Wall*E

Posted by David Roberts at 3:54 PM on 07 Jul 2008

Read more about: green living | movies | education | brilliance | video

I saw Wall•E the other day with my kids and I found it absolutely rapturous, particularly the first half-hour or so. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up nominated for Best Picture. Not only is it a creative triumph, but it manages to convey "lessons" (ugh) about "environmental stewardship" (ugh) in a way that isn't didactic or overbearing. It's really something.

I was going to try to write a profound post about it, but luckily Frank Rich takes on that task today, so just read him.

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Good, but...

It's obviously great to see this type of message in feature films, and one hopes everyone who goes to see it will take some of these things on board.

However, the movie is still subject to the Disney marketing machine: Davin Faraci at Chud wrote a great article on the hypocricy of a film about environmental stewardship being used to market mountains of cheap plastic toys. Link.

greenpictures.wordpress.com

by Rowan at 7:56 PM on 07 Jul 2008

Think before you market

I took my sister (age 7), brother (age 6) and son (age 3) to see Wall-E this weekend and was floored by the imagery of garbage skyscrapers and by the blatant environmental message, which wouldn't have made it to the mainstream movie theaters a few years ago. It had the socially-conscious feel of an independent movie.

The movie was so powerful that I became incredibly self-aware of my own actions within the first few minutes and before long I felt guilty to be drinking a bottle of water, eating popcorn from a large paper bag, and snacking on a box of Snowcaps. Multiply that by the hundreds of thousands of theater-goers and think about all of that trash produced by the movie industry.

I do marketing for a book publishing company, Quadrille, that is publishing a green home decoration book, Urban Eco Chic by Oliver Heath. We went to great lengths to get the book printed on FSC certified paper, both to underscore the credibility of the book and because it's the right thing to do. Most of my marketing will be done online, saving paper and shipping.

I think a better Wall-E promotion, rather than cheap plastic toys, would be to sell environmentally-friendly water bottles and snack packaging at the theaters. These would have prompted discussions between parents and their children far more than toys.

by quadrilleusa at 9:40 AM on 09 Jul 2008

ADVERTISING POLICY

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