Wall-E

I took the kids to see Wall-E last week. (We don't get out to the theater very often.) I'm glad to report that they enjoyed it immensely.

For me, Wall-E was a little bit of Noah's Ark mixed in with a few other biblical themes. Beyond that, and I think more significantly, it was a critique of legalism, bureaucracy, and especially consumerism.

Its take on government was certainly pessimistic. But the governance is paternalistic and self-inflicted-- rather than its far-more-ominous-although-ultimately-as-stifling socialistic and communistic versions. In a word, it's a big poke at a democratically-elected Nanny State.

That said, its consumerism which comes under the most withering criticism. Consumerism leads to complacency and individualism. And ironically, freedom (exercised in this manner) leads inexorably to bondage.

I asked my kids what characters in the movie had-- and didn't have. "Had" was easy: food, entertainment, comfort, etc. They did a good job with the "have nots" too-- pointing to no family or friends.

Putting it more directly: at the end of the day, the tastiest irony of the movie is that the robots are the only ones who have life, love, and liberty.