Finding Wall.E – Is Pixar?s Eerie Vision Of Hyperconsumption Coming True?

By Aditya Gupta

There is a subtly creepy scene right in the beginning of Wall.E – Pixar’s 2008 blockbuster which was unarguably a milestone not just in the history of animation excellence but also in the history of cinema itself.

It occurs when the titular character – a loveable robot with an endearing love for cubes and the oddities of human civilization – prepares to call it a day after he sees the sun going down. He collects his ‘pet’ cockroach and sets off when the camera pans away gradually and, accompanied with an ominously foreboding background piano score, reveals the ravaged landscape of a barren planet where neatly stacked piles of compacted trash have outstripped the tallest buildings visible.

It is a vision which, at first glance, might not seem as terrifying as the ones in which the planet gets destroyed by thunderous floods or giant meteorites – scenarios which have a certain cinematic grandeur to them. However, it is one which certainly has a greater chance of coming true.

The debate continues to rage whether hyper consumption – defined as consumption for consumption’s sake or consumption for non-functional purposes – is slowly giving way to Collaborative Consumption – consumption facilitated by shared ownership of resources (rather than individual ownership) – which was identified as a world-changing idea by the TIME magazine as far back as 2010. But all arguments aside there is no denying that people are consuming tons of ‘stuff’ – a trend driven by the rising novelty-seeking nature of people.

Cast your mind back to your last supermarket trip. On one hand one sees the influx of products which seem to cater more to imagined needs rather than any actual ones, with the classic example being that of fabric conditioners. To the best of our knowledge clothes used to get along just fine when they were simply being washed and dried. And then someone came along with the idea that clothes need pampering. Heaven help the ignorant washer who was cruel enough to not soak her freshly-washed clothes in a, well, sweet-smelling viscous liquid solution! She would doubtless be punished by the condescending stares of her fabric-conditioned neighbours.

And on the other hand one is confronted with the overabundance of choice which characterizes consumer goods, especially in the personal care categories. Hence, we have now become accustomed to seeing a positive battalion of bottles, jars and tubes which are packaged in colors covering the entire visible spectrum and targeting every conceivable problem area of the human body. If it’s dark, lighten it; if it’s too fair, tan it; if it’s straight, curl it; if it’s curly, straighten it. Think of the proverbial grass being greener on the other side of the proverbial fence but with a twist – the moment you jump to the other side the grass on the previous side becomes even greener with a quick shimmer.

Both these factors – needless goods and needless choices – can easily lead a consumerist society to the brink of hyper consumerism when accompanied by a rise in disposable income and the tendency to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ – a phenomenon whereby consumers remain trapped in the vicious cycle of purchasing and discarding in order to always appear ‘current’. Moreover, one of the pillars on which the exploding market landscape of technological gadgets – a significant component of our daily lives – rests on is a sizeable chunk of the population which snaps up new product launches as fast as the manufacturers can roll them off the assembly lines. The cult of the novelty-seekers and early adapters have to possess the newest smartphone, the newest tablet, the newest laptop now. Later is not an option.

Thus, if one contemplates Pixar’s dystopian view of our planet in the not-too-distant future the picture is one which is not too far-fetched. While the developed nations are grappling with their share of overflowing landfills and the problem of obsolete-gadget-disposal, the developing nations are no strangers to polythene-covered wastelands and garbage hillocks which inch upwards with each passing day.

Let us hope that the day doesn’t come upon us when we are forced to vacate our planet and leave it in the mechanical hands of machines which, literally, will clean up the mess we leave behind.

The author is a non-remarkable boy-next-door – mild-mannered ambivert with a middle-class haircut (complete with side-parting) – who somehow managed to survive three years in FMCG sales after being a serial student of Economics (Hindu College) and Management (SPJIMR). Have been writing for quite a while now thanks to the benevolent Times of India who keeps on publishing my pieces. Lover of non-highbrow books, movies and music. If you can forgive eon-long delays in replying to mails, do write in toadi_patronus@yahoo.com (yes, a Potter-lover too).