Wall-E

Stuart Hall says in "Encoding/Decoding" that producers encode messages within advertisements, and audiences decode these messages based on cultural and personal histories. In Wall-E, I was struck by the first commercial for Axiom. It played on the billboards while Wall-E worked. First, the presence of perfectly healthy-looking humans lounging around a pool, enjoy a meal cooked by a robot, and otherwise having fun makes the Axiom seem more like a vacation than a new place to live. (Last I checked life was not always a vacation.) Second, the CEO of BnL is named "Forthright," suggesting that everything this guy says is absolutely truthful. You can trust him!
One thing I love about this movie is the fact that it is a strong commentary on the presence of things in our lives. The opening sequence that scans the surface of the earth eventually leads us to the area where Wall-E is. (I want to assume this is NYC, but I don't know.) It looks like desolate buildings line the landscape, but in reality these "buildings" are the trash that Wall-E has built up. Isn't it interesting that the movie uses piles of crap to represent the places we live and work? (I think I'm having a cynical day today.)