Friday, January 21, 2011

the Bicentennial Man

Recently, I watched The Bicentennial Man starring Robin Williams. It is based on an Isaac Asimov short story by the same name that I have not read (yet). It was an enjoyable movie about a robot that serves the same family for four generations.
It was kind of a romantic comedy/sci fi, and wouldn't normally be my kind of movie, except that I enjoyed it because of how they held on to the themes from Isaac Asimov's stories about robots. In his robot stories, he blurs the lines between humanity and robot and asks "what makes us human?" The movie does the same thing. Throughout, the robot transforms from a big, blocky machine to basically being human. It becomes a human not just on the outside via face-upgrades and skin, but also on the inside and mentally/emotionally. In it's childhood, the robot needs to be taught how to behave, how to respond to different greetings. One funny scene near the beginning is when Andrew (the robot) learns how to say "good night." His owner says "good night" to him, and he responds by agreeing and saying that the night is good. His owner then says that he just responds with "good night." The turning point in Andrew's life is when he is bored in the basement (robots don't need sleep, so what is he supposed to do all night?) and decides to start repairing all the broken junk they have down there. His owner notices his initiative and starts nurturing him (probably at the expense of raising his daughters). Andrew takes to woodcarving, and starts selling "hand" made clocks. He gets rich doing that, and then questions of who "owns" his money arise. Should the robot get the money? What does a robot need money for? Eventually they decide that Andrew should have his own bank account. Later on, he uses his money to try and buy his freedom. His reasoning is that people have given their lives for freedom for thousands of years, and he sees it as something worth giving up everything he has. He is granted his freedom for free by his very generous owner and moves out. What I like about the movie is that all of his more mental/emotional developments are complimented by exterior developments as well. After he gets his bank account, he decides to spend his money on facial upgrades that would better show his emotions.
Overall this is a very excellent movie that I would recommend to anyone who likes sci fi, but specifically anyone who enjoys Isaac Asimov's stories about robots, since it is the perfect adaptation of them.

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