WALL-E a World
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CELEBRATING 6 PWAA-TASTIC YEARS! YEARS FILM AUTHOR WALL-E Emily Paul EDITOR Tania Asnes FILM ALPACA-IN-CHIEF Daniel Berdichevsky A World Transformed II: World in Flux 2 0 1 2 ® the World Scholar’s Cup ® FILM RESOURCE | 1 Film Resource 2012: A World in Flux Table of Contents Preface: Lights, Camera, Look Out! .......................................................... 2 Influences ................................................................................................ 17 I. Pixar: To Infinity and 3D .......................................................................... 4 The Beautiful Life of Life Is Beautiful ............................................... 17 Objectives ............................................................................................... 4 VI. Characters in Life Is Beautiful ............................................................ 18 Pixar’s Story ............................................................................................. 3 Objectives .............................................................................................. 18 A113 ............................................................................................................ 5 Guido....................................................................................................... 18 The Key(frame) to Good Storytelling ................................................ 5 Dora ......................................................................................................... 18 II. ‘Bots and BNL Customers: Characters in Wall E .............................. 7 Joshua ..................................................................................................... 19 Objectives ................................................................................................ 7 Eliseo ....................................................................................................... 19 The Basics of Character ........................................................................ 7 Dr. Lessing ............................................................................................. 19 Wall E ...................................................................................................... 7 VII. La Vita è Organized: Plot and Structure ........................................ 20 Eva ............................................................................................................ 8 Objectives ............................................................................................. 20 The Captain ............................................................................................. 8 Act One ................................................................................................. 20 Auto .......................................................................................................... 8 Act Two ................................................................................................... 21 III. Robots in Love: Wall E ‘s Plot and Structure .................................. 9 Midpoint.................................................................................................. 21 Objectives ............................................................................................... 9 Act Two Continued .............................................................................. 22 Act One .................................................................................................... 9 Act Three ............................................................................................... 22 Act Two .................................................................................................. 10 VIII. Horror and Humor: Themes of Life Is Beautiful ........................... 23 Midpoint (where the film changes direction) ................................ 10 Objectives .............................................................................................. 23 Act Two, Continued .............................................................................. 11 Inconceivable! ....................................................................................... 23 Act Three ................................................................................................. 11 Silence and Goodness as Power ....................................................... 24 IV. Trash, Robots, and Love: Themes of Wall E ................................... 12 Life Is Beautiful and Funny—Against all Odds .............................. 25 Objectives .............................................................................................. 12 The Trickster ......................................................................................... 25 Robots Are People, Too ...................................................................... 12 Once Upon a Time ............................................................................... 26 Future Friending ................................................................................... 13 Arrivederci .................................................................................................... 27 Trash Planet ........................................................................................... 14 Works Consulted ......................................................................................... 28 Love and Compromise ......................................................................... 15 About the Author ........................................................................................ 29 V. Producing Life is Beautiful : From the Circus to the Oscar............. 16 About the Editor .......................................................................................... 29 Objectives .............................................................................................. 16 About the Alpaca-in-Chief ........................................................... ............. 29 Influences ............................................................................................... 16 by Emily Paul New York University B.A. ‘03 New York University TischAsia M.A. ‘11 edited by Tania Asnes Barnard College B.A. ‘05 Dedicated to the Robot Alpaca Project at the University of Cuzco. DemiDec and The World Scholar’s Cup are registered trademarks of the DemiDec Corporation. FILM RESOURCE | 2 Preface: Lights, Camera, Look Out! In 1895, a French audience sat down in the dark to watch one of the very first movies, The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station . Directors Auguste and Louis Lumière 1 hoped to thrill audiences by capturing a moving train headed towards the camera. As legend tells it, the thrill was too much. People feared the train was real— and fled the theater. Once audiences overcame their fear, they craved more action and adventure. They wanted movies to take them from the depths of the sea to the heights of the moon. Technology developed rapidly to keep up with audiences’ appetites. The first feature length “talkies” (movies with sound) hit theatres in 1927. Snow White , the first animated feature film, followed it in 1937. In 1940, studios solved the problem of showing actors in imaginary places—such as flying through space. They realized they could film actors in a studio against a blue or green screen and later replace the screens with any background they desired. 2 Our appetites for entertainment and innovation keep growing, and today companies like Pixar continue breaking new movie-making ground (and their budgets) to satisfy them. Films are sometimes set in the future—and, more often than you would expect, they even predict it. In 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey imagined an artificially intelligent computer, HAL, with a vocal interface 3. Apple added Siri, a vocal interface with substantial artificial intelligence 4, to its popular iPhone—putting HAL-like interactions in the hands of millions. Also in the 1960s, Star Trek foresaw 5 mobile phones and interracial kissing. Today, you probably have a better mobile phone than did Captain Kirk 6. Films also document the past. United 93 (2006) captured memories and perceptions of what 9/11 was like in America. Life, Above All (2010) brought audiences into the heart of the ongoing AIDS crisis in South Africa. Gandhi (1982) embodied the life of India’s great 20 th century leader. From Hollywood to Bollywood, movies make us laugh, cry, wonder, and eat popcorn. 1 But not Mrs. Potts. 2 Also called “chroma keying,” this technique is common in TV weather forecasts. That big map the weather man is always pointing at—it’s not actually there. 3 And a full measure of murderous rage. 4 But not as much murderous rage (as yet). 5 It did less well with the blue-skinned aliens. 6 This resource will not speculate as to your interracial kissing. FILM RESOURCE | 3 The two films we will explore each fit into one of these categories. Wall E (2008) is at the cutting edge of animation, and uses the trademark storytelling tools and styles of Hollywood , the mainstream film industry of the United States. It looks toward a future in which the world is a wreck and robots have lives of their own. Life Is Beautiful (1997) is a product of Italy. 7 This film’s writer, director, and lead actor is a physical comedian , informed by the traditions of theater as well as by great Italian directors of the past. It borrows Italian filmmaking traditions to comment on the country’s experience of World War II. Though set in the future and