The Films That I Have Taught: WALL-E

In addition to books, the other big text that I teach as a teacher is films. Much like the book series, The Films That I Have Taught, is a personal reflection on the films I have taught in my classes. Their experiences often revealed interesting truths, not about the themes necessarily, but more about the outcomes and interactions I had with my students and how it influenced my writing.

There is a selection of films that I have found that students simply adore, in fact if I told my class we were going to watch a movie, there are usually only a few that they regularly request. I will talk of three of them through this series, the first being WALL-E by Andrew Stanton.  

WALL-E is one of my go to films for a number of reasons. The first is that it is school friendly, so no permission slips needed, the second is that it has a simple but clear message. I have found that, in my experience of working in lower socioeconomic schools, that many students lack that ability to analyse meaning. Yes, that is a generalisation, and I have met many students who could independently find meaning, but generally, they struggle. I won’t go into detail as to why here, for that is a rant for another day, but what helps in these situations is having clear meaning.

Students quickly understand that WALL-E is about environmentalism and overconsumption and if they don’t pick it up, then it takes me under a minute to show it. Even recently, a few of my senior students needed to pick a text to study and write an essay on and when they had gotten two weeks in (after telling me “no sir, I have started, I have picked a text and I will get it done”) and they hadn’t even picked a film yet, I recommended WALL-E.

The opening scene is filled with obvious meaning, as is the first scene on the ship, but despite its simplicity, the meaning is not weak or shallow. There is actually a good amount of depth present, and it makes me wonder how I can create simple and deep meaning in my own writing. How could I, for example, show simply the power of prayer but have the depth of so that it is more than a five-minute Sunday School talk?

I think the solution is about changing perspective, WALL-E is not a simple text, but a clear one. It communicates its point so that it seems simple. My writing should be the same, it should be so clear that it is mistaken for simple, that no matter who reads it, they can draw meaning.