Wall-E vs. Silent Comedies

Wall-E is extremely similar to silent comedies in the 1920s through 30s due to the characters’ lack of verbal communication. The audience has to understand and view the characters by their actions and facial expressions, not their dialogue. Wall-E even shows some slapstick comedy during the first few scenes of his post-apocalyptic daily life on Earth. During the montage of Wall-E trying to impress EVE, he accidentally hurts himself multiple times but there is no physical damage. The whole punch line of the joke is that he’s failing to get close to her while getting hurt in the process. 

I think Wall-E is most like Harold Lloyd. Both characters are “resourceful, success-seeking, [and] go-getter[s]” (Harold Lloyd Powerpoint). They both consistently try to make things right. Wall-E falls in love with EVE and habitually wants to show his affection. He winds up in space to save her from the machines that are taking her away. In Safety Last, Harold Lloyd’s character wants to become economically successful to support his future fiancée. When making money is harder than he thinks, he climbs a building to entertain the onlookers and in return gets a thousand dollars for his advertising. Both characters persist through extreme situations to help the ones they love.