For my final assignment, I chose to do a podcast in which I discuss three children’s movies that grapple with some of the existential issues we’ve discussed in class: The Lorax, WALL-E, and The Hunger Games. I got this idea from looking at the list of recommended films to watch for the class, and how it included the films WALL-E, and The Hunger Games, two films I watched growing up. I realized that even though these were made for younger audiences, they dealt with some pretty important ideas. The Lorax, WALL-E, and The Hunger Games are all fun, exciting, and thrilling adventure movies that are great fun for kids to watch, but at the same time each have a much deeper meaning that people of all ages can appreciate. Each movie is a work of science fiction that portrays a world much different than our own, but that allows us to reflect on and think critically about our world, our society, and our values. They deal with themes of anthropogenic environmental degradation, social inequality, the future of humanity, and more. These are ideas that might not be fully appreciated or understood by kids, but the movies still manage to teach valuable lessons that leave lasting impressions on kids, and get them started thinking about these big picture ideas.
The Lorax is about Thneedville, a town with no trees, where everyone lives off bottled oxygen. We learn that long ago, a man named the Onceler invented the Thneed, a versatile knitted article made from the Truffula tree. The Onceler was so obsessed with making profits off the Thneed that he ended up cutting down all of the trees, driving the animals out and leaving Thneedville to live off of artificial oxygen. In the end the Onceler gives the protagonist, Ted, the last Truffula seed, which he plants in the town, bringing natural life back to Thneedville. The Lorax, though a whimsical and fantastical tale, is quite representative of the real world. The film shows the influence industry, economic growth, and capitalism have on the environment, the Onceler representative of wealthy corporations who are obsessed with profits and have no remorse for their harmful impact on the environment. Carbon emissions produced from human activity have been the largest contributor to climate change, and continue to be a major problem. Bill McKibben reports: “scientists estimate that humans can pour roughly 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by midcentury” before we reach a tipping point in climate change, but that companies are already planning on using 2,795 gigatons in coming years. Scientists warn that global warming needs to be limited to 2 degrees Celsius before catastrophic change—but if we keep emitting carbon as planned, that won’t happen (McKibben). The Lorax reflects on the dangers of industry and climate change, but leaves audiences with a message of hope for change. The Onceler famously says “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” If society takes action to change its behavior, perhaps we can decrease our consumption and emissions, and mitigate the effects of climate change.
WALL-E, though very different from The Lorax, touches on many of the same ideas. WALL-E takes place 800 years in the future, in a future where humans have left the earth uninhabitable and now live on a ship traveling through space. It tells the story of two robots, WALL-E and EVE, who find a plant—a sign of life on Earth—and fight to plant the seed and bring humanity back to restart life on Earth. This movie, though a tad unrealistic, portrays an aspect of Earth’s future that is inevitable given our current rate of waste production, and the vast amount of trash already beginning to pollute our land, oceans, and atmosphere. The mass production of goods that will become landfill doesn’t only harm the environment by producing waste, but the energy required to produce them and transport them, and the consequent emissions, all contribute to the degradation of the environment (EPA). Another parallel that can be drawn is the film’s depiction of the company Buy-N- Large that has taken over the economy and consumption in this future society—this can be compared to massive companies like Amazon and Walmart, who have significantly contributed to global emissions. This highlights the idea that while individuals do have the ability to make changes in their way of living to decrease their impact on the environment, the only significant change will come from large companies, such as these, drastically changing their practices to reduce their damage to the environment. In all, WALL-E does a great job of showing a possible and frightening future that makes us think critically about our present. The happy ending of the film, when WALL-E and EVE manage to get humanity back to Earth to plant the plant in the earth, leaves the audience with a glimmer of hope that perhaps humanity can save itself from complete destruction by valuing the environment and all it provides, much like The Lorax.
The Hunger Games is a film for older kids, middle schoolers and above, as it deals with some heavier issues than the other two films. The Hunger Games takes place in the future dystopian society of Panem, which is made up of twelve districts, some of which live in extreme poverty, and the wealthy city of the Capitol governs all of the districts. Panem, though very different from the modern world, is a reflection of the extreme social inequality that exists within the US and around the world (Jones). The film shows the inequality within Panem by highlighting the extravagant and luxurious lifestyle of the people in the Capitol, and comparing this to the people living in poverty in District 12 who can barely afford their next meal. This exaggerated contrast emphasizes the absurdity of the wealthy class in our own world when compared to how little people in poverty have. This can be connected to the existential issue of climate change, and how its impact on the Global South will be much worse and much sooner than its impact on the wealthy nations of the Global North—the nations who have contributed the most to anthropogenic climate change (Agarwal 1). As world leaders aim to make changes in human activity to decrease carbon emissions, many are telling developing nations to significantly cut their emissions, posing a threat to their right to develop, modernize, and grow their economy (Chakrabarty 9). This is a problem called ‘environmental colonialism’ which intends to “perpetuate the global inequality in the use of the earth’s environment and its resources by blaming developing countries for global warming, when the accumulation in the earth’s atmosphere of greenhouse gases is mainly the result of the gargantuan consumption of the developed countries, particularly the United States,” (Chakrabarty 9). While the Hunger Games does not discuss issues of climate change, its depiction of wealth disparity and social inequality encourages young audiences to reflect on their own society, and the implications wealth inequality has on other issues of the future. Katniss’ resistance toward the Capital sparked a revolution that ultimately led to radical change—this can serve as an example to young readers that collective action has the ability to cause social change, something that we are in dire need of today.
While these movies do a wonderful job at portraying a world that forces us to reflect on and think critically about our own world and its many problems, they are still movies made for kids. Each does a great job of appealing to kids with its writing and design, while also teaching important lessons about life and the world. One of the ways these movies appeal to children is with the incredible fictional worlds they portray. Each story takes place in a different world that was creatively designed and made with great detail and memorable visuals that catch children’s attention. The Lorax’s world is filled with color and adorable animals; the world of WALL-E shows futuristic technology, robots, and outer space; the Capitol in The Hunger Games has futuristic and visually stimulating architecture, technology, and absurd and flamboyant fashion. Another way these movies appeal to children is with their fascinating and relatable characters and their emotions. In The Lorax, we see Ted’s curiosity and desire to make a change, and the Onceler’s feelings of regret for what he’s done; In WALL-E we see a story of love and friendship between WALL-E and EVE, and a story of community among the people aboard the spaceship. In The Hunger Games, we see Katniss’ care for her family, and her anger towards her government and the fact that she must live in poverty. Children of all different backgrounds can relate to these characters and their issues. A third reason these movies do a great job at enticing children is the fact that they all end with a relatively happy ending. In The Lorax and in WALL-E we see the seed of a plant being planted to restore life in a lifeless land, showing hope for humanity to change its harmful behavior towards the environment. In The Hunger Games, Katniss sparks a revolution that leads to complete societal change, ending The Hunger Games and the oppression of the Capitol for good.
As mentioned before, children watching these films might not fully understand the concepts they deal with, but because of the way these films were made, the design aspects, the storytelling, the characters, and more, these films are able to create long lasting impressions on their audiences, and get them thinking about these ideas about society, the earth, the future, and more. I believe movies like these can inspire kids to take action in things they are passionate about. Everyone loves movies, especially kids, and especially when they are fun, imaginative and other worldly like The Lorax, WALL-E, and The Hunger Games. I hope that movies like these are continued to be made, because introducing these topics to people at a young age is the perfect opportunity for inspiring the societal change we need to keep humans around for as long as we can. I hope that with my podcast on this subject I will encourage people to make and share films like these, and encourage parents to show these kinds of movies to their children, and have conversations with them about these ideas.
Works Cited
Agarwal, Anil and Narain, Sunita, “Global Warming in an Unequal World: a case of environmental colonialism.” Centre for Science and Environment, 1991.
Dipesh Chakrabarty, “Planetary Crises and the Difficulty of Being Modern.” Millennium Journal of International Studies, 2018.
Jones, Van, “‘Hunger Games,’ a mirror of America’s inequality,” 2014 https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/21/opinion/jones-hunger-games/index.html
McKibben, Bill, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” 2012
United States Environmental Protection Agency, “What are the trends in wastes and their effects on human health and the environment?” https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/wastes
“The Hunger Games.” Lionsgate Films, 2012.
“The Lorax.” Illumination Entertainment, 2012.
“Wall-E.” Disney, 2008.