Recently, I watched and reviewed Wall-E. Most of us know it for its cute approach and it really is a good movie. But there’s an interesting aspect about it that I really want to talk about.
Throughout the history of film, and even the stage, there have been beautiful moments of dialogue (or monologue). I say Shakespeare, you think “To be or not to be”. I say “You were my brother, Anakin”, you say “I hate You!” There are so many beautiful moments of dialogue, conversations between characters that advance the story. There’s no doubt that dialogue is important. But Wall-E is different.
The thing is, Wall-E can’t really speak. Neither can Eve. They manage to say their names but I suspect that is like the Mars Rover singing “Happy Birthday” to itself. Instead of dialogue, we get whirs and beeps, yet we can still understand what they mean. We somehow know what a happy beep sounds like (there’s a whole science of sound that I’m not too familiar with it but this is included).
Why, then, does this matter? For one, there are so many different ways of communicating. Those of us who are able have been talking and listening our whole lives. If we have social media that’s communication as well. But what about the sounds that aren’t distinguishable?
I want you to try something. Sit in a room. It can be your bedroom, a hotel lobby a coffeeshop, whatever. Take out your airpods, turn off your phone and just listen. Listen to the little sounds that nobody really pays attention to. The sound of the coffee machine, the sound of keyboards clacking, the sound of…well, the world.
That’s the beauty of Wall-E. Although it’s a sci-fi movie, it’s so heavily rooted in the real world. The dialogue is minimal and frankly most of it is just humans talking about nonsense.
I know we all love to hear new sounds. It’s what makes movies fun, we get to hear the sounds of TIE fighters. But we also get to hear sounds that we don’t often get too. Try to incorporate more listening in each thing you do. You’ll be amazed at what you hear and what you discover. Sound can be one of the great inspirations and we are bombarded with it constantly. What we have to do is learn to listen.
I’m curious to see what everybody else discovers. Comment down below and don’t forget to check out my Instagram Page (@ChrisMovieReviews), catch up on past reviews and new movie reviews on my YouTube, look at all the movies I’ve yet to review, and submit which movie you want me to review next!
Chris' Movie Reviews 