Ralph Waldo Emerson's Expectations Of The Animated Film WALL-E
The predictions of the animated film WALL-E mirrors the opinions of Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay “Self-Reliance”. Emerson is irritated by the homogeneity of society during his time. His complaints of reliance on others are eerily portrayed in today’s dependence of technology. Emerson’s views can easily be applied to today’s society, as well as seen in modern media.
In his essay, Emerson criticizes mankind’s lack of dependence on themselves. He states that “civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet” (Emerson, 36). Man no longer creates for creation’s sake, but only does so to have another object to use in place of his own mind and body. In Emerson’s society, “For every thing that is given, something is taken” (36), just like with the coach and feet. Society does not grow anymore because the components that make up society are all the same and never change. To Emerson, men are becoming uniform, no man different from the one standing next to him. A man never has his own original thoughts or creates his own inventions. As Emerson puts it: “Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say ‘I think,’ ‘I am,’ but quotes some saint or sage” (28). Men depend on others to be the leader while never leading themselves. He compares society to a wave which moves forward but the water that makes the wave never changes. Despite time rolling forward, people are becoming stuck in their ways, only changing if an …show more content…
This view has a direct correlation to today’s society. Not just Emerson noticed the central problem of society. In a recent children’s film, Pixar illustrated the consequences of relying on technology. Both Emerson and Pixar encourage self-reliance to save society. The fall of society will be lack of self-reliance, meaning the only way to fix the homogeneity of mankind is
In his essay, Emerson criticizes mankind’s lack of dependence on themselves. He states that “civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet” (Emerson, 36). Man no longer creates for creation’s sake, but only does so to have another object to use in place of his own mind and body. In Emerson’s society, “For every thing that is given, something is taken” (36), just like with the coach and feet. Society does not grow anymore because the components that make up society are all the same and never change. To Emerson, men are becoming uniform, no man different from the one standing next to him. A man never has his own original thoughts or creates his own inventions. As Emerson puts it: “Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say ‘I think,’ ‘I am,’ but quotes some saint or sage” (28). Men depend on others to be the leader while never leading themselves. He compares society to a wave which moves forward but the water that makes the wave never changes. Despite time rolling forward, people are becoming stuck in their ways, only changing if an …show more content…
This view has a direct correlation to today’s society. Not just Emerson noticed the central problem of society. In a recent children’s film, Pixar illustrated the consequences of relying on technology. Both Emerson and Pixar encourage self-reliance to save society. The fall of society will be lack of self-reliance, meaning the only way to fix the homogeneity of mankind is