Wall-E

This was my second viewing of Wall-E and I still enjoyed the second time around. Like many of the previous posts, I also notified similarities between Wall-E and Everything Is Illuminated. Both Wall-E and Jonathan, are collectors, and they collect not because of a monetary value, but because they need to. An amusing scene in Wall-E is when, Wall-E finds a diamond ring in the box, but throws out the ring, and keeps the box. It makes one wonder, why did we shudder when Wall-E throw the ring? The character is a clean slate, the diamond ring has no meaning, and it does not mean love or money. To Wall-E the box was simply a more interesting object. Wall-E needs things, much as we do. According to Cszikszenytmihayli, objects are the continuity of the self (Lubar/Kingery 25). For example it is through Hello Dolly! that Wall-E expressed his need for companionship. All the various objects that are shown in the film are shown to represent Wall-E, and an extension of himself. Yet, the movie also shows that companionship ranks above these objects. For none of his objects could revert Wall-E back to his normal self at the end of the film but rather it was Eve who brought him back.