GTCC Calendar of Events

WALL-E.

All showings will be held in the AT Auditorium.  Please share this information with your students and encourage them to take part.  Let them know that posters and postcards will be appearing around campus, and the information will be posted on the GTCC homepage and on the marquee.  Each film will include a brief introduction in which we pose some questions for consideration while viewing.  Our focus for these questions will surround the effects of technology in our society in connection with Mark Bauerlein's The Dumbest Generation.  Please consider these events as opportunities for assignments in your courses.

We are also happy to sign attendance credit forms at the end of each event.  You can give your students a form, or post it on your Moodle site for them to print before coming, and we can sign it for credit.

Our first film is Andrew Stanton's 2008 Pixar film, WALL-E. The film is set in the future where the title character is a robot collecting trash on Earth.  Humans are now living "safely" on a spaceship as Earth is uninhabitable because of the extreme amounts of trash.  WALL-E meets EVE, a robot looking for signs of life, and this sets the plot into motion.

1.)     Viewers see many signs that the corporation, "Buy N Large", is responsible for many of the products that litter Earth.  What message is the film sending concerning large corporations?  What is the harm in mass production?


2.)    In the beginning advertisement from the "Buy N Large" president we see the introduction of new technology that helps seniors get around.  Later, we see this same technology being utilized by all of the humans on board the Axiom ship.  What does this say about our inclination towards new technology?  It's clear that many new advances make our lives easier, but what is the price we pay when we rely on these advancements altogether?  

3.) Axiom is the name of the ship the humans have been living on for years.  The word Axiom has connections to mathematics and logic, and refers to a universally accepted rule.  What connections can you make between the name of the ship and the current trend towards technology?

4.)    What is your opinion of the portrayal of humans in this futuristic world?  Think about the scene when we are first introduced to the humans on board the ship.  In his book, The Dumbest Generation, Mark Bauerlein suggests that the more attached we become to ways to make communication easier, the less emphasis we will put on establishing connections.  How is this notion portrayed with the humans on the ship?   Do you see this type of behavior in your own life?  If so, what is the film warning us about?

5.)    When we are first introduced to WALL-E, the filmmakers utilize the musical Hello Dolly to establish WALL-E's range of emotion.  We know that he is a romantic when he watches the two characters in love.  Every day we see new technology popping up everywhere.  There is even a new trend to create social robots that can provide company for people.  Think about the advancements of technology in our society.  Do you see the progression as beneficial, dangerous, or both?