biting the hand that feeds you.

so i went to see wall-e tonight and quite enjoyed it. visually it was amazing, and while the message was a bit heavy-handed i did enjoy most of the film. but i had a nagging feeling about the film that i couldn’t put my finger on until i had left the theatre.

first of all, the ending was a bit too abrupt. second, and more importantly, the idea of a disney movie harping on for 97 minutes about the perils of consumer culture is patently absurd. the success of the disney company is directly linked to the spread of consumer culture in america and subsequently throughout the world. stores like wal-mart, and places like macdonald’s have been used to sell disney products for years and disney would not be in the position it currently holds without that type of marketing and exposure. disney uses these tools to shape children’s minds toward consumer culture, so hitting out against it is surely a strange move. this is the company that we have to thank for high school musical hand sanitizer!

i get that the filmmakers could be trying to present something a little bit rebellious and left of center but COME ON; this just feels so wrong. to have a company that is a vanguard of consumerism make a stand about consumption? strange. furthermore, even if the filmmakers have ‘gone rogue’ the very act of viewing hollywood films is consumption in itself. that just seems so paradoxical, to be told consumerism is wrong while consuming. would you not like to me to see your multi-million dollar computer-animated epic? should i have simply downloaded it and ‘gone rogue’ against the corporate consumption monster? this whole experience has left me somewhat confused, to be honest.

in conclusion. wall-e: quite a good film, visually fantastic, message a little heavy-handed, ending too abrupt. disney: hypocritical corporate swine.