wake up

I went to see wall-e last night in an intense celebration of America by supporting its failing economy. we didn't set off fireworks in the yard or go anywhere, we just had a good picnic-type dinner, and I've been wanting to see wall-e and didn't particularly want to sit in my basement and watch other people celebrate on tv. so I convinced my dad to take us to the movies. 

it was good. it was absolutely FULL of messages. it wasn't just a finding nemo feel-good movie. when it was over, I was thinking, really hard. it had a deep solemnity about it. and while it celebrated the human spirit, the desire to do good and live life to the fullest, to overcome and find within us the definition of humanity, it also showed how low we could possibly let ourselves become, by ever losing those things in the first place. 

as the captain, thrown by the auto-pilot from his hover-chair, stood up and shakily shifted his massive weight from chubby foot to chubby foot and the watching crowd of human blobs cheered at this amazing feat, I wasn't caught up in the moment. I was thinking how sad the society where that is the mark of tremendous courage and strength and progress. I hope we never get to that.

the amazing thing about the movie's characters, wall-e and eve, are their ability to display astounding human characteristics through virtually no words. just movements. of hands. of eyes. and the repetition of each other's names in surprisingly poignant robotic voices. I have a feeling this means something more than just the contrast to the humans, robotic in their incessant obedience to advertising, technology, and mindlessness.

one of my favorite messages of the movie is that love is more than just attraction or a hundred other things. it's devotion, concern, self-sacrifice. 

it was a hopeful movie. for change and a shouldering of responsibility for ourselves and our planet. and the fact that we are never too far gone to change the way things are. the cowardly thing to do is run away and hope someone else will clean up the mess we made. and growth, life, rebirth, will always exist. hopeful, but still scary. when I left the theater, I was dwelling more on the possible trajectory of humankind than the possibility of backtracking. 

I hope others also felt the weight of responsibility, to make a difference where we can. the creators of this film wielded their power well. now it's up to us.