Film Blog Analysis
Mathieu Remillard, Gabrielle Chartrand, Demaya Meyers, Kaitlin Topping
2018-11-11
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Running time: 146 minutes
A general review of the film
A.I. Artificial Intelligence occurs in a future that is severely affected by climate change and involves a young robot - otherwise known as a Mecha - named David. David is a new kind of Mecha that very much has the appearance of a human and is programmed to love and want to be loved back. The young Mecha is adopted by Monica and Henry, a couple whose son Martin is very sick. However, when Martin comes back to the household after remission from his illness, he demonstrates feelings of jealousy towards David, which inspires him to manipulate his parents into thinking that David is troublesome. As a result of Martin’s successful plotting against David, Monica abandons David in the forest when she realizes that the Mecha could be of great danger for her son. In the forest, a confused and devastated David meets Joe, a fellow older Mecha with whom he escapes to the flooded remains of Manhattan. Joe eventually gets captured and David ends up underwater to find the Blue Fairy, who David believes can turn him to a real boy in order to be worthy of love.
Thousand years later after Manhattan freezes up, the A.I. has evolved into more advanced robots and end up finding David. Along with the Blue Fairy, these new robots allow him to bring his mother back, who finally makes his dream come true by telling him she loves him.
Thousand years later after Manhattan freezes up, the A.I. has evolved into more advanced robots and end up finding David. Along with the Blue Fairy, these new robots allow him to bring his mother back, who finally makes his dream come true by telling him she loves him.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence would genuinely not be the same without its outstanding film techniques. An example of these cinematic strategies would include the use of cross-cutting as part of the editing process. Indeed, during the scene in which Joe gets framed for murder in the hotel room, cross-cutting is used to simultaneously show David getting abandoned in the forest. Having two negative, suspenseful and upsetting situations happen to the two main characters at the same time was very effective in intensifying that part of the movie for the audience and allow us to really feel for those two characters.
Another interesting film technique employed in the movie was the way the character of Teddy is drawn and developed throughout the plot. Teddy is sort of like David’s alter ego. Like a teddy bear, he provides him a sense of home and comfort, but also isn’t shy to put David back in his place. Unlike the mother who can be quite unpredictable and inconsistent with the way she treats David, Teddy shows him unconditional love, which David seems to take for granted as he is so focused on his burning desire to be loved back by Monica. For that reason, Teddy does not get enough credit in this movie. However, this detail is in fact an asset for this film, as David’s unjustified obsession with Monica puts him in the uncanny valley, which is an issue we are seeing a lot with robots and explains why we would have trouble including them in society as regular citizens.
Other interesting techniques utilized in the film include special effects such as when David “breaks” after eating food that makes his face melt, which reinforces the audience’s beliefs that David is not a real boy. In addition to this, the use of the cage as a prop for the scene in which Joe and David are locked up during the Flesh Fair was useful in symbolizing how the robots are different from humans and should not be blended with the rest of society due to the uncanny valley. On a different note, the choice of sets had a great impact on the movie, especially when they showed a flooded and destroyed Manhattan, since this increases the audience’s understanding that robots are created because humans will eventually no longer be able to survive such living conditions. This scene further allows the audience to reflect upon the detrimental effects of climate change and the consequences of our actions on Earth.
The theme of love stands out quite a lot in A.I. Artificial Intelligence and along with this brings the big question of whether robots are capable and worthy of love or not. David is essentially an experiment that will help the robot engineers figure that out, since he is programmed to love and to desire love, which may trigger feelings of uncanniness since having robots look like humans and express emotions may feel so strangely real. On that note, there was a contrast between David and Joe in terms of their function as robots, which revealed an interesting binary of sex versus love. For instance, David was programmed to be a robot that loves in a "child-loves-his-mom" kind of way, whereas Joe was programmed to showcase “love” in a sexual way. As we know, love and sex may both be associated with affection, however, there is a huge difference in the level of emotional connection. For instance, Joe, who was a sex robot, was closer to the definition of a robot, because he didn't get his feelings involved with his clients - he was purely invented to be a convenient "physical tool" for humans to benefit from. On the other hand, what makes David a little bit more human-like than Joe is that he feels and expresses true love. At the beginning of the film a question is raised: ““If a robot could genuinely love that person, what responsibility would that person have in return? That is a moral question isn’t it?” With a sex robot, this would not be a concern, as there aren’t always strings attached - just physical affection. But with a robot like David, who has deeper emotions, a human’s responsibility would be to love him back, or, at the very least, treat him with respect. Monica was not able to reciprocate her love for David at first, since he seemed to be in the uncanny valley in her eyes. The only ones that stayed loyal to David and showed him unconditional love was his fellow robot friends; Joe and Teddy.
Another recurring theme for this film is hope. Between David trying to get his mom to love him back and finding the Blue Fairy to turn him into a real boy, he remained hopeful about getting what he wanted, despite the fact that others were telling him that it was not possible. For example, Joe was quite skeptical about the Blue Fairy, but David still managed to find a statue of her at the bottom of the water and “prayed” to her to turn him into a real boy until the water froze up above him.
Lastly, a big question that resurfaced several times was whether the A.I. can substitute humans. We can see in several scenes how the substitution of robots is not to our advantage, mainly do to the uncanny valley. For instance, Monica and Henry adopting a Mecha boy to fill the void of their sick child definitely did not work, as Monica was freaked out by his automaton-like behaviour and creepiness. In addition, as soon as Martin came back, David was just kind of like an out and interrupting the family dynamic. On the other hand, the movie also explores that robots can successfully substitute for humans for the purpose of sex, as seen with Joe. As a conclusion, it is safe to say that as a general rule, a relationship with a robot will never replace the quality of social and emotional connection we share with another human. However, as soon as this particular detail is out of the equation, why wouldn’t robots be able to substitute humans?
1,172 words
Personal comments
Steven Spielberg made us believe that his creation was for different types of audiences. It is a never before seen story, where a child will go through everything it takes to find and prove himself to his mother. Spielberg has portrayed exactly what would happen if we were to have revolutionary robotic advancements in technology, especially in the artificial intelligence domain. Humans would not know what to do with these sorts of robots. Although sentient robots our still not present in the near future, this is definitely a possible outcome. Spielberg and the actors have set up the story in a very entertaining way, the plot was set up using an old fairy tale to portray the problem was very interesting. However we did not like the way the way humans were treating the mechas; when they were destroying them it was a bit horrifying. We would definitely recommend this film to people who are into futuristic technology and who would really enjoy a heart touching sci-fi movie. The movies was odd at times such as near the end, when the mechas met David and they were trying to find out about this “blue fairy” which was dominating David’s mind. They overlooked a scene where David finally met the fairy, shown in the image below, and we were able to finally see the mother and the son meet again. The ending definitely serves as a good combination of the absurd and emotion!
Movie rating
★★★★✰
Connections with course material
The uncanny valley is a concept that was very prominent with this film. Generally, it is a common view or feeling felt by people when artificial human stimulation very closely resemble humans physically, but not completely in terms of cognitive capacities. This movie explores the uncanny valley because a lot of the mechas (the term used to describe robots in this movie) are able to fool a lot of real humans into believing that they are not simply robots. Granted, many of the robots we do see in this movie are broken up, two of the lead actors are mechas that fall into the uncanny valley.
Two examples of this would be first, the image above. This shows a Mecha, when its true face is revealed. This explores the uncanny valley because the people within the scene, as well as the people viewing the movie could not tell this woman was a robot until her true face was shown. Another example of the uncanny valley would be later on in this Flesh Fair, when David is in the cage of Mechas destined for destruction as a means to entertain humans. A girl alerts one of the owners that a “real” child is in the cage (yet again another human being fooled by the uncanny resemblance to a human), and once he is seen by the owner, he is scanned with a device that shows the insides of David because he could not tell by looking at the outside.
Two examples of this would be first, the image above. This shows a Mecha, when its true face is revealed. This explores the uncanny valley because the people within the scene, as well as the people viewing the movie could not tell this woman was a robot until her true face was shown. Another example of the uncanny valley would be later on in this Flesh Fair, when David is in the cage of Mechas destined for destruction as a means to entertain humans. A girl alerts one of the owners that a “real” child is in the cage (yet again another human being fooled by the uncanny resemblance to a human), and once he is seen by the owner, he is scanned with a device that shows the insides of David because he could not tell by looking at the outside.
Axiology is a term present in this movie as well. This term reflects on morality and principles. The important question raised in this movie is: what is the good and proper life for machines/AI? It is even discussed in the opening scene, where one of the audience members asks “If a robot could genuinely love a person, what responsibility does that person owe to that mecha?”. David’s mother abandons him in a forest, even if David is clearly afraid, as shown in the image below, and does not want to be left alone.
Her strong motive is the fact that he is not real, and he is just robotic, but does that really justify her actions? Monica (the mom) knew that David was going to love and want to be with her before she even considered adopting David, so it becomes a interesting issue when she decides to dump him off in the forest. The image below shows how robots are treated throughout the middle of the movie.
Her strong motive is the fact that he is not real, and he is just robotic, but does that really justify her actions? Monica (the mom) knew that David was going to love and want to be with her before she even considered adopting David, so it becomes a interesting issue when she decides to dump him off in the forest. The image below shows how robots are treated throughout the middle of the movie.
This is again, at the Flesh Fair. We can see the Mecha being forced into the cannon, even though the mecha is in denial. He may not plead for his life like David does, but he still does not agree to being put in this cannon, but of course the humans do not care because he is not “real”. Both these scenarios just reinforce the question of what is the proper life for robots.
Metaphysics was also explored in this film. With the presence of the uncanny valley, it because difficult to categorize what we consider to be real and not real. Metaphysics is explored in this movie, on the grounds of reality. An example of this would be at the Flesh Fair, when David demands to be freed, the crowd begins to yell, and demand david to be freed as they believe he is a real boy. Metaphysics also encompasses two questions and ideas present in this film: being and becoming. David was motivated to become a real boy throughout the whole movie, ever since he was dropped off into the forest by Monica. To do this, he needed to find a “blue fairy”, which was ideally going to turn him into a real boy, that is, a carbon-based organism.
Three interesting questions
Question 1: What is your take on how David chased down the Blue Fairy and what do you think it signifies?
Question 2: If you had the ability to bring someone back from the dead for only one day, would you? Why or why not?
Question 2: If you had the ability to bring someone back from the dead for only one day, would you? Why or why not?
Question 3: Would you accept a robot “replacement” as if it were your own child?
Web links sharing common themes and ideas explored in the movie
This article speaks about whether robots should be given civil rights, once they do match the intelligence and cognitive capacities of human beings. This article is interesting because it discusses anxiology, which is a term present in this movie. It makes a clear distinction between sentient artificial intelligence, just like David, and artificial intelligence that can learn, and adapt (much like an advanced automaton). The article mentions how this is not an issue we should worry of, as sentient robots are still ahead of our capacities, but it raises interesting issues and questions based on morality.
This youtube video raises the question of if robots should look like humans. It is interesting because this is a very controversial topic of discussion because many people they should, because it would benefit certain categories of people whereas others believe they shouldn’t as it would contribute to moral de-skilling. The comment section of this video is filled with rather interesting comments on the subject, one of which is in denial suggesting that “they are our tools, and we've made them to cover up the inadequacies of our bodies.” (Brantley Vanhoek)
Works Cited:
“A.I. Artificial Intelligence.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 29 June 2001, www.imdb.com/title/tt0212720/. McKinney, Kelly. "Knowing the Inner Self." John Abbott College, Montreal.
Question 2:
ReplyDeleteIf I had the ability to bring someone back from the dead and spend the day with them, I wouldn’t bring back a family member or simply someone that I was really close with because goodbyes for me are really painful. I know they are an inevitable part of life, but if I could avoid the pain that comes with the memories that person left behind I would. Instead, I would bring back a celebrity, such as Einstein, because I think he deserves to know how big of a difference he made in the world of science.
Eugenia.
For me, to bring back someone from the dead for only ONE DAY would be even more detrimental after experiencing the loss once before. I've only ever lost two important people in my life and I greatly suffered from it. However, after a lot of time, it became easier for me to think about them without breaking down in tears; I had come to terms with their deaths. So, if I were to see one of them again, especially to know it was for only one day, how would I feel? What can you fulfill alongside them in a matter of hours? Them physically being there would give me the false hope that they're there to stay and when the time would finally come for them to die again, it would only leave me in a more terrifying shock than the first time. Therefore, no, I would not bring someone back from the dead for one day, as it would be too heartbreaking and psychologically dangerous to experience that.
ReplyDelete-Maya Blumenfeld
A.I. sounds like a really interesting movie, especially after I read this blog. The fact that a family member was temporarily replaced by an AI is kind of creepy but interesting at the same time. I can only imagine the comfort that the AI brought to the mother and father. I guess for some, replacing a loved on with another is a coping mechanism and helps with grieving the loss of the health of the person that we love the most. There is an episode of Black Mirror called "Be Right Back", which slightly reminds me of the movie that you've described: a widow orders an AI that looks exactly like her late husband, in order to grieve, cope and fill a void. However, things don't go exactly as planned and she eventually realizes that nothing or no one can truly replace her loved one.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletethe way that David has chased down the blue fairy is very symbolic and his journey to find the blue fairy signifies his love and will power to do whatever it takes for his mother. David, in a very real sense, identical to a real human boy, did everything in his power to be able to be with his mom once again. Thus, the symbolism expressed here is that of love and also growing up, since he is learning what the outside world is like. Growing up, may seem like a very abstract theme in this movie, but it is present due to the fact that David is programmed and not raised from infancy, which means that he is born with what would not be innate at birth meaning, that what would normally be taught our learned through experiences and from older people is already innately known to David.
ReplyDeleteThis blog was really easy and interesting to read :) This wasn't the film that was assigned to my group, but I was still able to easily understand the course connections that were made! Everything was well explained and I think A.I sounds like a good film for anyone to see. What i found most interesting was the use of the uncanny valley, as it is usually seen as something that would be considered weird or creepy. The difference was that in the film, it actually helped the couple deal with their issue and that was just a different, interesting take on the concept.
ReplyDelete