ANIMATION AS CAUTIONARY TALE?

Ok, when I start seeing social commentary in Pixar movies, I am in deep. I have to confess I am an animation nut. I love Disney movies, I love Pixar movies, with a few exceptions, I love animated shows. I just had the kids to stop the strange looks at movie theaters (ok, I really have always wanted to be a Dad). Thankfully, the Spirit has used this gift to help make the worship at Cheri’s past churches and hopefully the Village as well more relevant (talk to the people in the language of the culture is what the early Christians did to spread the Gospel).

Pixar’s latest effort, WALL E, by the way awesome movie, has me thinking about our culture and where it is headed. WALL E is a robot left on Earth in the future to clean up the planet. Our rampant consumerism has littered the planet with garbage and the Big N Large Corporation has the solution. We will all go on a five year cruise, leaving an army of robots to clean things up. One problem, the planet is just too trashed, the robots can’t get it done, in fact WALL E is the last one standing. Meanwhile, what to do with us, well, we are pampered to the point we can barely walk, bombarded with entertainment, and no one notices that hundreds of years have passed, or even the ship they have grown up has pools. At the start of the cruise, everyone plays golf, tennis, swims, etc. Seven hundred years later, they have robots do it all for them. Why chew? Food is delivered in flavored shakes.

So, could this happen? Well, our five year old told me this week he does not like the outdoors much and really just wants to play video games in doors. Fortunately, he does like sports, and does not have his father’s waistline, yet, despite that statement. Our kids are presented daily with bad food choices, too much entertainment (no I don’t want to totally junk U.S. pop culture, just clean it up some), very little emphasis on movement.

Could we get to the point where we are controlled by food, entertainment, and a general plenty? Well, it’s only been done throughout human history. Let’s hope we don’t trash the planet and ourselves to get there. God gave us this planet, let’s see if we can give it back to God in some shape.