"WallE" and the Absence of an Interior Life

"Music and silence-how I detest them both! How thankful we should be that ever since our Father entered Hell-though longer ago than humans, reckoning in light years, could express-no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise-Noise, the grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile-Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples, and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end." --the demon Screwtrape from The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

"Created by a culture filled with pop psychology, schools and media that usurp parental authority, and television ads that treat everyone like a teenager, the infantile part of the empty self needs instant gratification, comfort, and soothing." --Love Your God With All Your Mind by J. P. Moreland

"And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: 'Look at this Godawful mess.'" --1970 by Art Buchwald

This summer, thousands of Americans gathered in large messay rooms surrounded by people with whom they would never have meaningful human contact in their entire life to watch WallE. Many of these people were disappointed with the movie, finding it too boring in parts and going far too long without any dialogue. In the story of the movie itself, the entire planet had been covered by trash and the few remaining humans are "living" in a state of capitalistic communism on a spaceship where they speak empty words to each other as they go nowhere to do nothing. The only thinking creature left on Earth is WallE, a robot who is perpetually engaged and fascinated by the world (even as dead as it is) around him.

Thus, the movie portrays what Christian theologian J. P. Moreland calls the empty self which is (among other things) "sensate", "infantile", "passive", "hurried and busy", and without "the art of developing an interior life".

The humans of WallE live their entire lives strapped into hovering chairs which provide a number of holograic screens which in turn generate all the distractions of a modern computer. They never in their life walk or run and are all obese in the extreme. Additionally they eat only drink into which are condensed all the nutrients they need, they are surrounded by advertisements despite the fact that there appears to be no currency, and they never have any human interaction that is not conducted through artificial means.

In America, the average middle to upper class citizen probably interacts with technology such as cell phones, television, or the internet on a daily basis. From a very young age, we are trained to pay attention when the television is turned on which also teaches us to be amused by quick action, flashes of color and sound, and above all else, mental disengagement. On long trips, at day care, and at any of other times when parents need their children to cease being a distraction, television and computer games are introduced to make the child mute and still. Perhaps the most disturbing commercial I have ever seen is one when an elementary schoolbus driver beholds the sight of an entire bus of children talking, throwing paper at each other and being generally rowdy. In response, the terrified bus driver pulls a screen down from the ceiling of the vehicle, thus zombifying every last one of the students. Themost disturbing and revealing thing about the ad was not its content, but rather the fact that it was even aired. That such a reaction should be deemed desirable by any parent is absolutely terrifying.

The truth of the matter is that while hygiene and educational tools are on the rise, the fundamentals of a healthy childhood are declining. Family dinners, time with the kids, and time for quiet or introspective and imaginative games are becoming less and less common as parents look for the easy way out. The traditional stay-at-home mom, once noble, is now an obscenity in some circles. Mommy and Daddy are slowly and willingly replacing themselves with shiny boxes.

Another more unusual aspect of the empty self may lie in our eating habits. In WallE the humans get all their nutrients from drinks which contain a condensed and liquified version of all the vitamins and minerals in an actual meal. These drinks are casually sucked up every now and then by the humans as they go about their daily ives. Similarly, Americans have turned meals into much more casual experiences which are often eaten while the consumer operates at least one electronic device. Snackig has likewise become an activity for the bored or those with time on their hands.

While one may usually think of these habits as being problems only for health as they tend to increase obesity, they also have their own effects on the soul. As C.S. Lewis put it, all pleasures come from God, they only become sin when they are practiced in ways or at times that He has forbidden. Thus eating as a form of pleasure is actually in accordance with God's law and plan. What is twisted is when it is taken for granted and eaten to quickly. To feed in a way that avoids or minimizes the experiences of the different flavors and such is detrimental to a life of introspection in which everything is studied and evaluated. In many Asian countries, meals are traditionally given great time and care in their consumation with each taste being experienced fully and slowly. In America however, meals and snacks--like most other areas of our lives--are transformed into purposeless, thought-consuming noise.

Most detrimental of all however, is the constant parade of greed, selfishness, and superficiality created by media and advertisement industry. Many ads actively and openly encourage self-centeredness and emptiness with slogans such as "image is everything" or other such phrases. These constantly send us a barrage of materialistic and greedy signals which encourage the growth of the empty self more directly than any other influence. Fed to us by modern ads and entertainment, immorality, extreme individualsim, and a shallow view of life are made to seem common, acceptable, and even normal. Fathers are protrayed as unfaithful, drunken slobs while even Santa Clause is brought down to the level of what should be considered a crook as he writes off a new car as a bussiness expense. Again and again, sin is turned into humor and humor of all kinds is considered acceptable in an age when decency is considered an attack on free speech.

In contrast to all of this there is WallE. The difference between WallE and the sad remnants of humanity may be summarized in his condition. For centuries, the little robot is left all alone with a quiet world. Every day, he goes to work and along the way he finds little curiosities. While he is drawn to things that are shiny or may have otherwise noisy characteristics, he does not simply examine them for a few seconds and then move on but rather takes his time to examine the details that would be taken in as a blur by the empty self. He is fascinated and intrigued by the same old thing again and again, collecting a trove of permanent and long-term curiosities rather than a horde of temporal junk disguised as treasure. He is purposeful yet not busy or too overwhelmed to think, choosing to spend his free time on mental engagement rather than bored hobbies and games with no purpose except to avoid thought.

Thus a child's movie demonstrates to us the power of noise, the value of silence, and the need for an interior life.