $38.00 . Getting one. Hereafter, forever and whenever I observe a skin-tight fat person I will think of WALL-E. All to common a sight these days.


21 posted on 07/13/2008 8:21:11 AM PDT by Broker (Grandpa Petti Bones wants to know.)
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To: Egon
“This was an EXCELLENT movie”

I thought it was great, too.

As far as the “messages”, there were several, some environmentalist slanted and some life slanted.

More than anything it was entertaining. I like how the robots had body language and personality. Sure, R2D2 had personality, but not like Wall E.

Cool movie.

22 posted on 07/13/2008 8:38:24 AM PDT by ryan71 (Typical bitter white gun toter)
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To: shrinkermd
I thought the movie was great, not as outstanding as some reviewers have commented.

However, you have to try really hard to find the film a source of liberal propaganda. I dislike when conservatives practice constant outrage over nothing, just as I do with liberals.

23 posted on 07/13/2008 8:52:49 AM PDT by zencat (Obama isn't an option: (www.McCain-Magnets.com))
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To: Borges

Nope, but I am saying making assumptions about human nature 800 years in the future is not prudent. To do so, requires an underpinning belief system that explains fat people, a trashed world and so forth and so on.


24 posted on 07/13/2008 9:12:07 AM PDT by shrinkermd
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To: SlapHappyPappy

I don’t think you want to go there. There is no comparison between the “waste” my people left behind (which broke down fast/easy) and the waste caucasions produced, which doesn’t decompose for thousands of years.


25 posted on 07/13/2008 9:27:14 AM PDT by quiet_reverie (http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/19476/donna_hope.html)
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To: norraad

We (Native Americans) were far more earth friendly than the caucasions who came in with their diseases, filth and waste. Prior to them arriving, we were just fine.


26 posted on 07/13/2008 9:28:57 AM PDT by quiet_reverie (http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/19476/donna_hope.html)
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To: quiet_reverie

The issue is not waste but the complete depletion of resources which, frankly, was very common among many of the tribes (not all).

The myth that all Native American tribes treated the environment with great respect is as much a myth as that which states America is hell bent on destroying the environment.


27 posted on 07/13/2008 9:36:14 AM PDT by SlapHappyPappy
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To: Egon
”This is, by far, Pixar’s best movie to date.”

I have not seen Wall-E yet but, come on better then the incredibles?

28 posted on 07/13/2008 10:02:19 AM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric cartman voice* 'I love you guys')
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To: aruanan
"This is more than can be said for most other species that will eat and reproduce until they run out of clean space and food and then move on."

Sounds like liberals. Two examples: Californian exodus to Colorado, and Masshole exodus to New Hampshire.

29 posted on 07/13/2008 10:27:25 AM PDT by Tench_Coxe
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To: shrinkermd

btt


30 posted on 07/13/2008 10:37:33 AM PDT by Cacique (quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Islamia Delenda Est ))
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To: shrinkermd

31 posted on 07/13/2008 10:51:07 AM PDT by cruise_missile ('')
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To: cruise_missile

LOL. I never thought of that. Think of Disney in 800 years!


32 posted on 07/13/2008 10:55:54 AM PDT by shrinkermd
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To: shrinkermd
Unlike you and the author of Wall-e, I hesitate to predict the future 800 years hence.

C'mon, it's as much a prediction of the future as Star Wars is a historical retelling of the past. It's intended as fiction, not as "An Inconvenient Truth: Part 2".

33 posted on 07/13/2008 10:58:12 AM PDT by Junior_G
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To: Steve Van Doorn
I have not seen Wall-E yet but, come on better then the incredibles?

I saw Wall-E last night and really enjoyed it; but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as The Incredibles.

34 posted on 07/13/2008 11:02:18 AM PDT by Junior_G
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To: shrinkermd

This movie was a case of me liking it, my little brother and stepmother being ‘eh’, and my dad going ‘grrr’.

Oh well. You take from it what you will.


35 posted on 07/13/2008 11:26:53 AM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007 (Look at all the candidates. Choose who you think is best. Choose wisely in 2008.)
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To: shrinkermd

I loved the movie - kids loved the movie.
Good family fun - no “adult” humor like you see in Shek.

The “sin” of the humans was that they were litterbugs.

You could probably gather an anti-Walmart feeling from the film - but I didn’t see how global warming had anything to do with it.

The cartoon prior to the film was excellent.
My 5 year old was hysterical (from laughing)


36 posted on 07/13/2008 11:30:09 AM PDT by Scotswife
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To: shrinkermd

If you’re writing about people living in the future you have to predict human nature at that time.


37 posted on 07/13/2008 12:27:29 PM PDT by Borges
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To: cruise_missile

AMEN


38 posted on 07/13/2008 12:39:03 PM PDT by bmwcyle (If God wanted us to be Socialist, Karl Marx would have been born in America.)
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To: shrinkermd

PERSONS attempting to find a motive in this narra- tive will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR,
Per G.G., Chief of Ordnance.


39 posted on 07/13/2008 12:44:15 PM PDT by Clemenza (We are a REPUBLIC, not a "Will of the People" Mobocracy)
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To: Borges

Yes, but predicting what the future holds tells you what the author holds right now.


40 posted on 07/13/2008 1:10:38 PM PDT by shrinkermd
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