Exegesis of Wall-E
4I was minding my own business, eating dinner, when this thought popped into my head. In the movie Wall-E, all the people from the past (the old movies that Wall-E watches, recordings of the president) are live action. But all the present-time people are animated. Is there meaning here, or is it just a weird incongruity?
- 5 comments, 9 replies
- Comment
After prolonged time in space riding in hover chairs we all turn into animated characters.
The “real life” footage is actually computer generated graphics in that universe.
Transcendence of humankind into the singularity.
In Wall-E, humans of the past were, indeed, “real”. But after the transcendence, humans are merely digitally rendered concepts. Physicality no longer exists.
For more information on this topic, please reference Bobiverse books 1-3.
@ruouttaurmind Or maybe as the Matrix expanded, they made the rendering more efficient, but just put a wrapper around the legacy parts rather than converting them?
@ruouttaurmind Came here for the Bobs, was not disappointed.
Fun reads, for sure!
Wall-E was meant to feature entirely live-action humans, but the fat suits, makeup, and wardrobe made it prohibitively expensive. A last minute decision was made to animate everything other than some early footage and stock footage seen on some of the in-movie screens. (like that old-timey dance number)
@medz Any truth to the rumor that Fred Willard threatened to pull out – and jeopardize the whole project – if they animated him?
@walarney Yeah. I saw an interview where he stated, “I’m above cartoons, pal. If you think I’m going to allow my voice to be slapped on some digital monstrosity, you’d better think again.”
@medz @walarney I mean if you don’t want cheap half copies of yourself I’m pretty sure everyone knows to pull out…
@unksol @walarney
/giphy ha
@medz @unksol @walarney You know, that doesn’t always work, though…
@medz @walarney I’d say is likely untrue based on he has done voice roles in several cartoon movies before and after Wall-E, including a 2005 movie called Tom Goes To The Mayor where he played himself as a drawing, per IMDB.
Some people over at Reddit have strong opinions on this. Including the fact that Fred Willard was the first and so far last live action human in a Pixar film.
@Collin1000 forgot the link…