A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Is real love more than just conditioning or programming? A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a science fiction film about a "Mecha" (android) named David (Haley Joel Osment), who is designed to resemble a young boy, and is a prototype who supposedly can actually love, unlike his precursors who can only simulate it, such as the flashy Gigolo Joe (Jude Law). David is "adopted" by a young couple--Monica (Frances O'Connor) and Henry (Sam Robards)--in consolation while their living son, Martin (Jake Thomas), sleeps in cryostasis. When things deteriorate, David begins a quest to find the "Blue Fairy" from the story of "Pinocchio", in the hopes that she can transform him into a "real" boy so that his mother will love him again.
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A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a film that has an extensive history and lengthy development process--ironic given David's own adventure which spans vast amounts of time. It is an adaptation of a short story titled "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss, and filmmaker Stanley Kubrick began the process to adapt it for the screen as far back as the late Seventies. During the Eighties, Kubrick asked Steven Spielberg to direct the film, leaving Kubrick as the producer. Although Kubrick passed away before the release of A.I. Artificial Intelligence in 2001, the film is dedicated to him, and it shares stylistic elements and narrative motifs found in the works of both filmmakers. A.I. Artificial Intelligence is an ambitious film, between its cutting edge special effects for the time and in the lofty themes explored in its story. It asks primal questions like how we define love, what is the reason for our existence, and whether the soul is more than a collection of experiences or something less quantifiable. David draws inspiration for his quest from the story of "Pinocchio" that Monica reads to Martin one night, and connects with it on a spiritual level. For those concerned with the paradox of a machine finding spiritual resonance with a myth, this is exactly what makes A.I. Artificial Intelligence stand out as a sympathetic tale of finding a greater purpose, regardless of your origins. Consider an earlier scene with Professor Allen Hobby (William Hurt), David's gifted creator and the head of the Mecha developing company Cybertronics, where he answers a question about what obligation a human has to return the love of a machine that ostensibly can love. Hobby claims that in the beginning, God created Adam with the intent of being loved--a statement that addresses many reasons why Mecha have become predominant in the future and what they represent about us.
The future world of A.I. Artificial Intelligence is one in which the melting icecaps have flooded many coastal cities, and due to overpopulation, the governments of the world have imposed sanctions to prevent "excessive" childbirth. Although the film doesn't directly explore this fascism, its effects on society's attitudes about life are felt throughout A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Mecha like David become popular due to humanity's desire for non-committal companionship, but they are treated like property at best--or in the case of the Flesh Fair's bigoted emcee (Brendan Gleeson), an affront to humanity. Even though Mecha are ostracized and abused, they possess individual thought and some like Joe recognize that humans are jealous of their capabilities and their ageless immortality. Most humans in A.I. Artificial Intelligence are depicted as selfish or entitled, insensitive to the way they treat Mecha like David. Conversely, almost all of the Mecha are likable and kind; they are even pitiable, such as in the violent pogroms of the Flesh Fair. This "programs" the audience to sympathize with the robots, a bit like the programming that defines the Mecha's cognitive awareness. This raises the inevitable question about whether we are so different than the Mecha, since all of our actions and beliefs are the result of acquired experience; but where does that leave love?
Like Pinocchio, David transforms from a child who acts with robotic idiosyncrasies and mannerisms to a person who struggles to cope with feelings of abandonment, confusion, and sorrow that follow very real and disturbing revelations. When Monica reads an "imprinting" sequence to David, he stops calling Monica by her name, and begins to refer to her as "mommy", trailing her around the house, and clinging to her with an obsessive fervency. David acquires human emotions gradually; by the end of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, his complexity and depth of feeling makes him more human than human. He acts out like a real boy would, even in violation of his safety protocols, such as when he gets into an ill-fated "eating contest" with Martin. The transformative turning point for David is when Monica abandons him en route to Cybertronics; she was supposed to deliver him directly for destruction because of his unique programming, but doesn't because she still feels something for her surrogate son. As she leaves him in the woods like a scared puppy, he become overwrought and desperately begs for her to take him back; he is now indistinguishable from a real boy--a terrified and heartbroken real boy. In a moment mixed with fear and jealousy, Henry implies that since David was created to love, that he could also hate. David's emotions become his defining characteristic, and they empower him to react to situations with an independent will, despite whatever safeguards have been programmed to prevent uncontrolled behavior. When a riddle guides him to a sunken Manhattan and he is confronted with his own simulacrum, he flies into a frenzied rage--something mixed with fear and jealousy--over the possibility that there could be another who could have the love of his mother instead of him.
David's creator, Professor Hobby, carries himself with a fatherly countenance, and modeled David directly after his own son with the same name, implied to have died while still a boy. But Hobby is still a businessman, and after David comes "home" to his waterlogged fortress at the end of the world, there is the implication that Hobby intends to dissect David to determine what makes him "tick", to perfect an army of robot boys and girls for distraught parents like himself. His workshop is decorated with dozens of little dolls, in a nod to the climax in Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss. There are moments in A.I. Artificial Intelligence that seem anachronistic, like why a sophisticated company like Cybertronics would dump spare robot parts haphazardly into the woods, polluting in a future that has felt the devastation of climate change first-hand. This segues into a ghoulish display where rogue Mecha salvage the parts while evading the clutches of the Flesh Fair. What all of this represents are the ubiquitous differences in societal strata; even in this "enlightened" future, the Mecha are slaves to the new world order, allowing for humans to assume their place as the "master race". Between Hobby's disarmingly cozy God complex and the Flesh Fair, there are more than a few similarities between A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Blade Runner, another science fiction film about the inequality between humans and androids in a dystopian future; Cybertronics is just a stone's throw away from becoming the Tyrell Corporation. Places like the decadent Rouge City are tourist havens of vice and excess, where Mecha service every debauched desire for humans looking to satisfy their urges--a motif similarly explored in Michael Crichton's Westworld and the television series of the same name. Women seek out Mecha like Joe because they are abused at home, but the kind of love Joe provides is as artificial as he is. Even Monica and Henry's beautiful home--which speaks to their privilege as upper-class citizens--resembles an almost perfect dollhouse. Despite Martin's rare condition, they are clearly able to comfortably afford keeping him in the best medical care that money can buy. Their luxurious life may not be opulent, but it is evident that they have spoiled Martin--and continue to do so when he returns home after his awakening--because he is a little jerk to David. Unsure as to how to deal with David when her "real" son returns, Monica gives him Martin's old animated teddy bear as a companion--with the unimaginative name of "Teddy" (Jack Angel); the irony escapes her that David was designed to be a companion for her. Just as Martin misuses Teddy, Monica fails to recognize the pain she inflicts on David when she abandons him. This hardly deters David from going to overwhelming lengths to have his wish granted by the "Blue Fairy" to make him real, negating the reason she had for leaving him by the side of the road. Consider how the camera always seems to be focusing on David's eyes; it speaks to the age-old axiom that eyes are the windows to the soul. And David cultivates his soul over the course of his odyssey; should it even matter if his body doesn't transform into flesh and blood?
Recommended for: Fans of a thought-provoking science fiction film that raises important questions about we define concepts like "love" and "the soul". Loosely adapted from "Pinocchio", A.I. Artificial Intelligence invites the audience to consider how we treat each other and how we reciprocate feelings, despite arbitrary social strata.
The future world of A.I. Artificial Intelligence is one in which the melting icecaps have flooded many coastal cities, and due to overpopulation, the governments of the world have imposed sanctions to prevent "excessive" childbirth. Although the film doesn't directly explore this fascism, its effects on society's attitudes about life are felt throughout A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Mecha like David become popular due to humanity's desire for non-committal companionship, but they are treated like property at best--or in the case of the Flesh Fair's bigoted emcee (Brendan Gleeson), an affront to humanity. Even though Mecha are ostracized and abused, they possess individual thought and some like Joe recognize that humans are jealous of their capabilities and their ageless immortality. Most humans in A.I. Artificial Intelligence are depicted as selfish or entitled, insensitive to the way they treat Mecha like David. Conversely, almost all of the Mecha are likable and kind; they are even pitiable, such as in the violent pogroms of the Flesh Fair. This "programs" the audience to sympathize with the robots, a bit like the programming that defines the Mecha's cognitive awareness. This raises the inevitable question about whether we are so different than the Mecha, since all of our actions and beliefs are the result of acquired experience; but where does that leave love?
Like Pinocchio, David transforms from a child who acts with robotic idiosyncrasies and mannerisms to a person who struggles to cope with feelings of abandonment, confusion, and sorrow that follow very real and disturbing revelations. When Monica reads an "imprinting" sequence to David, he stops calling Monica by her name, and begins to refer to her as "mommy", trailing her around the house, and clinging to her with an obsessive fervency. David acquires human emotions gradually; by the end of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, his complexity and depth of feeling makes him more human than human. He acts out like a real boy would, even in violation of his safety protocols, such as when he gets into an ill-fated "eating contest" with Martin. The transformative turning point for David is when Monica abandons him en route to Cybertronics; she was supposed to deliver him directly for destruction because of his unique programming, but doesn't because she still feels something for her surrogate son. As she leaves him in the woods like a scared puppy, he become overwrought and desperately begs for her to take him back; he is now indistinguishable from a real boy--a terrified and heartbroken real boy. In a moment mixed with fear and jealousy, Henry implies that since David was created to love, that he could also hate. David's emotions become his defining characteristic, and they empower him to react to situations with an independent will, despite whatever safeguards have been programmed to prevent uncontrolled behavior. When a riddle guides him to a sunken Manhattan and he is confronted with his own simulacrum, he flies into a frenzied rage--something mixed with fear and jealousy--over the possibility that there could be another who could have the love of his mother instead of him.
David's creator, Professor Hobby, carries himself with a fatherly countenance, and modeled David directly after his own son with the same name, implied to have died while still a boy. But Hobby is still a businessman, and after David comes "home" to his waterlogged fortress at the end of the world, there is the implication that Hobby intends to dissect David to determine what makes him "tick", to perfect an army of robot boys and girls for distraught parents like himself. His workshop is decorated with dozens of little dolls, in a nod to the climax in Stanley Kubrick's Killer's Kiss. There are moments in A.I. Artificial Intelligence that seem anachronistic, like why a sophisticated company like Cybertronics would dump spare robot parts haphazardly into the woods, polluting in a future that has felt the devastation of climate change first-hand. This segues into a ghoulish display where rogue Mecha salvage the parts while evading the clutches of the Flesh Fair. What all of this represents are the ubiquitous differences in societal strata; even in this "enlightened" future, the Mecha are slaves to the new world order, allowing for humans to assume their place as the "master race". Between Hobby's disarmingly cozy God complex and the Flesh Fair, there are more than a few similarities between A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Blade Runner, another science fiction film about the inequality between humans and androids in a dystopian future; Cybertronics is just a stone's throw away from becoming the Tyrell Corporation. Places like the decadent Rouge City are tourist havens of vice and excess, where Mecha service every debauched desire for humans looking to satisfy their urges--a motif similarly explored in Michael Crichton's Westworld and the television series of the same name. Women seek out Mecha like Joe because they are abused at home, but the kind of love Joe provides is as artificial as he is. Even Monica and Henry's beautiful home--which speaks to their privilege as upper-class citizens--resembles an almost perfect dollhouse. Despite Martin's rare condition, they are clearly able to comfortably afford keeping him in the best medical care that money can buy. Their luxurious life may not be opulent, but it is evident that they have spoiled Martin--and continue to do so when he returns home after his awakening--because he is a little jerk to David. Unsure as to how to deal with David when her "real" son returns, Monica gives him Martin's old animated teddy bear as a companion--with the unimaginative name of "Teddy" (Jack Angel); the irony escapes her that David was designed to be a companion for her. Just as Martin misuses Teddy, Monica fails to recognize the pain she inflicts on David when she abandons him. This hardly deters David from going to overwhelming lengths to have his wish granted by the "Blue Fairy" to make him real, negating the reason she had for leaving him by the side of the road. Consider how the camera always seems to be focusing on David's eyes; it speaks to the age-old axiom that eyes are the windows to the soul. And David cultivates his soul over the course of his odyssey; should it even matter if his body doesn't transform into flesh and blood?
Recommended for: Fans of a thought-provoking science fiction film that raises important questions about we define concepts like "love" and "the soul". Loosely adapted from "Pinocchio", A.I. Artificial Intelligence invites the audience to consider how we treat each other and how we reciprocate feelings, despite arbitrary social strata.