Artificial Intelligence

     Artificial Intelligence was not one of my favorite movies that we have watched this semester, the movie moved very slowly and David's story was extremely sad. The movie is focused around David, a robot child that can be programmed to love, devoting his life to becoming human so his mother will truly love him and allow him to live with her again. I noted how it seemed very bizarre that David desired to be a human so badly when humans had mistreated him his entire life. He is mistreated by his brother and manipulated to do bad things by him, he is made a spectacle of by his peers, is almost tortured and killed by strangers, and is disappointed by his own creator telling him he isn't unique. After a life of being exposed to the human potential of being evil, why would David still want to become a real boy? This is why I found the movie incredibly sad. David maintains this child-like innocence that makes him almost blind to the fact that being human poses more problems rather than solving all of his problems. He believes his mother will finally love him once he's human, when in reality she was only using David as a replacement for her real son, Martin, and had no use for David anymore after Martin was able to return home. David's continual disappointment also sets an incredibly grim tone to this film. He is heartbroken when his mother abandoned him in the woods, but even attempts suicide after he finds that he is a merely a testy subject for a new species of robots who are exactly like him. David has an existential crisis; he does not know who he is and does not understand what his purpose is because he is continually met with disappointment in all of his endeavors. He continues to experience this disappointment when he freezes over trying to communicate with the Blue Fairy, who is an animate object. David's entire existence is almost never experienced with any form of happiness or joy which I found very disturbing and upsetting.

    If we look into the creation of the movie, we can see how the movie acquired its grim tone because Stanley Kubrick originally created the original script for the film. Kubrick is known for his grim, thought provoking films which is very prevalent throughout the movie. After Kubrick's untimely death, his friend Steven Spielberg took the project and created the screenplay. Kubrick believed Spielberg's special effects experience would be able to do the film justice. You can see the influence from both filmmakers within the film style and the underlying themes. 

    I thought the characters Teddy and Joe were both very interesting parts of David's journey. Teddy serves as David's conscience, and helps point in the right directions throughout his journey. Teddy is really all that David has, he serves as his support system, his friend, and his family. Teddy knows things that David will need before David knows he will need them. Teddy saves monies lock of hair because something compels him to keep it for David's sake. Teddy is the reason David's wish comes true. He is finally reunited with his mother, and finally hears her tell him she loves him. If it weren't for Teddy, David would not have completed his journey and achieved his goal. I am slightly confused with Joe's character. I thought his introduction was bizarre. David gets abandoned in the woods and then the movie instantly cuts into Joe who is a prostitute robot that is framed for a murder? It seemed very abrupt, and I feel like the audience still wasn't provided with insight of who Joe was and why he is being put into David's life. He helps David get to Manhattan, but other than that they don't really form any kind of meaningful relationship. He basically watches David attempt suicide and doesn't bat an eye. This could be because he isn't programmed to have emotions, but he doesn't try to save him or anything which was very unsettling. Overall, I have deduced that Joe's purpose in David's life is to get him to his final destination and also be a voice of reason. He warns David of how humans see robots as disposable and how they will never be able to love robots, but Said does not listen to him.  

    I think Artificial Intelligence is a movie that makes you think and question humanity and humans true intentions about making artificial intelligence. It was refreshing to finally watch a movie where robots and humans were living in an integrated society and robots weren't depicted as a serious threat to human society. It provided a new perspective of the presence of artificial intelligence in our society. I also enjoyed comparing and contrasting David's journey with Carlo Collodi's Adventures of Pinocchio. 

I have attached my additional notes below: