Lesson Plans - Wall-E

General Comments

Hello everyone.  Happy Holidays.  This is a fun film to have for this time of year. It’s very well done and fun to view.

It may seem a strange choice for a film to help with language development because half of the film is mute.  But the story itself is so marvellous and the issues involved so interesting, you will be able to generate conversation easily.  I kept repeating to myself as I watched the film that this is a super example of good story telling.

The film has well developed characters and scenes that are fun to describe.  Take time to focus of these descriptions that will certainly be rich with new words.

I want to point out an ingenious detail to the film that helps us take in and understand the story: it’s a play on opposites.  Take the opening scene for example.  It’s a scene of total and utter destruction but done with the sound track from a light and airy musical.  The result is not scary but one of interest – how can life continue despite complete decimation?  There are consistently very gruesome situations that are delivered to the viewer with humour and lightnesss.  Or, look at Wall-E’s best and only friend.  It’s a cockroach, the ultimate symbol of dirt and filth.  But this friend is the only source of affection for Wall-E.  The contrast helps us understand that friendship runs deeper than appearance.  The film  is able to deliver comprehension of the grave situation without the horror.  Formidable, really!  With the characters, the storyline, the scenes, and the action, opposites play a big role.  Look for them and use them to help generate conversation.

BEFORE THE FILM

This is a film that takes place 700 years in the future.  The protagonist’s name is Wall-E which has the same pronunciation as Wally, a derivative of Wallace, a name often used in English.  It stands for the name of the machine itself which is a garbage compactor – as if it was a “wall” unit, that is, an electro-domestic machine that was sold to be kept easily stored in a closet (armadio a muro) and given a catchy name.  What’s important is that the machine and it’s function are completely and undeniably regular – no super hero qualities.  Just normal.  The name itself, Wallace or Wally has a nice “regular” sound to it, maybe like Mario or Beppe in Italian.

Describe the role of technology on earth now?  Does it improve or deter from our lives?  Look how technology has influenced life on earth in the film.  Be ready to describe it.  Pick out some similarities to life now.  How do the two compare? 

The word “garbage” has the same use as “trash” in American English.  We don’t use the word “rubbish” as much.  In fact there are no references to it in the film, but it still has the same meaning. 

Other important vocabulary:  Pollution.  Contamination.  Radioactive. 

Get ready to describe the first scene.  Watch for references to energy forms.  What were they?  Look at the stores that were available?  Publicity was done using holograms, not the usual billboards. 

Wall-E is a machine.  He smashes garbage as his “function in life.”  In so doing, he puts things in order.  Observe his collecting tendencies?  What objects interest him.  How does he put things in order?  Where does he live?  What was his “house” like?  What was his collection of objects like? 

Who is Wall-E’s best friend?  What does this insect symbolize?  What is communicated by the fact that an insect like this is THE character of friendship?

Get ready to describe Eva.  Notice what she does once her space ship leaves, she soars like a free bird.  And yet she has an arm that turns into a deadly rifle in a flash.  I thought Eva looked a bit like R2D2 in the Star War series.  Do you agree?  She is able to communicate everything with the use of her eyes.  How? 

During the opening scenes, a “cruise” is advertised.  This name of the ship is the Axiom.  Look for this publicity.  This will help you understand the scenes in the second part of the film.  (The bridge is the control centre of the ship, where the captain sits.)

Eva is a probe from the Axiom.  She is programmed for one very specific reason.  What is it?  When they say that the Eva probe came back positive, what does that mean? 

Watch for what life looks like on the space ship.  Describe the role of the computers/ robots/ machines.  When the captain re-gains his interest in moving and driving the ship, the computers react and the captain calls it mutiny.  What does that mean?  The captain then plots a rescue for the ship and at one point directs his comments to his deputy captain, a robot and says “catch this blinky.”  Watch for that declaration.  See if you can understand what it means.

AFTER THE FILM

This film has very few words for the first half.  And yet there is a lot of communication going on.  How is Wall-E’s disposition and the general “state of the world” communicated to the viewer with no dialogue.  Name some examples. 

What role did technology have in this world? 

What was Wall-E’s mission in life?  What does that mean, to have a mission?  Eva used the word directive. Does everyone have a mission in life?  Maybe something he doesn’t think about but does automatically?  What would that be?

For Wall-E, seeing Eva was love at first site.  Eva was the perfect woman for him.  She was feminine and very strong.  Describe these traits.

How does Wall-E love Eva?  He follows her and wants to impress her and yet he is very scared of her.  Once she closes down after finding the plant, he cares for her.  How? 

Once Wall-E and Eva return to the Axiom, describe the life that has evolved there.  What do the people look like?  Why have they become so fat?  Why do they look like babies?  Lunch is served in a cup.  The advertisements are for everything you need to be happy.  What role do the computers on the ship have?  The speaker on the big screen said that the population may have suffered bone loss from lack of movement.  What does this mean?

What was Operation Re-colonize?  What is life supporting proof? 

When the captain first looked at the Operations Manual, he thought it referred to a person name Manual.  It is clear he had lost all contact with the role of captain and the earth.  More he had lost all contact with life.  How would you explain the captain and the situation he/the population of the ship had gotten themselves into?

How are the machines on the axiom depicted?  Is the term diabolical accurate?  Give some examples.  Things are made so simple and easy with the use of machines, then take control.  But they can do so only if the humans are distracted enough to not notice. 

Eva was sent to the repair ward that resembled an insane asylum.  How so?  When all the robots/machines escape from the repair ward, the announcer on the loud speaker says – Danger, Rogue Robots.  What does this mean?

Did you notice the machines in the garbage dump on the ship, the enormous garbage packing machines that crush the trash and then send it into space.  They were gigantic “wall-e’s,” what does this symbolize to you?

Eva was at first fearful and upset when she discovers Wall-E has returned to the Axiom with her.  But then she is determined to protect him.  How does she “change her mind?”

Let’s look at this carefully?  Eva is a robot.  Wall-E is a machine.  And yet what they symbolize is true love.  Eva is even ready to change her “directive” to be to care for Wall-E.  How is this possible?  What does the relationship between the two main characters symbolize really?  That love overcomes all.  What does the plant symbolize? 

In the end, what is the act that saves the Axiom?  What is the act that saves Eva and Wall-E’s relationship?  Can we use the word authentic?  What is true and ever lasting.  And what is false?  What finally inspires the people to move and regain control of their lives?

Who or what wins in this film?  Why?