> "They got a lot of shit for it at the time, too."
A good deal of it very well-deserved. For a movie exposing the blind-alley of rampant consumerism, it was being sold via a dizzying array of Cheap Plastic Crap, much of it bundled with the very junk food the movie skewered.
Isn't that for the best, though? If you want to communicate a moral message, you should target it so the people most in need of it will consume it as part of their daily routine, instead of having to go out of their way to find it.
Do as I say, not as I do?
Is that still a popular way to communicate moral messages?
Even coming from Disney in the first place the message came across as the old argument of a priest-of-past-sins being preferable to a priest-of-purity.
I was running with derefr's suggestion that it was intentional targeting.
Intentionally try to send a message to a demographic by placing Wall-E in their natural path would be a decision made by the corporation well above the level of Pixar's animators. That body would almost certainly be the same one that green-lit the avalanche of Cheap Plastic Crap.
So, even if they believed Pixar's message, and were intentionally trying to preach to those at-risk, they were saying "you should learn from Wall-E" (do as I say) while simultaneously saying "also, buy this plastic crap" (not as I do).
What do you mean "western"? What do you mean "man"?
Edit: Sometimes it seems that "too terse" comments are disliked or misunderstood. So let me explain: it seems that people in the USA, as others have already said in other comments, don't really realise that you're a special case in this matter. Of course there are fat people here in Europe, but not in the same proportion and magnitude. I don't think it's related just to habits. Something bad is in the food additives for sure.
The other question is just evil, so I'm guilty :-) While the more politically correct "person" is often more and more used to refer to both men and women, you (with a "mom" nick) used "men" to restrict, at the same time you were using "western" to expand.
Don't let the existence of worse problems elsewhere blind you.
From the WHO:
Obesity is one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century. Its prevalence has tripled in many countries in the WHO European Region since the 1980s, and the numbers of those affected continue to rise at an alarming rate, particularly among children. Obesity is already responsible for 2-8% of health costs and 10-13% of deaths in different parts of the Region.
I'm not blind to this problem myself. I'm afraid whatever happens to the USA could come soon to us. That's why this issue interests me so much and that's why I've changed my habits about food, losing 15 kg since last summer. I also keep a lot of attention over my son in this matter.
It's true that now we see morbidly obese persons more often than twenty years ago. But it's not common... yet.
man is a historically recognised contraction of human. I think your analysing it too deeply ;) (I also doubt you will find many people here who abide by the idea of political correctness)
(and your comparison doesn't work too well; is Europe on a par with the East in terms of obesity problems? If not then the original statement is, surely, correct).
I implicitly acknowledged that "man" is such a contraction by explaining that that rule is recently broken.
About for my comparison of USA and Europe, I trust some friends that have visited the states and returned really scared. I also see some videos of music (and other kind) stars that I admire that have got terribly fat, people that were thin when young. People over here also get fat when older, but not that kind of fat. Really.
The most revealing sign for me is that this question seems to get quick downvotes and troll accusations. I don't see it as an "american decadence" trend. I think it's more of a poisoning thing. Even if our lifestyle is probably very similar, the effects are not by far the same. That's why comparing us with the East is not a good measure.
It's still the only movie my 3-yr-old daughter will sit through. The first 30 minutes is some of the best storytelling ever put to film, IMHO. So much told with so little.
Other Pixar movies like Monsters, Inc. or Cars are either too scary or too talky. Wall-E is the perfect balance, and such a well told story that I never tire of it, either.
It's just more of an adult / documentary thing IMHO. They spent way too much trying to make some principled point rather than entertain. Same with 'Up'. I think perhaps they were catering to people who nominate Oscars or something.
My kids were bored. Gimmie Princess and the frog, Hercules, Aladdin, Little Mermaid etc etc any day.
