Adam and Eve

Some of my favorite classes in college were the film classes. I took several and in graduate school I took one called Bible in Film. Now, every time I see anything with even the most vague biblical reference I am intrigued. Rereading the Adam and Eve story I started thinking about a movie we now have two copies of thanks to "the boys", Wall E. The female robot in the movie is Eve. Wall E mispronounces it throughout, calling her Ev-a, but is Eve. I Googled my theory and found several things. Here is one take on it from a fellow blogger.

Adam & Eve
The robot who drives much of the story of Wall-E is called Eve and she is given a decidedly feminine form in contrast to Wall-E who is masculine. Based on the significance of the name Eve alone it is worth examining the film from a biblical standpoint, and one finds that the plot of the film reverberates strongly with Genesis albeit in a way that most of the symbols are disguised by being reversed.

Wall-E is the last of millions of cleaning robots on Earth, whereas Adam was the first of all men. But being the last or the first is no different when you are the only. Singularity is a trait shared by both Adam and Wall-E.

The Earth proves a poor garden of Eden, devoid of life and full of garbage, in opposition to Genesis’ verdant garden paradise. However, this is another reversed symbol which is turned forwards at the movie’s close as we shall see.

Suddenly Eve appears on the planet Earth scanning for signs of photosynthesis. Alone, her search proves fruitless and she finds no signs of life. Then she meets Wall-E and a relationship begins. The two robots court amusingly and this would amount to nothing more than a trifle until Wall-E gives Eve the small growing vine in the boot. This is perhaps as close to sex as we’re likely to get in a G-rated movie for there is significance in the way that the growing vine is passed from male robot to female robot, and especially how Eve deposits the vine into a kind of uterus chamber within her. Furthering the symbols here, Eve then transforms into an inert egg and incubates the vine until the mothership returns.

The vine also reflects as being fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, though we find another reversal as Wall-E/Adam gave the “fruit” to Eve. But in any case the vine is what triggers the return of the mothership which expels Wall-E and Eve from their garden of Eden and into outer space.

One particular trait of Adam and Eve over the other creatures in the biblical garden is that they have free will, and it is free will that, by accident, they bring to the fat humans on the starship Axiom. Wall-E bumps a woman on a transport, accidentally turning off her computer. She becomes aware of the world in which she lives and is seen exploring the spaceship instead of plugged into her computer from then on. Similarly, the robots give awareness to a man and to the spaceship captain. It is the awareness of the spaceship captain that eventually frees the whole society from their unconscious state.

By the end of the film the humans have returned to Earth which suggests a return to the garden of Eden, but the very last shot of the film shows the little vines growing. The Earth is returning to life.

I encourage you to look for biblical references next time you watch a movie and report back. I would love to hear what you find.