# Wall-E: Why did the humans look that way? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340 "2014-02-14T16:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frapp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@Frapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frapp)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/1 "2014-02-14T16:46:26Z")
I was watching Wall-E with my niece the other day. In the movie the CEO of Buy-N-Large mentioned that the humans on the ship may have experienced bone density loss and as such mutated, for lack of a better word, into the way we see them on in the movie. My question - why did that happen? In the propaganda commercial you see when Wall-E scoots by, the CEO is waving them off and we see “normal” humans playing at the pool with an inflated beach ball that seems to obey gravity as we would expect it. The same proof of gravity is shown multiple times in the movie. Wall-E interrupted the auto-chair and John fell off and couldn’t get back up. When the robots and Captain are fighting over the boot with the plant in it, the boot falls down the garbage chute. When Otto the Auto Pilot robot starts controlling the tilt of the ship, the un-chairbound passengers start to feel the effects of the ship tilting. Wouldn’t this artificial gravity be enough to handle the body’s need to grow properly in an Earth gravity based environment? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/2 "2014-02-14T16:47:58Z")
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but doesn’t it have something to do with the fact they just sit around all day? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/3 "2014-02-14T16:50:54Z")
Yeah, it wasn’t low gravity that made the into blobs, it was centuries of couch potato lifestyle. It’s a commentary on consumerist culture, not micro-g evolution. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/4 "2014-02-14T16:51:47Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but doesn’t it have something to do with the fact they just sit around all day? That was my take- everybody has gfotten grossly obese because they sit around, eating, drinking and consuming all day, while machines carry them around and attend to their every whim. The portraits of the captains of the ship show that people have been getting progressively fatter over the centuries they’e spent on the ship. It’s been an eternity since people exercised, because they’ve never needed to. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/5 "2014-02-14T16:53:37Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > That was my take- everybody has gfotten grossly obese because they sit around, eating, drinking and consuming all day, while machines carry them around and attend to their every whim. > > The portraits of the captains of the ship show that people have been getting progressively fatter over the centuries they’e spent on the ship. It’s been an eternity since people exercised, because they’ve never needed to. “we have a pool?” (exactly) ---
**Author:** ![Frapp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@Frapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frapp)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/6 "2014-02-14T17:05:55Z")
I do understand that the human obesity was a very obvious metaphor for consumerism and laziness. It’s just actually stated on screen by the CEO character that low gravity was the culprit in their change, and then all that gravity happens that would have disproved it. Was it more the CEO trying to pass the blame? “Let’s not insult the customers on their own sloth so as not to ruin profits!” Was it an understanding of profits over science, ignoring science, or both? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/7 "2014-02-14T17:14:52Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The portraits of the captains of the ship show that people have been getting progressively fatter over the centuries they’e spent on the ship. It’s been an eternity since people exercised, because they’ve never needed to. It’s something of an aside here, but note that the pilot computer (ship’s wheel with HAL’s eye) looms more and more over each captain. > [@Frapp](#): > > I do understand that the human obesity was a very obvious metaphor for consumerism and laziness. > […] > Was it more the CEO trying to pass the blame? “Let’s not insult the customers on their own sloth so as not to ruin profits!” Was it an understanding of profits over science, ignoring science, or both? I’m having trouble finding a starting point you haven’t already figured out. The passengers had every whim granted until they became immobile couch potatotes fixated on their computer/TV screens. They became obese blobs as a result. The bit about gravity seems kind of tacked on, as they never establish that the ships have lower than normal gravity in the first place. I think your whole question kind of disappears into irrelevant and badly-explained story issues. I don’t think it was added to somehow soften the message of the disastrously extreme consumerist lifestyle. It was just… tossed in. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/8 "2014-02-14T17:31:54Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It’s something of an aside here, but note that the pilot computer (ship’s wheel with HAL’s eye) looms more and more over each captain. > I’m having trouble finding a starting point you haven’t already figured out. The passengers had every whim granted until they became immobile couch potatotes fixated on their computer/TV screens. They became obese blobs as a result. The bit about gravity seems kind of tacked on, as they never establish that the ships have lower than normal gravity in the first place. I think your whole question kind of disappears into irrelevant and badly-explained story issues. I don’t think it was added to somehow soften the message of the disastrously extreme consumerist lifestyle. It was just… tossed in. Also, I think that INITIALLY the people on the ship were told that they’d only be in space a little while, that Earth was being cleaned up and that, before long, it would be as good as new, and everyone would come home. THOSE people might have suffered some small loss in muscle tone and bone density. But as it turned out, the human race spent centuries in space, getting lazier and lazier as time went by. ---
**Author:** ![Osiris\_the\_1st](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9de0a6/32.png) [@Osiris\_the\_1st](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osiris_the_1st)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/9 "2014-02-14T17:42:25Z")
The thing that always bugged me was that the ship turning on it’s side sent everything sliding off to that side. In space there is no up or down the obvious gravity has to be artificial in nature. Something like Star Trek. The other alternative is that the ship is doing fairly tight loops and using cetrifugal force to approximate gravity, which doesn’t seem to be the case. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/10 "2014-02-14T17:48:34Z")
> [@Osiris\_the\_1st](#): > > The thing that always bugged me was that the ship turning on it’s side sent everything sliding off to that side. In space there is no up or down the obvious gravity has to be artificial in nature. Something like Star Trek. > > The other alternative is that the ship is doing fairly tight loops and using cetrifugal force to approximate gravity, which doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s a Disney cartoon, though, not a science fiction movie. It’s about an accurate portrayal of living on a spaceship as _Beauty and the Beast_ is an accurate portrayal of living in medieval France. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/11 "2014-02-14T18:23:18Z")
I think I remember hearing somewhere(maybe IMDB?) that in the original script everything is mostly the same until they reach the ship. Then Wall-E discovers it isn’t a human ship but full of green blob aliens! He rallies the broken robots to rebel against the aliens, and they win and defeat all the green blob aliens! Woo hoo! And then he discovers those WERE what was left of humanity, after all those generations drifting in space.:o But they changed this because it was too dark and depressing. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/12 "2014-02-14T19:25:01Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > It’s a Disney cartoon, though, not a science fiction movie. It’s about an accurate portrayal of living on a spaceship as _Beauty and the Beast_ is an accurate portrayal of living in medieval France. Yeah, what’s up with the prince of a French chateau hiring an ENGLISHWOMAN to be his chief housekeeper? And why did her son have an American accent? Getting back to Wall-E, how is Buy-n-Large supposed to be making any profits on this little day-trip? Nobody has a job; the economy must be in a shambles. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/13 "2014-02-14T19:50:33Z")
Also, we never saw the salvage-bots gutting the drifting hulks of the other arks to replace the tons of “waste” being tossed off the ship every hour. (Not to mention where the biomass comes from to keep making the “pizza in a cup.” I suspect a few of those other arks were not lost, but are being maintained as Eloi farms for the fat passengers.) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/14 "2014-02-14T19:53:44Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > (Not to mention where the biomass comes from to keep making the “pizza in a cup.” I suspect a few of those other arks were not lost, but are being maintained as Eloi farms for the fat passengers.) Mmmmmmmm. Soylent pizza. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/15 "2014-02-14T19:56:33Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but doesn’t it have something to do with the fact they just sit around all day? > [@astorian](#): > > That was my take- everybody has gfotten grossly obese because they sit around, eating, drinking and consuming all day, while machines carry them around and attend to their every whim. It’s also something of a shout-out to an old MAD Magazine bit in which those of us in North America eventualy become so dependent on technology that our limbs shrink and we become literal pushovers for invaders (Communists?). ---
**Author:** ![Unpronounceable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/16 "2014-02-14T21:36:51Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Yeah, what’s up with the prince of a French chateau hiring an ENGLISHWOMAN to be his chief housekeeper? Safest way - she’d applied for the position of head _cook_! 😉 And there could still be a thriving intellectual property driven economy (novels, games, etc.) on the ship. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/17 "2014-02-14T21:41:25Z")
> [@grude](#): > > I think I remember hearing somewhere(maybe IMDB?) that in the original script everything is mostly the same until they reach the ship. Then Wall-E discovers it isn’t a human ship but full of green blob aliens! He rallies the broken robots to rebel against the aliens, and they win and defeat all the green blob aliens! Woo hoo! > > And then he discovers those WERE what was left of humanity, after all those generations drifting in space.:o > > But they changed this because it was too dark and depressing. The real reason they didn’t use that ending because they would’ve lost their G rating when Wall-E screamed out “God damn you all to hell!” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/18 "2014-02-15T01:51:13Z")
Yeah, my take on the situation was that however it was working, the humans had finally found a situation where everybody was happy and thoughtless consumption was sustainable. We’re supposed to throw that paradise away because… ew, fatties!? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/19 "2014-02-15T02:20:45Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It’s something of an aside here, but note that the pilot computer (ship’s wheel with HAL’s eye) looms more and more over each captain. His name was Otto. Because he was the Otto-pilot. Just like Wall-E’s cockroach friend was Hal. After Hal Roach, the producer of the _Little Rascals_ shorts. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340/20 "2014-02-15T18:48:44Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Yeah, my take on the situation was that however it was working, the humans had finally found a situation where everybody was happy and thoughtless consumption was sustainable. We’re supposed to throw that paradise away because… ew, fatties!? But the thing is that they weren’t happy. In the passing moments where we hear bits & pieces of the conversations that the ‘chair people’ have, it’s alll gossip, and gripes, and complaints and moanings about very minor things. Life has become so easy and unchallenging onboard the ship that every minor insignificant nuisance has become a major grievance. A very brief but important moment in the film is when the ship lurches, a woman and a man (John Ratzenberger in his obligatory Pixar voicover) fall out of their chairs and actually look at each other eye to eye rather than communicating via Skype (or viewscreens.) The act of just looking at another person, with no technological ‘aid’ is a revelation to them. The whole message of the film is that a life without challenges does not lead to happiness; _overcoming challenges_ leads to happiness and enjoyment of life. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-e-why-did-the-humans-look-that-way/681340.md?page=2)