It’s time to return to simpler times, a time we all remember fondly, a time of robots and spaceships and floating chairs.
This crazy time is the year 2008, when WALL-E came out.
For those who may need a quick refresher, WALL-E follows a robot of the same name, who has been cleaning up garbage on Earth for hundreds of years while all the humans are away in a spaceship. A probe robot name EVE comes to Earth in search of plant life and, having found some, returns to the ship where the humans are. WALL-E is whisked away with her and hilarity ensues.
She tries to present the plant she found to Captain, the aptly named captain of the ship (that’s his name in the credits) but the robotic autopilot has other designs. You see, the humans are on the spaceship because they ruined Earth’s ecosystem and they planned to leave for a while while an army of robots cleaned up the mess (thus the probes sent to discover if Earth is once again suitable for human life). But the mission was a failure and the man in charge on Earth told the ship’s autopilot to stay in space indefinitely. That order was given 700 years prior to the start of the movie.
Eventually, Captain decides to go back to Earth, things have changed in all that time and the plant recovered by EVE is proof of that. After defeating the autopilot he succeeds and the humans are able to go back to Earth.
And that is the very brief recap of WALL-E.
As I sat reflecting on this movie I came to the conclusion that WALL-E is not the protagonist of the movie, at least not in the sense that he goes through some transformation or the Hero’s Journey.
Instead, the main character is humanity, or, more specifically, Captain.
There are of course climate implications and criticisms of throwaway consumerism, but that is not the purpose of this discussion. Instead, I want to discuss the change that Captain goes through, and reflect on what that can mean in our own lives.
The humans have been on standby for hundreds of years now, living in what’s basically a retirement community in space since they left Earth. They have grown highly overweight and never leave their floating chairs that will take them anywhere they want on the ship.
When the plant is discovered, Captain realizes it’s time go home. While Auto stands in his way, he says, “Out there is our home! Home, Auto! And it’s in trouble. I can’t just sit here and do nothing. That’s all I ever done. That’s all anyone in this blasted ship has ever done. Nothing!”
This line seems to me the most important line in the movie.
Captain is fed up with doing nothing, particularly when he discovers that there’s something else to do other than nothing.
He wants to take action, he feels that they need to. Instead of abandoning their home planet, they need to return and help it.
And Captain’s words are indicative of our human nature, our conscious.
We must do SOMETHING, or we’ll become like the humans in WALL-E before they discover another choice.
That is to say, ignorant, lazy, and easy to take advantage of. And quite possibly obese and unable to leave our floating chairs (bone mass shrinkage from space travel not included).
If we don’t do ANYTHING, it’s no wonder we can be taken advantage of. We don’t know any better, we never learned it in the first place.
Why wouldn’t a computer be able to keep us on a spaceship for 700 years if that’s all we’ve ever known?
Our nature is to do things. Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and Stoic Philosopher, once wrote in his personal journals, “In the morning, when you rise unwillingly, let this thought be present: I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am going to do the things for which I exist and for which I was brought into this world? Or have I been made for this, to lie under the blankets and keep myself warm?”
So, follow Captain’s example and do SOMETHING. It doesn’t even matter so much what it is. Just SOMETHING.
Don’t allow yourself to be too paralyzed over if what you’re doing is the right thing either. That can also lead to doing nothing. And it’s possible that you will never know if it’s the right thing until you’ve already started anyway. Luckily, you can adjust along the way.
Make a choice, take action. We are creatures of action, not leisure.
When they return to Earth, Captain tells the kids about food that they’ll grow in the ground and all sorts of things.
But take a look at the scenario from a distance. Do you suppose it would be easy for them to fix Earth in it’s current state?
Certainly not, but Captain is excited about it anyway.
That’s the meaning of life. Leaving behind his life of leisure and pleasure and entering a life of struggle, and therefore a life of meaning.
Perhaps we should do the same.
Thank you for reading.