AI: Artificial Intelligence Film blog by Michelle, Charlotte and Sidney
AI: Artificial Intelligence
Year it was made: 2001
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screen-writer: Steven Spielberg, Ian Watson.
Lead actors: Haley Joel Osment (David), Frances O’Connor (Monica), Sam Robards (Henry), Jake Thomas (Martin).
Running time: 2h26
The following link will bring you to the trailer if you want to take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_19pRsZRiz4
PLOT SUMMARY
This 2001 film, entitled A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, tells the story of a futuristic world where robots known as Mechas exist and live alongside humans who are referred to as Orgas. A company by the name of "Cybertronics" decides to create something no one has ever seen before: David, a childlike robot capable of loving human parents unconditionally, so parents who have lost children or who can't have children can experience raising a child.
This robot is then given Monica and Henry, a couple who are grieving over their son Martin who is in a coma due to an unexplained illness. They welcome David into their family with open arms, but things start to go awry once their son miraculously wakes up from his coma. After David puts Martin in danger one too many times, Monica and Henry decide it’s best to get ride of David before things get out of hand. Because of David’s fascination with the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio, he sets of on a mission to find her so he can become a real boy and Monica can truly love him. He is joined along the way by a trusted ally named Gigolo Joe. He helps David find his Blue Fairy, but sadly, she cannot grant him his wish. As David prays for 2000 years, he is awoken by futuristic robots who want nothing more that to give him all he wants. The robots give David one last day with Monica and he finally receives what he’s always wanted, Monica's undying love.
This robot is then given Monica and Henry, a couple who are grieving over their son Martin who is in a coma due to an unexplained illness. They welcome David into their family with open arms, but things start to go awry once their son miraculously wakes up from his coma. After David puts Martin in danger one too many times, Monica and Henry decide it’s best to get ride of David before things get out of hand. Because of David’s fascination with the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio, he sets of on a mission to find her so he can become a real boy and Monica can truly love him. He is joined along the way by a trusted ally named Gigolo Joe. He helps David find his Blue Fairy, but sadly, she cannot grant him his wish. As David prays for 2000 years, he is awoken by futuristic robots who want nothing more that to give him all he wants. The robots give David one last day with Monica and he finally receives what he’s always wanted, Monica's undying love.
VARIOUS FILM TECHNIQUES
Various common oil techniques can be found throughout the film and five, in particular, will be discussed in the following section:
Editing:
- A long take can be seen when Monica opens up the envelope that Henry gave her for when she decides to imprint on David. This shot was effective in creating suspense around the event and showing that Monica is making a huge decision.
- A short take can be seen when the mechas begin running away as the moon rises. The moon isn’t our every day one, its a a hot air ballon filled with men coming to get all unregistered robots to bring them to the Flesh Fair where they are destroyed in front of an audience. This scene is used to create a sense of action it does just that. The quick jumps back and forth from the mechas running to the guys in the moon create a sense of suspense and leaves us at the edge of our seat waiting to see who is going to get caught and what’s going to happen to them.
Sets and Props:
- The set used for Monica and Henry's home is where the majority of the film take plac. They are made with very open rooms and are all brightly lit. This set is made to be a very welcoming and confronting environment where David and feel safe and close to his mother whom he loves the most.
- An important prop in the film is none other than David's best pal Teddy. Teddy is known as a super toy which is a children's toy capable of moving and speaking on its own. He is with David almost every second of the movie and helps him feel brave throughout the film. Many times in the movie when David is without Teddy, he clings to someone and repeats the phrase: "Keep me safe", but David never does this when Teddy is around.
Framing:
- A long shot is used after David accidentally almost drowns Martin and he is left in the pool. The camera zooms out to show David’s surroundings to show that everyone has rushed inside to care for Martin and no one has stayed to help him. This scene is effective in showing that David is truly alone and no one will ever care for him as much as they would about a real boy. Also, this scene can be used as foreshadowing because at the end of the film, David is left alone at the bottom of the ocean.
- An important low angle shot is when the camera looks up to Gigolo Joe, a lover robot who aids David on his quest to find the Blue Fairy, as David holds his hand in the cage at the Flesh Fair. This is used to show how Gigolo Joe is powerful, large and a protective figure for David.
- Low-key lighting can be seen during serious and scary scenes of the film such as when Monica is abandoning David in the forest. This lighting is effective in creating suspense and creating a sense that something unexpected could happen at any time.
- High-key lighting is used towards the beginning of the film when David first arrives at Monica and Henry’s home. As he walks in the room, he is back-lit by super bright lights to show that he is special and important.
- An example of a diegetic sound would be at the beginning of the film after Professor Hobby said: “But in the beginning, didn’t God create Adam to love him?”, we began to hear inaudible murmuring coming from the people around him to put emphasis on the point the professor just made and also to show that his point of view is not necessarily shared by everyone, including the filmmaker.
- A scene where non-diegetic sounds can be heard is the opening scene of the film where there is a narrator speaking over a scene of waves crashing. This scene is used to set the tone and the context for the film. Also, narration is used often to create a fairytale like nature similar to one in Pinocchio.
COMMON QUESTIONS AND THEMES
This film raises many questions and brings up many common themes throughout its entirety. To begin, the film asks, Is it really possible for robots to substitute for humans? In this film, everyone questions whether or not David could replace Monica and Henry’s real son Martin and by the end of the film, we see that robots really can’t be a substitute for a human since Monica & Henry choose to abandon David to care for their real son Martin.
Secondly, a common theme throughout the film is the sense of hope. The obvious example would be David’s never ending quest to find the blue fairy because he has hope that she will turn him into a real boy. There’s also Monica’s undying hope that her son Martin will one day wake up from his illness and this can be seen at the beginning of the movie. All the main characters experience a never-ending hope of their own including Henry and his hope for Monica to accept David as her own to help her grieve over the loss of Martin.
Lastly, a common theme explored in this film is recurring disappointment that David receives, but these disappointments never break his faith. For example, a first disappointment would be the Blue Fairy who crumbles before him and never really turns him into a real boy, but he continues to believe in her anyway. Also, Monica disappoints David by never truly loving him like he loves her and choosing Martin over him, but David still has faith that she will love him one day. David was even left disappointed by Henry who could never accept him and even Professor Hobby who showed David that he isn’t one in a million, but he continued to believe that he was special, at least to Monica.
Secondly, a common theme throughout the film is the sense of hope. The obvious example would be David’s never ending quest to find the blue fairy because he has hope that she will turn him into a real boy. There’s also Monica’s undying hope that her son Martin will one day wake up from his illness and this can be seen at the beginning of the movie. All the main characters experience a never-ending hope of their own including Henry and his hope for Monica to accept David as her own to help her grieve over the loss of Martin.
Lastly, a common theme explored in this film is recurring disappointment that David receives, but these disappointments never break his faith. For example, a first disappointment would be the Blue Fairy who crumbles before him and never really turns him into a real boy, but he continues to believe in her anyway. Also, Monica disappoints David by never truly loving him like he loves her and choosing Martin over him, but David still has faith that she will love him one day. David was even left disappointed by Henry who could never accept him and even Professor Hobby who showed David that he isn’t one in a million, but he continued to believe that he was special, at least to Monica.
1240 words
OUR COMMENTS
A.I Artificial intelligence was a pretty good movie overall. It was really interesting, even if many movies about artificial intelligence already exist, this one was good because we could really connect to David, the robot main character, as if he was human.
We liked the part when David is introduced to his new “family”, and how Monica’s attitude towards him changes over time.We feel we experience the same emotional evolution towards David as her as the movie progresses. At first, she’s frightened by him, but she gradually starts to see him as a real human for some time. She even develops feelings for him, even though she would not say it. The part we didn’t like was the ending: it is confusing and too vague for such a detailed, full of action movie. We don’t know what happens when David after that night where he finally slept. To conclude, this film is unlike anything we have ever seen, but that's what kept it interesting for the most part, that is, until it felt like it was being dragged on for hours. It explores topics uncommon to other films such as sex robots, showing love, empathy and compassion towards robots and replacing loved ones with machines. If you are a person who loves strange sci-fi movies with crazy plot lines then this film is for you, but if those types of movies aren’t your thing then I wouldn’t waste your time with this one.
AN HONEST RATING
⭐⭐⭐⭐
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THIS MOVIE AND CLASS CONCEPTS
A first connexion we could make from the movie to class concepts for this course would be the Uncanny Valley. The Uncanny Valley is the area of which the appearance of a robot begins to create a repulsive response from humans because its reaching a point between being “barely human” and “fully human”, meaning they look too much like humans, but not enough for us to be actually mistaken. This repulsive response can be seen several times where characters begin to become confused about David because he sometimes looks and acts so real, but she rapidly grasps the fact that he is only a robot and she then starts to feel weird and repulsed about him.
Also, another connexion we can make is about David’s consciousness. Consciousness“is the
quality or state of being able to perceive or be aware of an external object or something within oneself”(Study guide 1). Indeed, David talks about himself as if he was a real little boy, he experiences a lot of different feelings very deeply through the movie. Even if he was programmed to love his “mother” unconditionally, we sense that he is able to feel many other things like anger, sadness, etc. He’s a robot, so he does not have a brain, but he has a mind. David experiences state consciousness because he can dream, he thinks and experiences life as a human. State-consciousness is (assuming a being has a consciousness) the many different forms of consciousness one can have, like dreaming, for example. In fact, David prayed the blue fairy to become a human, and praying enters the category of state-consciousness.
Another concept we can link from the class to the film is the self-aware self. David possesses a self-aware self because he uses first person descriptions, he is able of reflecting and is aware of everything he is experiencing. Throughout the movie, David develops more and more self-awareness. The self-aware self is “likely to experience itself as unique”, and “this self can represent itself. It is the subject of experience but can also be the object of its experience. It can reflect. It can introspect. It knows it exists. It is an “I” with symbols of an “I”. It can represent its own consciousness” (Study guide 1). As the movie goes on, David starts to see himself as an individual, and he even is extremely shocked when he learns that he is far from being unique since there are thousands of “David” child robots like him being produced. They all have the same appearance as him, making him doubt his individuality.
SOME THOUGHT-PROVOKING QUESTIONS
1. In the movie A.I., is David actually capable of loving? Is the way he loves so obsessively and single-mindedly really "love" as we know it or more a programmed love?
2. Would you ever want to have a mecha (mecha is a realistic looking robot that speaks and acts just as you and I would) in your everyday life? Explain your reasons for wanting to or not wanting to.
3. Would you want a child or lover who would love you and only you for eternity no matter what, whose whole existence and reason for being would be about loving you? Explain.
SOME INTERESTING ARTICLES LINKED TO THE FILM
The following link: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/can_you_teach_a_robot_to_love talks about various subjects ranging from how we, as humans, develop emotions, how to build emotional robots and if they are capable of loving. This relates to our film because a common question asked throughout the film is, can David really love or is he just replicating what he’s been taught to? This article helps further understand what emotional robots can really do.
Also this link: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/10/should-robot-be-your-childs-best-friend, explores the idea of a child’s best friend being a robot as opposed to a real human. This article mentions Teddy from our film seeing as though he was David’s best friend, but before then, he was Martin’s toy which probably ended up being his best friend of he hadn’t gotten sick.
Work Cited
Artificial Intelligence: A.I. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Warner Bros Pictures and Dream Work Pictures. 2001. DVD.
“A.I. Artificial Intelligence.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Mar. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/A.I._Artificial_Intelligence.
AN HONEST RATING
Also, another connexion we can make is about David’s consciousness. Consciousness“is the
quality or state of being able to perceive or be aware of an external object or something within oneself”(Study guide 1). Indeed, David talks about himself as if he was a real little boy, he experiences a lot of different feelings very deeply through the movie. Even if he was programmed to love his “mother” unconditionally, we sense that he is able to feel many other things like anger, sadness, etc. He’s a robot, so he does not have a brain, but he has a mind. David experiences state consciousness because he can dream, he thinks and experiences life as a human. State-consciousness is (assuming a being has a consciousness) the many different forms of consciousness one can have, like dreaming, for example. In fact, David prayed the blue fairy to become a human, and praying enters the category of state-consciousness.
Another concept we can link from the class to the film is the self-aware self. David possesses a self-aware self because he uses first person descriptions, he is able of reflecting and is aware of everything he is experiencing. Throughout the movie, David develops more and more self-awareness. The self-aware self is “likely to experience itself as unique”, and “this self can represent itself. It is the subject of experience but can also be the object of its experience. It can reflect. It can introspect. It knows it exists. It is an “I” with symbols of an “I”. It can represent its own consciousness” (Study guide 1). As the movie goes on, David starts to see himself as an individual, and he even is extremely shocked when he learns that he is far from being unique since there are thousands of “David” child robots like him being produced. They all have the same appearance as him, making him doubt his individuality.
Work Cited
Artificial Intelligence: A.I. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Warner Bros Pictures and Dream Work Pictures. 2001. DVD.
“A.I. Artificial Intelligence.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Mar. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/A.I._Artificial_Intelligence.
“A.I. Artificial Intelligence.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Mar. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/A.I._Artificial_Intelligence.
The question I am answering is if I would want a mecha in my everyday life? I would not want to have a mecha; a robot that looks just like me and acts just like me because considering the uncanny valley definition from the class notes; “as the appearance of a robot is made more and more human, a human observer’s emotional response to the robot becomes increasingly positive and empathic, until a point is reached beyond which the response quickly becomes that of strong revulsion”, I would feel revolted by a mecha that is essentially my clone in appearance/actions. To expand, I think the mecha would be so similar in appearance not to mention that it is mirroring my actions which would be extremely uncomfortable that I would feel creeped out by it’s uncanniness to me. To add, I do not really see a purpose-for me anyway-of having a robot that speaks and acts like me, why would I want to have a mecha replicating my actions/what I say when I am already doing it? I can see the advantages of having a mecha to do your chores or have them go and do things for you so you do not have to but the revulsion I would feel towards it would be far greater than the benefits of having the robot.
ReplyDeleteFor question #2, I would never want a mecha in my everyday life. I would always be creeped out by the fact that here's a robot who behaves and functions like me, not to mention their human-like appearance. I cannot fathom having the emotional investment into befriending one, I would be stuck in the uncanny valley, having sympathy for the mecha at a certain point, and once I pass that point, I would be thrown-off from their appearance. What does my mecha want from me, other than my affection? Would my mecha be too smart for my own good, and somehow have an ulterior motive to kill me? I might be getting too ahead of myself, but this concept of owning/having a mecha gives me mixed emotions. Besides, what can I benefit from a mecha? Maybe if the mecha could walk my dog or do my laundry, I would be happy to have one, but not to mimic my every move or have an emotional connection with me, like an actual human. Coming from a person who had first-hand experience with humanoid robots, I can assure you that these androids are super cool, yet freaky. They KNOW how to be human, even though they aren't close to becoming real humans.
ReplyDeleteThe question I’m answering is about whether or not I would want child or lover to love me unconditionally. I feel as though for a person who has been hurt or suffered from lack of love, this concept would be really appealing. I am a person who is aware of the pain that could be inflicted on both ends of a relationship of this nature. Of course, there is no way to fully know what it would be like to be unconditionally loved by someone who’s sole purpose of existence is to love you but, it can be slightly imagined. I personally would not be interested in something like this because I think it could emotionally affect me in a negative way. As a human with emotions and feelings, a natural response to someone who presents themselves to you as loving you unconditionally would be to try and make them feel the same in return. The issue with this is that it’s very difficult and energy consuming to try and show someone unconditional love because you will then lack love for yourself. With that being said, I would not want a child or lover’s sole purpose of existence is to love me unconditionally.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete(Commenting as Nathalia)
ReplyDeleteWith all honesty this took me time to finalize my answer because of the all the conveniences mechanic's could bring to your everyday life, but no I would not want to live with a mecha mostly because of the uncanny valley. I could not live with a robot looking so identical to humans, casually walking in my house and doing the same thing as we humans do. I would be terrified to be in my own house. Knowing myself I don’t forget things and I would always have that thought running through my head that the robot living with me is not real, that it’s a computer which would constantly bother me and I wouldn't be able to bare with those thoughts, not to mention I would not sleep well at night knowing that this robot programmed is unpredictable, which would add on the the many terrifying thoughts I have of mechas. Besides the uncomfortableness it brings to me, robots could be very practical as mentioned above, they could do your chores but also they could keep you company. They would always be there to socialize with. But personally, I could not have a clear mind living with a robot. It would just creep me out all the time, but i'm sure everyone else has a different opinion on them where they can be very convenient and can help you out around the house when you aren’t able to do so.