In 1909 E.M. Forster wrote the ground-breaking short story “The Machine Stops”, it foretold of a dystopian society where mankind entrusted itself to a machine which took care of al their wants and needs, and ultimately lead to their demise.
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In “The Machine Stops” everyone lives in underground mechanical cities completely run by “The Machine”. In their cities they have absolutely no contact with the outside world, so much so that even contact with outside air can cause blood to pour from the ears and nose(Reader, 151), and usually death. The closest they come to nature is on the airships which ferry them between underground cities. Even here most of nature is shout out and the mere thought of being touched by sunlight is horrifying(Reader, 145). Outside of their physical separation from nature, there is the mental aspect. People no longer think about nature, there is no longer a need to answer any questions about nature since everything is “perfect” the way it is, it is so removed from their society that they don’t even know what snow(Reader, 146) is anymore. We see this same alienation in the people from “WALL-E”, they have spent their entire lives on space ships, having never seen Earth. They have no concept of nature or it’s beauty. In one scene the captain of the ship has no idea earth, or soil, is, nor does he know what seas, plants or farms are. Having never been around nature they have never learned what it is or had a chance …show more content…
In both cases it seems that people have given up their humanity for material well-being. Both use the insect motif to illustrate the loss of humanity. In “The Machine Stops” Forster describes the inhabitant’s rooms as “hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee.”(Reader, 141), creating the imagery of humans as insects, living in tightly packed quarters. In “WALL-E” they show the humans being moved around on their “hover chairs” like insects around a hive, moving in mass with no real purpose, just moving down tracks. Outside of the insect motif the authors use the lack of physical activity to help show the loss of humanity. In “The Machine Stops” people rarely leave their rooms, and while in their rooms they move around on their armchairs, with everything they desired being brought to them by “The Machine”. In fact physical activity is discouraged to such a degree that “Each infant was examined at birth, and all who promised undue strength were destroyed[…]he would have yearned for trees to climb, rivers to bathe in, meadows and hills against which he might measure his body.”, all of which were now unattainable in their mechanical world. Over the years this has lead to people becoming extremely weak feeble. In “WALL-E” people have also drifted away from physical activity, with hover-chairs and
In “The Machine Stops” everyone lives in underground mechanical cities completely run by “The Machine”. In their cities they have absolutely no contact with the outside world, so much so that even contact with outside air can cause blood to pour from the ears and nose(Reader, 151), and usually death. The closest they come to nature is on the airships which ferry them between underground cities. Even here most of nature is shout out and the mere thought of being touched by sunlight is horrifying(Reader, 145). Outside of their physical separation from nature, there is the mental aspect. People no longer think about nature, there is no longer a need to answer any questions about nature since everything is “perfect” the way it is, it is so removed from their society that they don’t even know what snow(Reader, 146) is anymore. We see this same alienation in the people from “WALL-E”, they have spent their entire lives on space ships, having never seen Earth. They have no concept of nature or it’s beauty. In one scene the captain of the ship has no idea earth, or soil, is, nor does he know what seas, plants or farms are. Having never been around nature they have never learned what it is or had a chance …show more content…
In both cases it seems that people have given up their humanity for material well-being. Both use the insect motif to illustrate the loss of humanity. In “The Machine Stops” Forster describes the inhabitant’s rooms as “hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee.”(Reader, 141), creating the imagery of humans as insects, living in tightly packed quarters. In “WALL-E” they show the humans being moved around on their “hover chairs” like insects around a hive, moving in mass with no real purpose, just moving down tracks. Outside of the insect motif the authors use the lack of physical activity to help show the loss of humanity. In “The Machine Stops” people rarely leave their rooms, and while in their rooms they move around on their armchairs, with everything they desired being brought to them by “The Machine”. In fact physical activity is discouraged to such a degree that “Each infant was examined at birth, and all who promised undue strength were destroyed[…]he would have yearned for trees to climb, rivers to bathe in, meadows and hills against which he might measure his body.”, all of which were now unattainable in their mechanical world. Over the years this has lead to people becoming extremely weak feeble. In “WALL-E” people have also drifted away from physical activity, with hover-chairs and