Rod Dreher Hearts “Wall-E”

Posted on July 7th, 2008 4:11pm by Wick Allison
Filed under Local News

Money quote from his post this weekend:

I expected a quality kid’s movie… What I didn’t expect, what I wouldn’t in a million years have expected, is a Pixar film that embodies a traditionalist conservative critique of modernity, one that advocates a more or less Aristotelian view of humanity and politics. Philosophically, this is one of the most subversive movies I’ve ever seen.

15 comments

  1. Apparently Dreher didn’t see (or didn’t pay attention to) “The Incredibles.” If he had, he wouldn’t have found this surprising in the least. Even “Ratatouille,” in its embrace of a meritocracy regardless of the color (or fuzziness) of one’s skin, was grounded in conservatism.

    @ 4:31 pm on July 7, 2008

  2. I guess Rod is too young to remember “Lost in Space”.

    @ 5:04 pm on July 7, 2008

  3. A cartoon with a fake heart is bound to be warmer than the machine that powers the Belo soul…

    @ 5:08 pm on July 7, 2008

  4. If Rod “Thumper” Dreher liked it, that means there is NO WAY I would .. so thanks for the review. Life is too short!

    @ 5:40 pm on July 7, 2008

  5. Thus sapping any potential enjoyment of this movie….

    @ 5:55 pm on July 7, 2008

  6. Guess Dreher has never seen anything by Wim Wenders or even “A Clockwork Orange.”

    @ 7:43 pm on July 7, 2008

  7. LPG/Bring It: You can enjoy it for the reasons Mr. Dreher did or you can just enjoy it–the way I did. It’s good stuff and well worth seeing.

    @ 9:12 pm on July 7, 2008

  8. The odd thing is that Frank Rich also enjoyed it. Surely the end must be near.

    I could never go see the movie now and not think of Rod Dreher and his beard.

    BTW..Did anyone hear that Charlie Crist is getting married?

    @ 9:35 pm on July 7, 2008

  9. I guess Rod has never seen “Lady in the Water,” either.

    @ 8:38 am on July 8, 2008

  10. More or less Aristotelian? Sheesh. I only watch movies that are clearly, without-a-doubt Aristotelian.

    @ 9:19 am on July 8, 2008

  11. Yep, conservatism is undeniably “subversive,” with all the cachet and mystique that implies.

    Subtext (clumsily hidden behind allusions to Aristotle and other bits of shameless pedantry):

    I’m Rod Dreher and I’m sssssssexy!

    @ 10:11 am on July 8, 2008

  12. I am just sad that Señor Dreher (how his name sings like a soft fart from a corpse!) has become so punch-drunk from our lives and times that frighten him so that he must now take refuge in a children’s cartoon.

    Señor Dreher, Our Lady of Guadalupe still loves you!

    Now, where are our cabras?

    Emilio

    @ 10:34 am on July 8, 2008

  13. Why is it that any time Hollywood gives us a meaningful film, everyone immediately tries to politicize it and declare it to be either conservative or liberal propaganda? Can’t we understand ideas anymore without breaking out the label-maker? Don’t ideas transcend politics? It’s a brilliant movie. See it.

    @ 11:01 am on July 8, 2008

  14. Tim, that’s because nobody saw “Lady in the Water.”

    @ 4:41 am on July 12, 2008

  15. Wall-E totally looks like the robot from “Short Circuit”… minus the cheesy 80’s style of course

    @ 12:01 am on July 18, 2008