When I think about the them in the film, I think about abandonment. There are lots of examples in real life of families abandoning their children. Oftentimes this happens when a child's sexual orientation is discovered. Here in Utah, gay children are often left to fend for themselves--kicked out onto the street by their parents who are embarrassed, ashamed, and fear that they will be ostracized by their christian community. So in a way...yellow here is cowardice.
In Wall-E, perhaps the color yellow is a symbol of how the human race failed to deal with its pollution problem. They cowardly hid from it within a spaceship, and left a child (robot) behind to process the garbage and to report signs of life that would someday return to the earth.
Yellow is a powerful color. It can be a powerful symbol. However you choose to interpret Wall-E, I think that it sends multiple messages of warning (warning signs are painted in yellow). If anything, we can learn a thing or two from Pixar. These cartoons are not just made for kids.
Fortunately Pixar films aren't made just for kids.
ReplyDeleteAbandoned kids here come from the fact there are just a lot of poor people, which is sad.
I love Wall-E. :)
ReplyDeleteWall-E was the kind of movie that shows you don't need spoken words or big stars to tell a great story.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how people can disconnect from their kids if they find out they are gay or for any other reason.
ReplyDeleteThe best part of the movie for me was when you saw the people and they were all too obese to walk because they let the machines do all the work.
I loved Wall-E. It's another one of those Pixar films I can watch over and over.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand people sometimes either but I think that the more we talk and educate one another the better things will be. Ignorance is the problem - imho.
I don't understand why people can't see beyond all the surface stuff to the people inside. That would solve a whole lot of issues.
ReplyDeleteThanks...I see yellow with a different perspective now.
ReplyDeleteAbandoning kids is criminal isn't it? People can do that and not go to jail? We through people in jail for pretty much everything, you'd think that would be a reason.
ReplyDeleteWall-E is an amazing movie. I remember watching it for the first time with my girls. I remember marveling at the lack of dialogue in the beginning. That's probably the first time I realized these Pixar folks are operating on another plane.
ReplyDeleteKids should NEVER be abandoned for any reason at all.
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that the designer for the movie liked the yellow because it made him look like a tractor truck (think Tonka).
And in the beginning of the film, the colors are very muted and plain. And as the story progresses and Wall-E and EVE become ever so closer, the colors of the movie become brighter and more saturated.
I have never thought too much about how that color is a theme in the movie but you're right, and it does represent many things. Thanks for the thought-provoking post, and the movie does have themes for many ages.
ReplyDeleteYellow was the favorite color of Vermeer and Van Gogh, two of my favorite painters.
ReplyDeleteOn my island there is an orphanage. How sad is that? Yellow should be a reminder - NO ABANDONMENT - 'you go we all go'.
ReplyDeletePixar movies have very universal themes. That's why they work on so many levels (and for so many ages).
ReplyDeleteYellow is a good color. Abandonment is not a good thing, though. Why anyone would kick a child out... Nah, not going to go there.
Did you know they are (or were before it got too hot- maybe they were finally able to get them in there again) using robots to clean up the radiated materials in Fukushima? And the people getting fat because the robots were doing everything hits a bit too close to home doesn't it? I mean I live in a city were 22% of the population is obese which is the lowest in the country. That's still a lot!
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard there was no talking in the first 15 minutes of the film, I thought Wall-E had to be awful. Then I watched it, and I was totally engrossed in the first 2 minutes. I cry every time, too. Besides, what other movie has ever made a roach cute. I mean, really?
ReplyDeleteIs that a scorpion? It is kind of cute though.
ReplyDeleteYes, yellow is a power full colour.
I am having a hard time getting to read blogs, because of the new blogger. I don't know what I am missing as I do not see the lists of blogs I follow. Previously I used to get a list according to how they were written, I mean time wise. I will figure out, as I love to read blogs. They are easy to read and understand.
It's been so long since I watched Wall-E - he was so adorable...
ReplyDeleteBig fan of pixtar films and the color yellow. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteI think I need to see some of these movies you rave about.
ReplyDeleteOn the theme of abandonment, today in church, the priest talked about a child who'd been tied up and left to fend for herself because she has AIDS. You have to wonder where our minds are at when we throw our children away because of who they are or their sexual preferences.
Excellent post, Michael. Wall-E is a beautiful movie. Your comparisons are so true. I wish we'd learn as a society from movies like these.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wish that all religions would learn to stop ostracizing others in the name of whatever they pretends it is.
Wall-E is one of my favorite movies--I'd never looked at the yellow in the film that way before. Well-written post!
ReplyDeleteyellow is one of my fave colours since I love influencing people around me with colours and yellow transmits energy and happiness.
ReplyDeleteAnd you've been a bad boy, Mikey, you haven't visited poor little Dezzy in ages... me's been left all alone... OK, Kiss Evans visits sometimes... but he only sees a toy in me :)
Kind of makes me wonder what a Pixar movie would be like if they made one just for adults. Like a hard hitting R-rated kind of thing. I'm pretty sure it would mess up their branding, though. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is a great film and a great theme. With all of your great points made here, I'll have to watch it again. Hey, I've seen your ad for Slipstream on Goodreads. Cool!
ReplyDeleteWall-E!! Such a wonderful movie. Your main character is such a simple creature of so few words and yet he is our hero in the end. The movie itself is just so sweet too but there are definitely those important messages in there. Ones we should all listen to.
ReplyDelete