Pixar’s new movie Wall-E is about (SPOILER ALERT) a crass consumer culture that eventually ruins the planet by completely covering it with pointless garbage. Humanity, unable to consume itself out of an environmental crisis, moves to space, where it endlessly vacations on giant cruise-ship like habitats. The planet is governed by a huge Walmart-esque mega-store called “Buy ‘N Large.” In order to celebrate this anti-consumption message, Disney has apparently been giving out cheap plastic watches, and has launched a “Buy ‘N Large” website where you can buy movie merchandise. [Slog]
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And? What’s your point?
Disney Consumer Products at it’s finest!
What better way to advertise a movie with a cheap ass watch that is made in China and has no replaceable batteries…or, and it’s probably not bio-degradable either!
So is that irony or just chutzpath?
@Jaysyn: Irony.
Ohh, social commentary in a neat little robot package…
@Jaysyn: In the same way that Shrek 1 commercialized itself, even though the movie made fun of it.
Didn’t finish my thought before hitting submit.
johnny five is alive.
@sean77: Johnny 5 is his great-great-great-grandfather clock.
Ratatouille had the same disconnect between the movie message and the merchandising arm.
Actually, I think these watches are ‘recycled’. My daughter got one and it still had faint Hot Wheels flames–from an old Happy Meal promotion.
Now the plastic wrapping and the cards for Beverly Hills Chihuaha, whole ‘nutha story.
My fave was seeing all of the trash left behind after the film. Ah America, you kill me.
Either robotic technology has really advanced in the last week, or the BuyNLarge website isn’t real.
[www.buynlarge.com]
Is this movie supposed to be pointless entertainment or are they supposed to get a message?
That Buy ‘n’ Large website is hysterical, btw. Especially their privacy policy.
The market segment of people who speak out against consumerism and conformity is a maybe-not-so-surprisingly lucrative one.
Che T-shirts anyone?
The only ‘consequence’ I see in this film is an apparently temporary separation from earth, and fatness.
Apparently people will be able to do nothing and the benevolent company governing them will just take care of them.
Also somehow science has bothered to create robots with gratuitous emotion and will fix the Earth for us but the scientists can’t figure out how to keep people from getting fat.
Haven’t seen the movie but that’s what it sounds like so far.
HA! I tried to take a picture of these to send in when I was at the movie but they were behind the glass and it didn’t come out. The kid selling the tickets obviously didn’t understand the irony.
This is like how the green movement has been co-opted by corporations. What began as intelligent people becoming critical of the environmental impact of things they purchase turned into a mass marketing campaign to convince people that it was fashionable to buy “green” alternatives to products they already owned, thus perverting the whole notion of green to begin with by encouraging more consumption.
Disney is simply doing a parody of itself, don’t you get it? Wait, what’s that shiny object? ooooooh..
Hollywood makes movies. Kids are influenced by kids movies. Should Hollywood ever attempt to instill in my child a distaste for a life of self-absorbed lassitude? A distrust of government by corporation? A fear of rampant consumerism?
Similarly, rich people run for president. Should we accept that a presidential candidate might actually care about poverty in America?
I don’t care if it’s hypocritical or ironic. It certainly beats the alternative.
@girly: Robotics and AI is easy compare to bio-chemical engineering to counteract the choice of overeating while not excersizing
@Dobernala: Yeah, I also don’t get the concept of ‘making up’ for your consumption with some of these sites where you can buy a sense of peace about what you are doing–because some of our resources are finite and you can’t ‘make up’ for using them.
Here’s the privacy policy on the BnL website which someone mentioned above.
From time to time we may add or enhance services available on the site to increase our market share. We will use the information you provide to increase our market share and facilitate any program that is deemed beneficial to the Buy n Large Corporation. For example, if you email us with a question, we will use your email address, name, nature of the question, etc. to assist the Buy n Large Corporation in acquiring new assets.
There’s a ton more, but check out the site, its hilarious.
@donkeyjote: you could probably cyborg people just enough to counteract hunger sensations, or kind of force your body to exercise, or something like that
I thought Buy ‘n Large was trademarked by Rosie O’Donnell?
@girly: Except that that would mean you are intentionally causing pain to get people to do something, and well meaning (good) scientists would not do that.
Asimov’s 3 rules, for example.
Buy n Large has a great website.
[buynlarge.com]
I have push myself away from the PC for a minute for a bathroom break. Back soon. My new chair rolls so easily. I peaked out the window earlier, not much going on, what did people do before the internet?
@dorianh49: She trademarked Large N In Charge…
@IfThenElvis: Maim, murder, rape and pillage, mostly.
@donkeyjote: why would there be pain involved?
@girly: How else do you force someone to do something? Especially with electronics?
@Jaysyn: I believe it’s called “cluelessness.”
Wall*E at its core is more about disconnectedness rather than an environmental/consumerism critique. Your description of the movie is pretty simplistic.
Huge corporation destroying the planet by covering it with useless garbage.
Disney is a bit elitist and saying that their garbage is not doing any harm but everyone elses is.
Did kid’s movies always have social/political agendas? Or am I just realizing it now that I’m watching them from the adult perspective??
@donkeyjote: there are already those ridiculous belts that contract muscles.
now there is an external way using magnetism on the brain to counteract migraines
if we are thinking ‘future’ i’m sure that other non-painful ways to manipulate the body will be found
and if anything, people of the future will want to look ‘good’ look at how much is invested on cosmetic surgery
i could see the future being full of vain people who have skewed their sense of beauty to some artificial looking cosmetic surgery aesthetic.
of course there are many possibilities
the movie was quite good, and probably true except the robot saving us from being robots. that part will never happen.
Wall-E was excellent social commentary.
@kmiles: That, or moral agendas. Look at the Bugs Bunny movies. The super slow/lazy/hungry mouse is a pot head, greed kills, animal hunters are stupid, etc. I can’t think of any other “kids” movie at the moment though.
@kmiles: Yes. Sometimes its more subtle, sometimes its explicitly stated. I’d love to elaborate, but I would probably get banned from this website for pointing out some of the more taboo examples of it that involve how race relations is used in movies as propaganda against whites.
@Skankingmike: SPOILER!
@girly: your vision is that of Brazil also a great movie. Superficial robotic corporate culture.
@Skankingmike: I’ve heard of it but never seen it–I’ll have to check it out. I did like 12 monkeys a lot
@donkeyjote: listen Pixar makes good movies but their plots aren’t very deep.
It’s like somebody not knowing that Nemo was going to be saved!!! or that Mike and Scully were going to get Boo back to the human world.
which btw Monsters Inc. is by far my favorite movie by Pixar.
@girly: If you like Terry Gilliam it is a fantastic movie, I am a huge fan of his.
12 Monkey’s was excellent. But (and i know a lot of people hate these) love Time Bandits and Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Holy Grail was also good
@Skankingmike: But nothing in the previews would lead you to believe Wall-e was going to save humans from becoming robots. Hell, 99% of the previews didn’t even have a human or a reference to humans in it. You only see the fat guy in a sailor suit for like 2 seconds out of 3 minutes.
Dear Meg Marco,
Thanks for the spoiler-post.
@Skankingmike: Haven’t seen time bandits but Munchausen was good. Very reminiscent of ‘The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship’ (as for HG nearly died laughing at the rabbit)
@donkeyjote: I was thinking that Happy Feet is another that seemed to have an agenda. Not saying I am for or against either of the movies’ agendas, just didn’t notice it until now
@Dobernala: This is like how the green movement has been co-opted by corporations
I would revise that to say: This is like how the green movement was killed by corporations. The current green movement is a mere husk of what it was. Do you want to know the day it died and who killed it? Probably the day a company filed a patent for “Green” Styrofoam. What makes it green? Instead of taking 11 million years to decompose, the new material would take only a mere 8 million years.
@kmiles: Oh you can find political messages in any thing. I guess it depends though on how much you agree/disagree with the message for one to notice it. Thinking back to classic disney movies:
Bambi – Hunting Bad, Forest fires bad, makes orphoned baby dear.
Snow white – Beware of old strangers, Embrace those with physical and emotional handicaps, especially those who are vertically handicapped.
So on and so forth..
@kmiles: Don’t pick on the weird kid, short people = mexicans, and animals are people too.
The Buy n Large website is a bit unnerving.
“Leave your news to us! Our facts are world leading.”