Months ago, I heard scuttlebutt that some Disney execs were "concerned" about Wall-E's ecological subtext after they viewed the Pixar's latest: "Uh, pretty heavy on the green thing, don't you think?" We spent one hundred eighty million dollars for an anti-consumer film?"
At the time, I chalked it up to rumor mongering. But whattayaknow? Here is the British Guardian running an article talking about ... that very theme:
...[T]he mixture of [Wall-E's] eco-friendly message with a vast merchandising operation has handed ammunition to right-wing commentators, who accuse Disney-Pixar of hypocrisy. On the National Review's website, Shannen Coffin complained: 'From the first moment of the film, my kids were bombarded with leftist propaganda about the evils of mankind.'
Greg Pollowitz added: 'All this from mega-company Disney, who wants us to buy Wall-E kitsch for our kids that are manufactured in China at environment-destroying factories and packed in plastic that will take hundreds of year to biodegrade in our landfills. Much to Disney's chagrin, I will do my part to avoid future environmental armageddon by boycotting any and all Wall-E merchandise and I hope others join my crusade.'
The criticism hints at the inherent culture clash between Pixar - cool, creative, formerly owned by Apple's Steve Jobs - and the cash-driven Disney empire ...
This "abstain for all things Wall-E" campaign will probably get about as far as the Southern Baptists' Disney boycott of a few years ago, when gay Disney employees getting corporate medical benefits met with the Church's ... ah ... displeasure. That was one anti-Disney campaign which got yawns from the general population, and after a few years withered and died. (The past as prologue?)
It's pretty much a truism that no matter what you're selling, somebody somewhere will be ticked off over it. And because Disney is perceived as the trademark "family friendly" company, some families get outraged when the Mouse House strays from bland insipidness and produces a film that comments on, you know, the realities of present-day life.
Sadly, idiots are always with us.
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17 comments:
"We spent one hundred eighty million dollars for an anti-consumer film?""
Whoever said that, is too daft to see the big picture. Disney spent $7.4 billion dollars for a studio so they can learn how to make movies from them. The only thing shocking at this point is what slow learners they are.
This on top of him being a criminal copyright infringer. He's a bad influence I tells ya.
What's particularly fun to watch is the wingnuts stomping and stomping their feet and no one cares. They made a bed to lay in, and now drown from their own diarrhea of the mouth.
I don't agree with the Guardian's point-of-view. Ecological concerns do play a part in the movie, but they're not the main point of the film.
WALL-E warns its audience not to live life on autopilot. It encourages viewers to live and love, not to settle for mere existence.
The main villain is the autopilot. WALL-E's final moments underscore the difference between conscious life and lifeless existence.
I think the Guardian missed the point of WALL-E
$0.02
Well, Pixar doesn't have to worry about the flak, now does it? It has Disney to surround it and support it, sell the merchandise and be called greedy and "cash-driven" as a result. Come on - let's get real here. Pixar runs on dollars just like Disney does. As to the so-called green message of Wall*E, I think the real problem with it is not that it's polical, it's that it's freaking boring. I've seen the movie twice now, hoping I'd like it better the second time, but no dice. And I've never seen so many bored kids in a movie theatre before (at least while watching a family film). I wish Pixar would just try to make a fun, funny movie again. It hasn't really done that since "The Incredibles".
That last guy really likes to hear himself type. All I know is...can't they make plastic from dope now? Why don't they just cast the space monster in dope? It melts in the sun when your done playin.
"hints at the inherent culture clash between Pixar - cool, creative, formerly owned by Apple's Steve Jobs - and the cash-driven Disney empire ..."
Uh, yeah, like Apple (and every other computer manufacturer) doesn't produce TONS of environmentally unfriendly waste products ?
Your Computer's Dirty Little Secret
Old Computers Toxic in Landfill Sites
Oh, for the days when our animation was done on good ol' bio-degradable , recyclable wood pulp (a renewable resource) . ;- )
We're all guilty, guilty , guilty .
Seriously, I can't believe that anyone thinks that the very mild environmental message in Wall-E is "leftist propaganda" . It's more conservationist than eco-radical .
While I'm a union supporter I'm certainly no lefty on most political issues , but I'm definitely in favor of all things green and a simpler , organic lifestyle ... I guess I'm more of a 'Crunchy Conservative' (look it up) . All that to say: I didn't think that Wall-E was over-the-top with the environmentalism . A little gentle satire and holding the mirror up to ourselves ("We has met the Enemy and he is Us") never hurt anyone.
"Oh, for the days when our animation was done on good ol' bio-degradable , recyclable wood pulp (a renewable resource) . ;- )"
...and then traced onto plastic sheets, and painted with chemical paints, and photographed onto plastic filmstock, and processed in a chemical soup... :0)
let's putshit on ourthumbs and animate on the sides of bison.
Does it really matter what the right wing/fascist Guardian has to say about Wall-E?
I couldnt care less!!
Consumerism is out of hand, and even if that fact gets tagged as left wing propaganda, it's still true.
I'm not looking fordward to what Disney is about to release either.
Especially that stupefying chihuahua movie. Looks like a movie Paris Hilton would make...
R.
"...and then traced onto plastic sheets, and painted with chemical paints, and photographed onto plastic filmstock, and processed in a chemical soup... :0) "
Yes, thus the smiley/winky face thing I put after my comment about "bio-degradable , recyclable wood pulp" .
;- )
Smile everyone !
"let's putshit on ourthumbs and animate on the sides of bison."
Oh, you National Film Board of Canada types with your high falootin' artsy-fartsy sensibilities .
I would have liked to have seen how Wall-E was pitched by the consumer products people to the WallMart buyers. That would be some interesting sugar coating.
I wonder based on the numbers that we may see a quicker drop off for this robot film than we saw for the Rat film. which dont get me wrong was last summers best for me. This summers verdict is still very much out with KFP ranking pretty high for me still.
Disney's film after the dog movie is suppose to be on paper and probably all digital on the back end so that sounds very green friendly.
I don't know about any big drop-off for Wall-E as compared to Kung Fu Panda over the long run. Not so far according to the numbers at Box Office Mojo ---
Looking at the second week numbers for Kung Fu Panda, by this time in KFP's release it had made $117,289,932 domestically . Wall-E's second week cumulative domestic box-office is $10 million more at $127,196,028 . (so, yeah, it's been reported that Wall-E cost $50 million more than KFP , so it has further to go to hit the break-even mark and start to show a profit, but I'm not too worried about that in the long run.)
As I said before, I'd hate to see any kind of false Wall-E "vs." Kung Fu Panda rivalry being established. It's great for our industry that BOTH films are doing well at the box-office and in the critical prestige department.
At least someone it trying to use some pack-smart concept.
I did like the box it came in
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