Even if you’ve somehow avoided watching it, you have at some point heard about WALL-E. At the surface the film is an endearing story about the relationship between two sentient robots and their mission to save earth. In the process of telling this story, darker themes are evident such as capitalism, consumerism, dangers of technology and environmental neglect. These are not the main message of the film but are rather subtler undertones that are accentuated by the main message: the importance of relationships and connections. We might slowly become ‘programmed’ to avoid interaction and go on with our routines with technology, just like robots, but it is important to see beyond that for civic well-being. We are all part of social systems, and we all take part in something bigger than us, often without even realising it. Despite the fact that there is minimal verbal dialogue through the film, the film manages to achieve its rhetoric function of the distribution of power and the shaping of knowledge using rhetorical techniques of pathos, ethos, and kairos to effectively deliver a universal message.

WALL-E was released in 2008, a time when discussions on climate change were picking up, along with rapidly developments in technology. This kairotic moment lends to the impact of the message in Wall-E. Despite it being a film that was extremely important at the end of the 2000s, the film’s message carries over till today for its universal significance and the rhetoric it uses. However, despite all this context, the purpose of the film was to deliver a story first.

The director, Andrew Stanton stated that he didn’t set out to preach an ecological message but he did let it be a part of the story to push his message that ‘everything else is going to benefit if you pay attention to your relationships’. Even in the futuristic setting, the film appeals to its audience with many forms of commonplace; like when we see wall-e’s ‘work routine’ and his care for his home, or his need for companionship, his loneliness, his desire for exploring more than what he has. WALL-E symbolises how crucial interaction and relationships are. A particular scene that characterises this is in the beginning, when he is charging at night, but he feels lonely so he cradles himself like a child. With technological development, if the fundamentally human aspect of community and relationships are foregone, we are also abandoning civic duty and responsibility. This is something the film emphasises on through its narrative later on in the film. We see a woman’s screen get deactivated by Wall-E leading her to actually look around her, and feel human touch and interaction after a very long time. The humans on the ship are never off their screens, and only when they finally see each other and interact with one another they are able to see the truth of where they are and what they are doing and work together to achieve a common goal.

These scenes are accentuated by the pathos throughout the film, as it is the most evident method of rhetoric used. The design of Wall-E’s character as being cute and likeable makes it easy to empathise with him, despite the fact that he is a robot. He displays human characteristics such as his love for Eve and his selflessness even in moments when he is at the verge of being shut down. The effectiveness of the pathos is evident as we see robots (who should inherently be completely devoid of such traits) behave in such selfless ways for the people around them and those they care about, making us reflect on our own humanity. The importance of being considerate of the people around us and having those connections in order to work toward community well-being.

All of this may sound too profound, or paradoxical seeing that one of the biggest corporations in the world is warning us about capitalism and consumerism; but at the same time it can also lend to the ethos of their message. Disney is a universally known name, and thousands of people watch their films. If such a big corporation is able to make a film about the dangers of capitalism then it shows a sense of self-awareness and the ability of Disney to be self-critical. This form of ethos lends to the credibility and strength of their message, as they understand the kind of control capitalism especially coupled with technology.

The movie frames civic negligence and informs us of the possible dangers ahead and what must be done collectively in our communities to steer away from a WALL-E like future. Its use of pathos and the kairos of the film’s release emboldens its message that in a fast developing world, it is important that we critically look at the social systems we partake in, and the technology we use and never let go of our humanity.