I chose to compare and contrast the movies Wall-e and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which are romantic comedies produced in the year 2008. However, they are not so similar because Wall-e is a computer generated graphic sci-fi motion picture while the latter is a drama film. Andrew Stanton produced Wall-e in the Pixar Animation movie company, while Woody Allen directed Vicky Cristina Barcelona under Mediapro studios.
Wall-e tells us about a ragged recycling robot left 700 years in the aftermath of earth’s evacuation following pollution that made it inhabitable. He tries to reconnect with the world but fails, but he finds a plant which he nurtures. He comes across Eve, a feminine robot designed to reveal any form of life on earth to the space star-liner which harbors people. This ensues in a romantic encounter between them as they attempt to rescue human life. The other movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, is about two passionate and assertive ladies from America who move to the Spanish city of Barcelona. They get entangled in an affair with Juan Antonio, an artist who had just publicly divorced his first wife called Elena. The engaged Vicky appears sensible when compared to the impulsive and liberal Cristina (Scott). We are also exposed to a fall out between their host couple who were monogamous.
The cultures represented in the two movies differ in several ways. Vicky Cristina Barcelona demonstrates a modern society where Vicky and Cristina want to rediscover themselves not only on their career fronts, but also to find the perfect partner to fulfill their passion. Both of them are impatient and indecisive. This backfires upon them in the end because they made no progress in redefining themselves. Being set in a different culture, the Wall-e beings embody the need for tolerance and perseverance when handling relationships. The two robots were mutually committed to each other and eventually ended in a happy reunion.
The drama comedy manifested a dilemma, unlike the animated film. Cristina was torn between her fiancé, who was stable and dependable but stodgy, and the compassionate but unreliable Antonio Juan. The main characters in Wall-e faced no significant dilemma. Wall-e falls in love with Eve and eventually she also adores him romantically. Their duty to save people was not subject to change in favor of another decision. The men aboard the ship also wanted to revert to their predecessors’ way of life and let go of their overdependence on technology.
Both these films have one or more obstacles. The two robots in their mission to redeem human beings come up against the autopilot of the star-liner. Auto seeks to stop them from activating the ship’s holo-detector by sneaking out the plant. This plant indicated the earth’s newly habitable environment. Wall-e rescues the plant just before its detonation, and he helped activate the spaceship to return to the planet earth. In the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the two friends become obstacles to each other because they hindered the progress of Antonio’s relationship with either one of them. Doug, Vicky’s fiancé, later became an impediment to the relationship between Antonio and Vicky when he proposed to her. The obstacles in the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona were not averted, and the story ended with everyone in the condition they were in before.
The two movies use linear narrative. This type is employed when the plot develops smoothly in a chronological manner. The three segments of a story line include the introductory setup, insertion of the conflict and the end settlement of the problem. In the beginning of Wall-e, we know his daily activity, and the plight of man is revealed. Then the two robots face opposition when they try to restore the spaceship to land. In the end mankind inhabits the earth and Wall-e reunites with Eve. For the case of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the movie first presents us with the opportunity to recognize all the main characters and their motives after settling in the city. The story develops when Antonio has an affair with Cristina and the engaged Vicky, sparking a series of drama then reuniting with his ex wife. The movie terminates with none of them satisfied hence reverting to their previous lifestyles.
Wall-e shows the advantages and disadvantages of technology. Humans on the star-liner relied on them for transportation and communication, with their skeletons being deformed in the process. On the other hand, their liberation against the inflexible Autopilot followed efforts by the robots Eve and Wall-e. The movie also underlines the importance of existing in harmony with the ecosystem since the excessive pollution made the earth inhabitable. In contrast, the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona uses satire to convey the message. It ridicules the popular celebrity lifestyle that discards marriage as a unit of sanctity. At the end, the impatient and unstable characters get mocked as they fail to achieve their goals. The film uses different characters to show that infidelity affects everyone. Vicky was intelligent and sensible, Cristina being naïve and insatiable while Elena is hypersexual and envious (Jaden).
Works cited
Jaden, Steve. “Vicky Cristina Barcelona: A Movie Mouthful | Screenwriting for Hollywood.” Screenwriting for Hollywood. WordPress, 2008.
Scott, Heron. “Vicky Cristina Barcelona- Review Thread – The ComingSoon.net Boards.” The ComingSoon.net Boards – Powered by vBulletin. Jelsoft, 2008.