You know what I think?
Jun. 28th, 2008 09:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silverthorneIt's all a matter of perspective.
Been reading reviews about Wall-E, and one of the themes 'concerned' movie goers are freaking out over is that apparently not only does the human race trash the planet in the 700 years from now until the time span in the movie starts, they manage to trash themselves as well.
They move into spaceships (with or without gravity, I'm not sure, it's not specifically mentioned).
Since they don't have to work because robots are all doing it for them, they basically become couch potatoes.
The end result? You have a race of humans who are big, blobby, need hovercraft style chairs to get around in, and look like overgrown babies (which is actually part of the underlying point according to the creator--stripped of responsibility for much of anything, we revert to childish behavior. And the movie shows that outwardly in the humans' forms).
And of course, what happens when people get hold of this juicy bit of news? They freak out.
Overweight folks are already screaming about 'fat bashing'. Other people (noticably ones that have no sense of courtesy no matter their target) are 'celebrating' this 'tide of reversal in 'fat acceptance'. Everyone who has an issue with weight, one way or another, is jumping on the bandwagon, most of them gracelessly, and using the movie to either trumpet their own agenda or wail about how it's targeting them and their lifestyle.
Here's my take on it.
First off, let's get something straight. I'm overweight. Last time this year I was freaking obese. Even then though, I didn't spaz out over so called 'fat hate'. I wasn't really worried over what other people thought, either. Yes, I was BIG (still am), yes, I had way too many curves in all the wrong places, yes, I was unable to get into a lot of cool clothing that I would have loved (and shed a few tears over that), and yes, I had a bunch of health related problems (most of them having to do with being too heavy for my skeleton to comfortably take). And yes, I was well aware that some people judged me on that. I also knew that the ones who just judged and went on their way with a snicker were the ones I didn't need to worry about anyway. I prefer friends with some courtesy and empathy to them, thanks.
Second of all: Now that I'm halfway to where I'm going, yes, I do look at people larger than me and wince a little. No, it has nothing to do with me thinking they're snarfing down fast food, or are just too lazy to do anything. My wincing is because I know (and I'm sure they do too, because they hear it all the time from family, friends, doctors, and the 'well-meaning random stranger', I'm sure. I know I would have if I hadn't been in the equivilent of prison solitary for the past ten years) that it isn't healthy for them. I wonder if they've tried getting smaller. I wonder and worry that maybe they're part of the population that's stuck with being overweight because of things like thyroidism, slow metabolism, being in a situation where they can't get enough exercise and/or good diet due to budgeting issues (which was a huge chunk of my own problem), if there's a psycological problem that holds them back, etc.
It isn't judgment...and it isn't pity, either. I just wonder, and I hope that if it's fixable that eventually it'll get fixed for them. There's no hate involved, and no nasty 'whale jokes' sneaking around in the back of my head. And I'd smack the person who moo'd at an overweight person rather than put up with that kind of bullshit. You aren't eight, jackass. And that's a person with real emotions and heart you're maiking noises at.
Anyway, so, that's the perspective that I'm looking at the reviews for Wall-E with.
And you know, it just makes me want to smack everyone who's making a big deal over the human designs.
You know why they're fat?
Because, scientifically speaking (and what the creator is basing this on):
1) If a human person goes into space with no gravity for a long time, they lose bone density and get oestoperosis. This is one of the big reasons actual people haven't been sent to Mars, according the the NASA research the guy did--if we sent folks now, with our current technology, by the time they got back, their own skeleton wouldn't be able to support them. So yes, you would end up with a bunch of human blobs. So until we can figure out how to sustain gravity on a traveling ship? No go.
2) The less you move around, the slower your metabolism gets, and the less calories you'll burn. If you keep eating the same amount of food calorie wise as your metabolism slows down, guess what happens? Yep, that's right, you gain weight because you aren't burning off the excess energy from the food. One of the reasons that it's actually normal for the average human to gain, at least a little, as they get older. Because unless you're the type to continue to go outside and play and hike and go to the gym after work, you're burning a lot less calories as a grown up than you were as a kid. Add in high calorie diets, and yep, if you don't watch it, guess what'll happen?
3) 'Move more and you'll speed up your metabolism' combined with exercise of any time helps keep your metabolism going. Here's the thing though that most folks, until they seriously get into weight loss don't get. Your body is built to be efficient, and that includes with burning calories. Which means, if you let it get used to doing the same thing every day, or, you know, follow the same exercise routine week in and week out (or eat the same foods, healthy or not, every week)? Your body will adjust to that to make the most out of your energy intake. Which means, eventually, if you don't switch things out to keep your body off balance, it'll learn to adjust itself to take advantage of the intake without having to burn anything off. This is why, using me as an example, even though I can burn upwards of 5,000 calories at work a day...I don't lose weight from just doing my job. I've been doing it for nine years, you see. My body knows how to get it done without burning very many calories in comparison at all. It's adjusted. Which is why I still have to exercise once I get home if I want to get anything done. :)
So, keeping all that stuff in mind, assuming the creator did his research (which he did), and giving him credit for looking 700 years into the future to see the end result of a race that is space-bourne and has very little to do any more because the robots do all of it, and what do you think one of the results of such a society just might be?
Yeah. Blobby, overweight humans that need a floating chair to get around in.
You know what I find funny about that fact that people are freaking out about this now?
Anyone remember Longshot from Marvel? Anyone remember Mojo's people (not just him, but all of his people?). The only one who wasn't fat, blobby, and overweight (and stuck in a floating chair!) was Arize--who happened to be both the inventor of his people and the pariah because he didn't agree with how they did things. And, oddly enough, the whole first series was essentially a parody of both Hollywood, and the exective lifestyle.
I wonder why no one got upset over that one? Food for thought, maybe?
Maybe folks are looking a little too hard for a fight?
Or maybe people are being forced to look a little too hard at themselves, and that makes them upset.
Personally?
I never took it as an attack on overweight people, nor as a 'statement' to support the health nuts and self-righteous folks trumpeting 'See?! YOU HAVE TO LOSE WEIGHT, YOU UGLY FAT THING, OR ELSE!!!!!!!'
What I took it as, and will take it as, is a well-reasoned out, and decently researched 'what-if'? Anything else, I figure, is my own hang-ups in regard to overweight people, weight loss, and my own body image. If I get upset over it, maybe, just maybe, I need to do some navel-gazing and figure out why, rather than assume the movie is aimed at poking me, yes me, too hard about my own life choices.
That which resonates within was usually already there to being with. And maybe if it's bugging you, than you might want to ask what's inside yourself first, before jumping on that "OMG, Pixar's Got A Message!!!!! (and I don't like it/like it too much)".
As for the movie itself? Originally, I wasn't going to go see it, or get the DVD. Not because of the 'fat people' issue...I'm just not that into robot movies. Johnny Five was my last love in that regard, and I haven't found a robot since that's tugged my heartstrings as well.
And to be honest, if I have any crticism of Wall-E, it's that he looks too much like Johnny to me...and I'm not sure I want to draw any comparison between the two.
But with everyone making a fuss over this movie, I might see it now anyway. Not to get into the whole fray, but maybe to give little Wall-e the chance other folks seem bent on not giving him--as a good movie on it's own with some merit.
And maybe a little something to think about once it's over.
Been reading reviews about Wall-E, and one of the themes 'concerned' movie goers are freaking out over is that apparently not only does the human race trash the planet in the 700 years from now until the time span in the movie starts, they manage to trash themselves as well.
They move into spaceships (with or without gravity, I'm not sure, it's not specifically mentioned).
Since they don't have to work because robots are all doing it for them, they basically become couch potatoes.
The end result? You have a race of humans who are big, blobby, need hovercraft style chairs to get around in, and look like overgrown babies (which is actually part of the underlying point according to the creator--stripped of responsibility for much of anything, we revert to childish behavior. And the movie shows that outwardly in the humans' forms).
And of course, what happens when people get hold of this juicy bit of news? They freak out.
Overweight folks are already screaming about 'fat bashing'. Other people (noticably ones that have no sense of courtesy no matter their target) are 'celebrating' this 'tide of reversal in 'fat acceptance'. Everyone who has an issue with weight, one way or another, is jumping on the bandwagon, most of them gracelessly, and using the movie to either trumpet their own agenda or wail about how it's targeting them and their lifestyle.
Here's my take on it.
First off, let's get something straight. I'm overweight. Last time this year I was freaking obese. Even then though, I didn't spaz out over so called 'fat hate'. I wasn't really worried over what other people thought, either. Yes, I was BIG (still am), yes, I had way too many curves in all the wrong places, yes, I was unable to get into a lot of cool clothing that I would have loved (and shed a few tears over that), and yes, I had a bunch of health related problems (most of them having to do with being too heavy for my skeleton to comfortably take). And yes, I was well aware that some people judged me on that. I also knew that the ones who just judged and went on their way with a snicker were the ones I didn't need to worry about anyway. I prefer friends with some courtesy and empathy to them, thanks.
Second of all: Now that I'm halfway to where I'm going, yes, I do look at people larger than me and wince a little. No, it has nothing to do with me thinking they're snarfing down fast food, or are just too lazy to do anything. My wincing is because I know (and I'm sure they do too, because they hear it all the time from family, friends, doctors, and the 'well-meaning random stranger', I'm sure. I know I would have if I hadn't been in the equivilent of prison solitary for the past ten years) that it isn't healthy for them. I wonder if they've tried getting smaller. I wonder and worry that maybe they're part of the population that's stuck with being overweight because of things like thyroidism, slow metabolism, being in a situation where they can't get enough exercise and/or good diet due to budgeting issues (which was a huge chunk of my own problem), if there's a psycological problem that holds them back, etc.
It isn't judgment...and it isn't pity, either. I just wonder, and I hope that if it's fixable that eventually it'll get fixed for them. There's no hate involved, and no nasty 'whale jokes' sneaking around in the back of my head. And I'd smack the person who moo'd at an overweight person rather than put up with that kind of bullshit. You aren't eight, jackass. And that's a person with real emotions and heart you're maiking noises at.
Anyway, so, that's the perspective that I'm looking at the reviews for Wall-E with.
And you know, it just makes me want to smack everyone who's making a big deal over the human designs.
You know why they're fat?
Because, scientifically speaking (and what the creator is basing this on):
1) If a human person goes into space with no gravity for a long time, they lose bone density and get oestoperosis. This is one of the big reasons actual people haven't been sent to Mars, according the the NASA research the guy did--if we sent folks now, with our current technology, by the time they got back, their own skeleton wouldn't be able to support them. So yes, you would end up with a bunch of human blobs. So until we can figure out how to sustain gravity on a traveling ship? No go.
2) The less you move around, the slower your metabolism gets, and the less calories you'll burn. If you keep eating the same amount of food calorie wise as your metabolism slows down, guess what happens? Yep, that's right, you gain weight because you aren't burning off the excess energy from the food. One of the reasons that it's actually normal for the average human to gain, at least a little, as they get older. Because unless you're the type to continue to go outside and play and hike and go to the gym after work, you're burning a lot less calories as a grown up than you were as a kid. Add in high calorie diets, and yep, if you don't watch it, guess what'll happen?
3) 'Move more and you'll speed up your metabolism' combined with exercise of any time helps keep your metabolism going. Here's the thing though that most folks, until they seriously get into weight loss don't get. Your body is built to be efficient, and that includes with burning calories. Which means, if you let it get used to doing the same thing every day, or, you know, follow the same exercise routine week in and week out (or eat the same foods, healthy or not, every week)? Your body will adjust to that to make the most out of your energy intake. Which means, eventually, if you don't switch things out to keep your body off balance, it'll learn to adjust itself to take advantage of the intake without having to burn anything off. This is why, using me as an example, even though I can burn upwards of 5,000 calories at work a day...I don't lose weight from just doing my job. I've been doing it for nine years, you see. My body knows how to get it done without burning very many calories in comparison at all. It's adjusted. Which is why I still have to exercise once I get home if I want to get anything done. :)
So, keeping all that stuff in mind, assuming the creator did his research (which he did), and giving him credit for looking 700 years into the future to see the end result of a race that is space-bourne and has very little to do any more because the robots do all of it, and what do you think one of the results of such a society just might be?
Yeah. Blobby, overweight humans that need a floating chair to get around in.
You know what I find funny about that fact that people are freaking out about this now?
Anyone remember Longshot from Marvel? Anyone remember Mojo's people (not just him, but all of his people?). The only one who wasn't fat, blobby, and overweight (and stuck in a floating chair!) was Arize--who happened to be both the inventor of his people and the pariah because he didn't agree with how they did things. And, oddly enough, the whole first series was essentially a parody of both Hollywood, and the exective lifestyle.
I wonder why no one got upset over that one? Food for thought, maybe?
Maybe folks are looking a little too hard for a fight?
Or maybe people are being forced to look a little too hard at themselves, and that makes them upset.
Personally?
I never took it as an attack on overweight people, nor as a 'statement' to support the health nuts and self-righteous folks trumpeting 'See?! YOU HAVE TO LOSE WEIGHT, YOU UGLY FAT THING, OR ELSE!!!!!!!'
What I took it as, and will take it as, is a well-reasoned out, and decently researched 'what-if'? Anything else, I figure, is my own hang-ups in regard to overweight people, weight loss, and my own body image. If I get upset over it, maybe, just maybe, I need to do some navel-gazing and figure out why, rather than assume the movie is aimed at poking me, yes me, too hard about my own life choices.
That which resonates within was usually already there to being with. And maybe if it's bugging you, than you might want to ask what's inside yourself first, before jumping on that "OMG, Pixar's Got A Message!!!!! (and I don't like it/like it too much)".
As for the movie itself? Originally, I wasn't going to go see it, or get the DVD. Not because of the 'fat people' issue...I'm just not that into robot movies. Johnny Five was my last love in that regard, and I haven't found a robot since that's tugged my heartstrings as well.
And to be honest, if I have any crticism of Wall-E, it's that he looks too much like Johnny to me...and I'm not sure I want to draw any comparison between the two.
But with everyone making a fuss over this movie, I might see it now anyway. Not to get into the whole fray, but maybe to give little Wall-e the chance other folks seem bent on not giving him--as a good movie on it's own with some merit.
And maybe a little something to think about once it's over.
