Themes And Similarities Between 'Trash And Wall-E'

Texts and Social Issues

Composers usually create works that explore themes relevant to their time period. Trash (2010) by Andy Mulligan and “WALL-E” (2008) by Andrew Stanton both explore similar themes that are realistic problems and their consequences that affect the 21st century. Trash explores mainly social issues such as corruption, poverty and waste excess. “WALL-E” explores many issues both social and environmental such as reliance on technology, lack of social interaction, pollution and overconsumption. These problems are already occurring in the reality and show how flawed our world is.

Trash looks at negative ideas about society in underdeveloped countries from different aspects. Firstly, corruption is a major contributing factor
On the Axiom, the reliance of technology is apparent; every task is done by machines, even moving around. The life of a human aboard the Axiom consists of eating, sleeping and talking on social media, which links to a lack of social interaction. The reliance of technology has caused humans to become slothful and expect robots to serve them like when John gestured to WALL-E to collect his cup. A social value that all humans have is a need for company. Ironically, WALL-E, a robot, longs for company while the humans aboard the Axiom do not. A recurring motif that related to this theme is the hand holding, romantic song and a flame from the lighter. These represent love and hope for the future. Unfortunately, there is not much hope, as the Axiom in governed by corrupt robots which are determined to keep the humans in space, living their routine life. “(Captain) That's all I've ever done! That's all anyone on this blasted ship has ever done. Nothing! (AUTO) On the Axiom, you will survive. (Captain) I don't want to survive. I want to live”. This is mostly due to the toxicity of Earth and the robots’ directive to keep the humans