MovieChat Forums > WALL·E (2008) Discussion > So was AUTO just doing as told, or was h...

So was AUTO just doing as told, or was he evil?

posted 12 years ago by richardrussom
6 replies | jump to latest

This is just a friendly discussion. I am not trying to over-analyze his motives or anything but the fact that AUTO is willing to harm people to prevent the ship from returning seems to tell me that there is more to him that just "following orders".

Now to be fair, this is a cartoon. It may be computer graphics but it is still a cartoon and given that cartoon robots can fall in love, feel sad, happy, concerned, etc. is it such a far stretch that AUTO can be evil?

And as far as all the "overrated" comments. Since when does every movie have to be fricken Gone with the Wind? Can't we have a simple little film about a trash compacting robot that falls in love with a scout robot sent to earth to look for plants? :) Sometimes the simpler stories are the best ones.

Your opinion has been noted, reviewed, and dismissed. Thank You.

[–] MetFanMac 12 years ago

Re AUTO: I doubt he can be considered "evil", he was simply following his programming. He's also not a particularly developed A.I. so blindly sticking to his program parameters is understandable. (Then, too, there is the fact that proof of ONE plant growing on Earth really shouldn't be an impetus to return all of humanity there at once...)

Re overrating: No, not every movie has to be Gone With the Wind, but when many people act like a movie is on the level of Gone With the Wind and in your opinion it's more on the level of A Bug's Life, if that, then it is disconcerting.

Supermodels...spoiled stupid little stick figures mit poofy lips who sink only about zemselves.

[–] huldu 11 years ago

Evil would be to bring the humans back to Earth. Looked like they lived in a paradise on that ship if you ask me. If we look past that they were all obese, they had everything and I didn't get the impression anything had been going "wrong" for the last 700 years. Perfect society even. I didn't even get the sense that they had "currency" since, well, the humans probably did *nothing* beside eating and breeding. A true paradise(lol).

[–] richardrussom 11 years ago

Depends on your definition of 'paradise'. Yeah they might have had everything electronic right in front of their face, doesn't mean they had everything they needed. With the only food sipped through a straw for starters. But there is more to life than having your every whim catered to. As for the breeding, it must have all been done artificially otherwise the two people Wall-E bumped into wouldn't have been so shocked at the feeling of just touching hands. And Paradise loses all its meaning if that is your only environment throughout your lifetime. Even a prison with everything you want is still a prison, and it was a prison because AUTO was going to do everything in his power to keep them there. I'd much rather decide my own fate and not have all I want as opposed to 'having it all' along with a robotic overlord. :)

Your opinion has been noted, reviewed, and dismissed. Thank You.

[–] ladylaughinglizard 11 years ago

Oh dear God, you thought that was PARADISE? I thought it was terrifying! Remember how shocked Mart and John were when thy actually interacted with something REAL? We couldn't even walk. The babies were isolated.

The thing that scared me most was how believable it was.

The Captain said it himself - no one had DONE ANYTHING is 700 years!

[–] macgirl66 10 years ago

I thought it was a nightmare. In fact, I know it's just a film, but I was amazed that these humans had been able to sustain life in this fashion without having been able to walk for so long, and having lost their inner bone structure some time ago. My friend's daughter has cerebral palsy and she cannot walk, and her bones and especially hip and femur bones did not grow and develop properly, as you actually need to bear weight on them to have them grow and develop the right way. She was in a great deal of pain and had to have surgeries and be in a body cast for some time. Like I said, just a movie, but definitely NOT PARADISE. I also think that humans would eventually not make it without human touch, as we require it and thrive on touch and contact. That movie Surrogates showed what a poor substitute non-contact really is.

To each their own...opinion

[–] cdnnavy8 10 years ago

I think it would be difficult to label a computer as being good or evil as they do not govern themselves by a self-determined set of morals, they are just following their programming. If Auto's A113 directive does not contain any set of instructions to override the directive, either by order of authority or by a set of circumstances being met, then it the shortsightedness of the programmers that is the problem, not the computer. What I don't understand is why Auto was sending out the EVE probes at all if directive A113 was enacted. Auto could have just pretended the probes were being sent (deception seemed to be programmed into Auto since Auto never informed any of the Captains about directive A113).