Directions: Choose only 1 of the following challenges, and complete it to the best of your ability. If you think one option is boring or undoable, choose another one. Pick what is closest to your spirit, and what you think will best show your knowledge of the movie. I believe in student choice. So, feel free to use your ability to choose to your own advantage.
Also, before submitting, make sure you take a look at the grading criteria for the assignment. This is included on the next page. Or you can jump to that page by clicking here.
You only have 1.5 pages for the written challenges, and about 5 minutes for the audio/video challenges. They are meant to be quick ways to work on refining our ideas, and getting ready for future challenges and (eventually) the final challenge. So, I recommend including almost no summary (since this only takes up space) and instead diving right into analysis and establishing your own original voice.
In each of the assignments, the major challenge is in bold. The information around it is simply there to help you out
Option #1: Andrew Stanton, the director of Wall-E, mentioned in his TED Talk that viewers want to “work for their meals.” This is a really broad idea, when it comes to movie-making. For this challenge write a 2-page essay on this question: how exactly does this idea apply to the kind of storytelling we find in Wall-E? If you choose this challenge, make sure you:
Work with 1-2 specific moments from Wall-E. This should help make the point more convincing. Quotes and images are great!
Option #3: The beginning of Wall-E shows us a desolate, garbage-filled landscape. The heaps of garbage–put together and organized by Wall-E himself–literally line the streets. The people have left, and vegetation seems impossible. For this challenge, here’s your question: To what extent is “Wall-E” about the apocalypse? If you choose this challenge, make sure you:
Fully understand what an apocalyptic narrative is. Basically, these are movies that are about the end of the world. There are a ton of examples. To see a list of a bunch of them, click here.
(Links to an external site.)
Choose at least 1-2 examples of other apocalyptic stories. This should help you be specific.
Option #4: There’s one line of argument that says Wall-E is a very critical satire of what humans are becoming. In this argument, the robots Wall-E and Eve feel more human than the humans themselves. This would mean that the movie shows how robots can feel human and how humans can feel like robots. So, for this challenge, here’s your question: What do you make of this movie’s representation of humanity? If you choose this topic, make sure you:
Work with 1-2 specific moments from Wall-E. This should help make the point more convincing. Quotes and images are great!
Option #5 (the Creative Option): As we watch Wall-E, we get some information about what has happened before the movie began. The humans littered the world with garbage, left on giant ships (which feel like cruises), etc. For this challenge, write a short story about what happened before we meet Wall-E in the beginning of the film. Feel free to take whichever perspective you would like. You could write from the perspective of Wall-E, from the perspective of the captain of the fleet of cruise ships, from a person living on Earth at the time, etc. Feel free to be creative and fun!
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