I had an epiphany this morning as I waited for my carpool. I don’t know why it came to me, it just did. I can’t even remember how I got onto the thought. But as I stood there, I had the clear vision:
There are no old people on the Axiom.
I’ve seen WALL-E now about 30 times. That’s a bit of a guess, mind you. I’ve seen it not just because it’s an awesome movie, but because it’s Monkey’s favourite thing after the Backyardigans. (She’ll either ask for “Ya-yas” or “Wally”, and rarely anything else.) I have no problem when she wants to watch it, so the two of us will sit and watch.
When you watch something enough, you begin to notice little things that had previously escaped notice. And in this case, it came after my mind apparently was chewing away subconsciously. Although Buy ‘N Large advertised the Axiom with an eldery woman on a hover chair, 700 years later the Axiom seems devoid of anyone past their 30s. No grey hairs. No wrinkles.
Okay, yes, I’ll grant you that in their “big baby” states, humans might keep their youth longer, but human biology wouldn’t likely weed out the aging process.
My take?
It’s a Logan’s Run-meets-Soylent Green thing. When someone turns 30, their hover chair dumps them into into a processor to end up as the next day’s special. Seriously! Did you see any greenhouses? Why is all the food ingested through a straw?
Maybe Pixar should make a really cool darker prequel, where the previous captain discovers the truth, and races through the ship on his hover chair, yelling:
Stop eating! Your Sexcentennial Cupcake-In-A-Cup is made of people! IT’S MADE OF PEOPLE!
They could even use Charleton Heston’s voice.
C’mon, it’d be great.
Come to think of it… Did anyone see any children or teenagers, either? Hmm…