BP: Movie Review

            Over the span of a week I watched the movies Helvetica, Everything is Illuminated and Wall-E. I took the time to watch these movies to look for different aspects of design that were incorporated into these movies. After I successfully watched these three movies I noticed a common theme. Each one of these movies has its main subjects embarking on a journey to accomplish a goal while witnessing the evolution of the world around them. The purpose of this blog post is to breakdown each of the three movies and explain how the subjects evolved throughout their journey to accomplish their goal.  

            I will begin with Helvetica which is a documentary that explains the story of the now famous font of the same name. Throughout the movie you witness the journey and transformation the Helvetica font goes through. The font was originally designed in both Germany and Switzerland but now is known and used all over the world. The original design of the font had a slight flair to it with the hanging edges that had slight curves. The font was then changed by the designers cutting those edges off which made the font clean, simple and uniform. The font was initially unpopular, not anymore. Helvetica can be seen all around us. It has become one of the most well-known and most used typeface in the world. It all started with an idea and that idea took off. The next film I will discuss is Everything is Illuminated.

            Everything is Illuminated is about a man by the name of Johnathan who is a collector of random artifacts he comes across while on his various journey’s. He travels to Ukraine to learn of his families past. His objective is to locate a village in which the answer to what occurred in his families past is located. Upon arrival he discovers that the village is actually a woman who also is a collector. She discusses with Johnathan what happened when the Nazi’s came and wiped out the Jewish men who were living near her. She then gives him a photo for his collection that is believed to be a relative of Johnathan. Just like the theme for Helvetica, Johnathan evolved throughout movie and finally discovered the truth about his families past. Last but not least I will discuss Wall-E.

            Wall-E is about a small trash compactor robot who is assigned with the task to clean up all the garbage on Earth left behind by humans in an attempt to make Earth habitable once again by humans who are residing aboard a spacecraft far away. All his other companions have perished; Earth is a wasteland with garbage skyscrapers and frequent sandstorms. Eve drones are eventually sent to Earth with the task of searching for signs of life. Wall-E befriends one of the Eve drones and together they find a plant which indicates that Earth can once again sustain life. The humans begin to prepare their return to Earth to recolonize. Their journey was tough one but in the end the humans return to Earth and bring the planet back to life all thanks to Wall-E and Eve. Now to explain how design was incorporated into the movies.

            All three movies seemed to have the design concept of old mixed with new. This is evident in Everything is Illuminated by means of Johnathan wearing a suit, arriving in Ukraine by plane and then entering a world where older technology is used. He is used to living in a nice house and while in Ukraine lives in an old dreary building with a door that doesn’t lock. Also he is used to riding in new American cars and while in Ukraine has to ride in an extremely small vehicle that barely runs. Helvetica follows this theme by its evolution from an old font with flared edges that resembles a calligraphy type to a new modern font with clean edges and type that is done by a computer or other technological device. Wall-E follows this by Wall-E who is an old rusty robot living on the ruins of Earth befriending Eve who is a sleek, bright white drone who lives on a clean, modern spaceship. So, once again all three movies included both old technology/ways of life mixed with new modern technology/ways of life.

            The key lesson I learned from watching these three movies is to never give up on something you truly want. All three movies featured a goal, the hurdles standing in the way of accomplishing that goal, and the characters or actors working hard to accomplish that goal. The designers in Helvetica worked hard to get their font well known and now it is. Johnathan didn’t stop until he found out the answers to his questions about his families past and he ended up learning more about his families past than he thought he would. Wall-E and Eve worked hard to get the humans back to Earth so they could bring it back to life and they accomplished their goal. The only obstacle in your way of accomplishing a goal is yourself, that is the lesson I took away from these three movies.