This essay was one of my first scene analysis papers at FAU. Below is a scene from Wall-E.
Wall-E was released in theaters on June 27, 2007, by Walt Disney Studios and Pixar, and directed by Andrew Stanton. The narrative of Wall-e consists of a sentient robotic trash compactor named Wall-e as he uncovers a conspiracy based on the consequences of humanity’s immigration to space and its correlations to an abandoned and trashed earth. Themes of consumerism and natural preservation come into play with the discovery of a living plant. Wall-e is taken on an adventure with a message of preserving the earth’s health while exposing the corruption of global leaders and their devices. Wall-E introduces the duality of beauty and destruction by establishing compositions of natural space and the global desolation left on Earth. The gradual unbalance in the ecosystem and the consequences of society’s neglect are exhibited through these harsh compositions. Guided editing techniques such as direct cuts, dissolving transitions, and ironic musical scoring demonstrate the shifts from natural environments to destroyed habitats. Through these devices, it introduces the core message of the film: Healing.
The introduction of Wall-E prepares the audience with the balance of natural beauty and destruction. With the use of widescreen compositions, frames are transitioned from natural space environments to worsening conditions found on the Earth’s surface. Demonstrated in the beginning, viewers are proposed with the natural beauties of the solar system’s rotation of planets. One frame describes a small, yellow, soft glowing planet representing our sun. A larger red planet follows to the northeast and a large blue planet collides at the bottom right of the frame. This shot explores the vividness of space using harsh lighting as most of the planets in the frame are blocked from the light. It presents as a representation of the natural state of space without observed human interactions. Other frames present us with imagery of blue-shine auroras and distant stars. The audience is taught through these shots that nature is untouched and undisturbed. Space is witnessed as vibrant, almost as if it is at peace with itself. Later shots demonstrate the significance of humanity’s abandonment resulting in the abuse of the earth. As frames are advanced through dissolving transitions: desolation after desertion on Earth is displayed; Trashed brown plains are unrecognizable by human eyes, abandoned dirty black powerplants emerge in the background, and towers suffocated by literal mountains of trash can be seen throughout the closing of the introduction. Their additions lead the audience to become appalled by the state of the city presented to them. Balance versus neglect stands challenged through these compositions. These establishing shots don’t shy away from location to location and reflect on our civilization. It’s further reflected by the color of the space as vibrant, full of blues, natural blacks, reds, and other diverse colors in balance with each other. Compared to scenes on Earth, the Earth asphyxiates with filters of sepia, permitting grays and dirty browns to infect the shots. All life on Earth has been destroyed and deserted. These compositions introduce the world building of Wall-e and argue through visuals to show the audience the unfortunate setting of the narrative. It immediately makes audiences acknowledge that something terrible has happened in what should be a bright and vibrant world. The film familiarizes these drastic changes as a form of warning to the audience and their emotions for the earth if they are to continue their ways of neglecting the planet.
These compositions are then delivered throughout the editing process of the introduction. Direct cuts guide the audience through these horrendous transformations while also being synced to the ironic message of the music Put on Your Sunday Clothes. The first line heard in the introduction is “Out there, there’s a world outside of Yonkers” which highlights the setting of space. At first, only a few distant stars can be observed in the background. “There’s a world outside of Yonkers” is interpreted as there is a world in the vast deep of space. As the music continues with direct cuts with the beat, compositions of space come closer to Earth. This is repeated as we come to a composition of the earth with the lyrics “Listen, Barnaby…” as the audience is ushered by the singer for them to observe what will continue. As the camera zooms into the earth, we observe colors changing from vibrant blues into dirty satellites in greys and brown mist. The music transitions into an instrumental break. The compositions are then edited from direct cuts to transforming dissolve cuts through a drone-guided camera. Once the singer returns, the earth is shown in its worse state while the music mocks the imagery with lyrics such as “We’re gonna find adventure in the evening air” and “We’re gonna ride through town” which are synced to polluted environments, and destroyed pathways. These edits show the drastic changes within these two phrases: Nature is correlated with direct cuts as “Take a look at this. Isn’t it pretty? Isn’t it grand?”; Compared to what destruction is seen on earth, it changes to “Look what you have done! Do you still want to experience joy and happiness in this filth?” with the dissolving transformation of ruined locations. The drastic changes from lyrics expressing space as being a vast world “beyond this hick town” and “full of shine and full of sparkle” to the imagery of stars, planets, and auroras. This music continues until it dissipates at the end with an echo effect leaving the audience in a soundless stage and a dystopian world. The introduction returns to direct cuts of this disturbing world and all sound remains silent. These modifications in tone introduce the film to feelings of hopelessness that were removed from the beginning. It leaves a bitter aftertaste from experiencing the joy of observing a clean space. The rest of the film now answers the question: “What is left now, how will this resolve… what have we done?”
As the introduction dissipates as we continue the adventures of Wall-E, we fully emerge with the concepts of the duality of nature and destruction. Wall-E introduces the duality of beauty and destruction through its establishing compositions of natural space and desertion left on Earth through blunt compositions with the comparisons of vibrant imagery of space exploration with diverse colors to the dirtiest earth surfaces destroyed by humanity suffocated by infected browns and greys. Beauty is highlighted with techniques such as direct cuts allowing the audience to adapt to these compositions as natural and untouched to dissolving transitions demonstrating societies' attack on the Earth. Ironic musical scoring exemplifies the shifts from natural environments to destroyed habitats with mocking lyrics of promised good life with destroyed environments. The only thing that is left for the audience now is a small robot, a living plant, a large ship, and the future of humanity sitting in a dirty little shoe in a refrigerator.
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