Country Western Dance
Health and Wellness and Wall-E
By: Jonathen Green
The movie “WALL-E” from Pixar, provides a dark and sad perspective into how the lack of physical activity affects people’s health and wellness. The film begins on a toxic and abandoned planet earth, at some distant post-apocalyptic future in which humans have long since fled from their natural environment to live in an artificial space environment aboard the space ship “Axiom,” the last remaining human habitation. All that remains on earth is the cockroaches, trash, and a fleet of Robots left behind to compact and clean up the mess.
Since the people’s exodus into space, generations of humans had lived and died aboard the Axiom, never knowing or experiencing life without the Axiom. With each passing generation people’s bodies and minds adapted to match their sedentary lifestyle. On the Axiom, all aspects of human life are controlled and provided artificially. And sadly, after many generations of living in space, humans have since “devolved,” into nothing but chair-bound and m sacks of meat, sustained only by an endless supply of soda, and a flickering heads up display that distracts people from the fact that their lives have become meaningless. In WALL-E, people’s lives can only fulfill one purpose, the over-consumption of all available resources. The people aboard the Axiom are indifferent, and having never known what they have lost, are oblivious to the possibility of an alternative existence. Having never known freedom from their chairs, the people just assume that their self-induced prison is good and normal.
After taking this class, I’ve realized how appropriately this satirical film represents western life. I work in an office, sitting at a desk,
typing on a computer. After I come home, before sleeping on my back for eight hours, I spend more time on my butt in front of screens. As a result, I’m currently experiencing the early pains and struggles of sitting disease. I’ve only recently lost a grip on my physical fitness. I’ve always been a very thin, active and strong person. I was surprised and disheartened in class watching all of my classmates happily dancing, while I gasped for air and wiped the beads of sweat from my head. For the first time, I just felt like I physically couldn’t keep up, and this embarrassed me.
I do plan to continue dancing, and I also hope to add more physical activity to my lifestyle. Beginning with just simple daily walking and hopefully progressing towards my old physique. For the majority of the movie WALL-E, the machines exhibit more human characteristics than the people. The roles were reversed and people are automated. I think the film serves as a warning, and I personally want more out of life for myself and for my son.