Science Fiction - Connecting Gritty Live-Action and Animation Through Wall-E and Blade Runner: Part 1

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Science Fiction - Connecting Gritty Live-Action and Animation Through Wall-E and Blade Runner: Part 1
February 18, 2011
Toonzone

Blade Runner is a dark, gritty science fiction film that “projects the nightmarish vision of the early twenty first century” (Bosnak 74). The city is dirty, overcrowded and chaotic due technology consuming society’s everyday lives. The film follows an ex-police officer Rick Deckard being forced out of retirement to hunt down and kill a group of escaped humanoid robots known as Replicants. It’s hard to imagine that such a horrific story would parallel Pixar’s animated film Wall-E in numerous ways. Scenery details, characterization and key symbolic items in both films correlate with one another. The difference in Wall-E and Blade Runner is in that they cross different genres, Wall-E with animation and Blade Runner with film noir (Doll and Faller 91). Naturally this cross produces different outcomes to particular situations, with Blade Runner obviously being far darker than Wall-E. Despite these differences, through looking at the science fiction genre and specific concepts and ideas within it, I am able to tie themes and situations in both films close together.

Only after going through heaps and clouds of space trash (Murray and Heumann) does the audience first meet the small trash collecting robot known as Wall-E. We see him going through the dust covered streets collecting garbage and crushing them into small blocks over and over again. As it happens, the Earth is now covered in skyscrapers of made out of those blocks of garbage (Onstad). Due to pollution the Earth has become a raging dirt ball and uninhabitable for humans. Instead, the humans have been sent off while the Earth is being cleaned. What was meant to be a fairly quick process turned into a 700 year adventure for the humans. As we are introduced to the humans, we find they are an “apathetic, indolent, and lethargic human race” (Murray, and Heumann). Not only does Wall-E at this point present a dystopic world, but a dystopic human race. One that is completely reliable on the machines as they feed, carry and obey their every command. It is to such a horrible point that they have never even truly seen the stars.

While there are humans in Blade Runner the city is nearly just as disturbing as what is shown in Wall-E. There is “no laughter and no family in the film; they seem to have perished in a far distant past” (Bosnak 82). For a city so high in technology, it is so rundown, with many of the buildings falling apart and it appears as though there are many homeless individuals. It is ironic that Blade Runner takes place in Los Angeles because the city of angels has been turned into a city of demons (Bosnak 84). In fact, like Wall-E the film is nearly devoid of any plants, and the animals in it are mostly artificial. Many science fiction films “focus on technology as the science-demon that would destroy humanity.” (Hayward 316) In Blade Runner it is made clear from the start that the Replicants were made to work away from Earth, in “environments where normal humans would quickly perish” (Boozer 217). In order for the Replicants to effectively work, they had to be every bit as capable as humans and just as intelligent. Because of these factors, Replicants are able to develop emotions and in an effort to break free from human control, turn violent.

Wall-E and Blade Runner both represent technology having a negative influence on society in two very different ways. In Wall-E the robots (aside from the Captain’s wheel) are anything but violent towards the humans and really go out of their way to make sure humans are comfortable. They go so far out of their way that the humans no longer feel the need to do anything themselves because they know a robot will pick up his or her slack. Blade Runner on the other hand makes the Replicants out to be a physical threat, harming humans in order to further their own existence. Despite their different approaches, both films successfully depict a dystopic society at least partially ruined by human’s dependence on technology. Wall-E just happens to give the “G-rated, computer-generated cartoon vision of our own potential extinction” (Scott) while Blade Runner takes the violent approach when relating to the science fiction genre.

The science fiction genre is notorious for giving robots human emotions. The genre runs with the idea that “is the ultimate promise of science for man to play God by creating life; it is the ultimate fear when that life is discovered to have no soul and thus no meaning” (Doll, and Faller 92). It works as a means to have the viewer connect with them and get them invested within the film. We are meant to laugh, cry, and even possibly feel threatened by their existence as some head down a dark road. A clear example of this can be seen in I, Robot when Sunny is brought in for the “murder” of his father. Wall-E implores the same tactics when Wall-E himself is introduced. He is a small robot in a large decayed world, going through the same motions every day (Murray and Heumann). At the same time, Wall-E also has plenty of quirks, such as keeping a pet cockroach and collecting miscellaneous items for himself. Not to mention the fact that he likes listening to Hello, Dolly and attempts to dance to it. Due to these small odd bits and pieces about Wall-E, it is easy to forget that he is a programmed machine at times. EVE on the other hand, is all about her “directive” which is to find life on Earth. As soon as she does find the plant, she completely shuts down waiting for a ship to arrive to take her back to the space shuttle. This can be seen as symbolism for her tough and cold outside shell, which Wall-E finds impossible to get through to at first.

Blade Runner finds itself in a similar predicament with its two main characters, except opposite roles. Despite being a human, Rick Deckard is almost devoid of all emotions (Bosnak 87). He is running a dead end life when the audience is introduced to him, and even after he resumes his old job he is still very short and to the point, as if his sole drive is his “directive.” It just so happens that directive is to hunt and kill Replicants. When he meets Rachael, his perspective changes as he learns that she is a Replicant implanted with memories. She remembers having a mother and father just like any other kid, but even with these differences Deckard is easily able to tell that she is a Replicant through his test. The poorly lit room and eerie premise of the whole test were really a foreshadowing to her results, and later on when Deckard informs her that she is a Replicant and her memories are false. During these moments, she looks down at the picture repeatedly, the camera cutting back and forth between it, her and Deckard as tears form and roll down her eyes. Later on she is seen playing the piano in the same solemn mood, desperate to come to terms with her reality. The irony of it all is that in those few emotional moments she becomes more human than Rick (Bosnak 87). In fact, all of the Replicants we meet seem more human than Deckard; their desperation brings out a number of emotions as they search for a way to preserve their lives.

Wall-E is responsible for humanizing EVE while Rachael is responsible Deckard’s emotional and moral salvation (Doll, and Faller 92). Both situations prove to be difficult as Deckard, like EVE, is driven by one purpose in life. Oddly enough, hers is to bring life back to the humans while his is to end lives for those looking to be regarded as humans. Upon first meeting their perspective loved ones; their outlook on life doesn’t change right away. EVE in fact almost destroys Wall-E because he startles her. Deckard simply doesn’t seem to care about Rachael’s plight. This changes when she saves his life, killing one of her own. Deckard suddenly becomes confused as to whether or not he should be hunting Rachael or saving her, and with that his emotions finally come through. EVE’s progression towards developing feelings comes a bit more gradually, ultimately shining through when she has to decide between the plant, her directive, and Wall-E as he is about to be crushed. In both situations, it took the individuals love interest to be at a high risk to realize what they are truly missing in their life.

Due to these developed emotions it is easy to feel sorry for the Replicants in Blade Runner. It is easy to see that they merely wanted to be treated as normal people, not as animals or slaves (Bosnak 78). Had they been given the chance, perhaps a solution could have reached that wouldn’t have ended in violence. I believe Rick also reaches this conclusion as he sees and gives into the emotions Rachael is able to offer. Wall-E not only humanizes EVE but also is able to bring the humans back their humanity. On a space ship where everyday is the same routine, with the same simple lifestyle; he brings a bit of chaos and disorder. With his intervention the humans soon realize that they too have become one with the machine and lack emotions.

As I mention above, both films for the most part lack plants and animals. In Wall-E the exception is obviously when EVE finds the plant and delivers it back to the ship, taking Wall-E with her by accident. Blade Runner’s exception is when Replicant Roy Batty is about to kill Rick Deckard on top of the roof top. During these crucial moments, the dark atmosphere of the city suddenly lightens up, as if there is a moment of hope, and Roy releases a white Dove into the sky. He chooses not to kill Rick and instead saves his life, realizing that Deckard’s death will not extend his own life. Roy is able to show mercy, an emotion humans find themselves confronting every day. The dove, like the plant, is a symbol of hope for a group of individuals. The plant acts as a means to bring humans back to reality while the dove is a symbol of hope towards a struggle to be accepted as a human. While there are exceptions, for the most part humanity triumphs in the science fiction genre. It may seem bleak and miserable but at the end of the day they are able to come out on top. Wall-E teaches an important lesson to humans; that we must rise up and be accountable for our own mistakes instead of escaping to a false reality (Murray, and Heumann). The same message can be drawn from Blade Runner, as hunting the Replicants clearly is not the right method for dealing with them.

Wall-E and Blade Runner obviously do not have the same story. While Blade Runner focuses on a group of individuals struggle for humanity, Wall-E takes that idea to a larger scale as all of humanity finds itself at risk within the film. When looking at film and genre, it is interesting to take the past and present and see how the two have changed over time and mixed together. Even though Blade Runner was made in 1982 its ideas and concepts can clearly be seen in Wall-E, aimed at kids and made in 2008. Both films ride on the idea that technology will one day backfire on mankind. Blade Runner takes the suggestion literally, with the Replicants killing humans while Wall-E shows humans simply becoming too accommodated by technology. It’s a bit hard to actually figure out which one is the scarier of the two. Due to Wall-E being an animated film, it becomes easy to forget the darker implication it makes (Scott). It shouldn’t be forgotten that they are there, and even after all of these years of film making, after all of the years of technological increase, humanity as a whole is still unsure about its future. While Blade Runner and Wall-E both end on hopeful notes, there still isn’t a clear sign that we have learned from our mistakes and will be able to survive without relying on technology. The science fiction genre is so appealing because it depicts society adjusting to the technology around them, and more often than not it is in a negative light. Blade Runner and Wall-E are able to take the basic ideas in the science fiction genre and shed both the negative and positive light on robots, with Wall-E being a kid-friendly parallel of Blade Runner.

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