Regarding Bashers: Is it just me, or...

[MidgardDragon]

Now, no offense if you fall into this group, I know we have all ages here and I don't mean to single out one. But, is it just me or is it almost entirely preteen boys who are bashing this film on sites like YouTube? Every time I see any absolutely awful review, person didn't understand the movie, didn't care about the movie, and didn't want to care about the movie, it's always coupled with two things, a pre-teen boy, and a rave review of TDK. Now I enjoyed both films (but thought TDK was just good and is massively overrated), so clearly there are those of us out there who can enjoy both and understand both on different levels, but apparently for a pre-teen boy, WALL-E is just the worst possible thing, a cute something, coupled with a love story, coupled with a message. I guess thinking back to my pre-teenhood it makes sense, but I know there are lots of intelligent younger folks out there (as proven by this place) so I just don't get why this trend reveals itself so obviously.

[trashbag]

You have a point there. Usually, they will remain unchanged throughout high school, favoring high-action, testosterone-induced movies over the classy, sophisticated movies such as WALL-E. Then there's a couple of us that appreciate films like those who remain silent in their opinions to avoid being castrated.... but have no problems voicing them over the Internet.

[bkim]

I don't really have a comment regarding the gender you mentioned in your post, but I would like to extend the age group you mentioned to include many people from 12-25 years of age.**

One Theater professor of mine once postulated that many people in this age group are in a perpetual adrenaline rush, particularly due to the influence of the media, and find more subtle and complex forms of art that require mutual cooperation in order to appreciate them "boring" or "frustrating." It's natural, as far as I'm concerned, because it usually does take some kind of mentor to point out the intricacies in something like WALL-E in order to appreciate it. It is unfortunate though that some people simply refuse to think critically when it comes to works of art like this, simply because of their preconceived notions about what good art should be, and for many that means being "entertaining" rather than stimulating.

I hope that made sense.

**I take it back. It would seem that my comments really apply to the entire general public, and I shouldn't single out this age demographic.

[levelhead]

There are older surly curmudgeons as well -- people my age -- aghast that the Apocalypse Isn't Being Taken Seriously Enough!

But on the other hand, Wall·E has had an extraordinary effect on YouTube:

I've seen the soundtrack postings and other tributes, with page after page of universally positive comments. Almost everyone is touched by the movie -- and YouTube is infamous for ... comment quality,

I had never seen large numbers of only positive comments on a YouTube video before. So, Wall·E and Eve have, in their little way, even brought the people of 2008 together.

===|==============/ Level Head

[smkndofpnutdssrt]

In all honesty, I don't think it is that difficult to appreciate and enjoy Wall-E. It's not some abstract work of art that only art majors would be able to understand and call beautiful. Your appreciation of Wall-E just depends on whether or not you allow yourself to be swayed by what society tells you is cool. It's basically just a guy thing, I think. People might think you are gay if you like chick flicks (not that Wall-E is a chick flick, I'm just using a generalized example) more than superheroes-in-big-fast-cars movies. That's the assumption. So all those pre-teen boys are just convincing themselves they hated Wall-E because of it's stereotype as a mushy gushy romantic kid's movie rather than love it because of its brilliance as a landmark in filmmaking. But I think they secretly do love it. They just won't tell anyone that.

The sad thing about this whole thing is no guys have the balls to be a little "feminine" sometimes. They think that liking things that kids or women like will make them look like a pansy. But it's really quite the opposite. Admiting you like movies like Wall-E shows you got balls. The more all those little preteen boys come to realize that, the better off they will be.

[Norwesterner]

I wouldn't say that "no guys have the balls to be a little 'feminine' sometimes." I for one have been unabashed in my appreciation of this film's portrayals and encouragement of love and relating . . . and I'm quite a straight guy!

Part of it is recognizing that both the masculine and feminine are parts of the same human whole, and simply being able to appreciate "the other side's" point of view. Same sex peer pressure both causes maturity levels to plummet, while at the same time tending to demonize that which you perceive is not part of you or your peer group. Also guys have to overcome a lot of cultural conditioning sometimes that equates love with weakness and femininity only.

The same boy (presuming he's straight) who at 11 would gag at the thought of kissing a girl, has quite different thoughts about the subject by the time he's 16, or even before — but he daren't admit to those changed thoughts in front of his locker room peers. He will sometimes lash out in negative ways to dismiss or push away any tendencies towards "mushy stuff" like love (like unfortunately dissing WALL•E), if nothing else than to validate his stereotypical conclusions, as well as peer lessons and pressures. This is where it helps to have fathers or father-figures who have the balls enough themselves to honestly and openly talk about such things with such boys and young men to counteract such negative and ill-informed peer pressures; and even better, model healthy relationships with a boy's mom or step-mom.

I'm not a parent unfortunately, but I've observed these things over the years. And I've actually seen a few dads take their pre-teen sons to see WALL•E in some of the screenings I've gone to . . . a very good thing!

[trashbag]

I agree. "No" guys? I find that quite the contrary. "Most guys don't" is more accurate. But I know many guys who will soften up and be a little feminine while being completely straight at the same time. I have a friend who admits he likes Hannah Montana (I know, don't judge him). He gets a lot of heat from his other "friends", but he's unaffected by it. And I respect that. I find his taste in music a little strange, but I respect it.

For me, I can admit that I liked Titanic somewhat. I also thought Brokeback Mountain was a pretty decent movie (even though I could've done without the sex scenes). I can also admit that I think WALL-E and EVE are probably the cutest couple in the history of cinema. Many of us guys would probably never say anything like that for anything. However, I have gotten a couple of them to admit they liked WALL-E over TDK, which is something.

[vanessajoyce]

You all have really captured everything I would have said . . . except for one thing . . . the "pack" factor.

There may actually be quite a few young men who really did like the movie or would have liked to have seen it, but they value the opinion of their peers more and worry that liking this film will make them look juvenile, uncool or whatever. Some of those public comments may be there more to impress someone else and not reflect their true feelings at all.

The sad thing about this is that it's possible that in their peer group, all the boys (or girls, either way) might feel exactly the way they do, but not one of the group is brave enough to say, "Hey, I liked this film; I don't care what anyone else thinks." If one did, the rest might actually feel brave enough to say how they really feel too.

I'm just thinking back to my teenage years, and I have to confess I dismissed a lot of things not because I truly didn't like them, but because the girls I was trying to hang around with thought they were "stupid." And , sad to say, there were films and shows I loved that I actually lied and said I didn't so I wouldn't be made fun of.

[Calamity EVE]

I teach after-school camps and summer camps with an emphasis on technology. As a matter of fact, part of our curriculum is to build robots, so that may be skewing my results somewhat...

But during our summer classes, the kids that tended to be the least receptive to "Wall•E" were the kids that were still in grade school. Don't get me wrong, the majority loved it, but the few that I encountered this summer that didn't enjoy it tended to be about 7-10 years old. On the other hand, all of our preteen boys (and a handful of actual teenagers) loved it.

I think that the biggest part of this has to do with the relative anonymity of the internet. When preteens get frustrated or bored, they turn to the web as a source of quick entertainment, and THAT can quickly devolve into flaming just for flamings' sake. As a matter of fact, when in my classes I would introduce the kids to A.L.I.C.E. just to give them a better idea of how computers "think" and "learn", the little kids would want to ask her what her favorite color was, or if she liked to eat food, but it was always the preteen boys that wanted me to call her an idiot just to see how she'd respond. So... I guess there's your answer. ;D

[Norwesterner]

Very interesting, Calamity EVE.

You know, I almost can't wait for Artificial Intelligence to get to the point where human feelings can be accurately processed, expressed, and simulated (perhaps even "felt" in some way) by computers and robots. Then, they could become a great teaching and learning tool for kids to see for themselves how their actions or words can affect others. If kids see that calling a robot "stupid" can make the robot feel sad, they might be moved enough not to do that, and motivated with the robot's "help" in some way to make it feel better. And then they'd be more likely to do the same things with each other.

If children can see how a robot feels when they call it stupid or other names (and if the robot can be programmed to express its appropriately sad feelings in ways that kids can best understand), it could have a great potential to effectively teach kids at earlier, more impressionable ages to have more awareness of just what effects their actions and words can really have — and hence hopefully change their negative behaviors for the better.

Just as WALL•E has been perhaps somewhat more effective at drawing our empathy than an equivalent human character, say Forrest Gump or Charlie Chaplin's "Little Tramp", might be; children could perhaps learn a lot more about feelings, kindness, and cruelty by interacting with an empathetic robot or computer "character" than they might from each other — mainly because other kids (and sometimes the rest of us) either don't know, can't, or won't put into perhaps the right words how we feel about how others are treating us. Robots or computers on the other hand, can be programmed to effectively and understandably communicate what effects they're "experiencing" (or supposed to be experiencing) from the treatment they're receiving.

Not that computers or robots can or should replace our interactions with each other as humans — but having a class robot "pet" (especially one that was "fed" by positive treatment, as well as electricity) could go a long way towards possibly teaching children to be kinder and more considerate, as part of their classroom experience and curricula.