SH Comments
Reged: Feb 16 2004
Posts: 1056
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This thread is for comments about Unexpected Protocol: A Critique of the I, Robot Book and Motion Picture, by Nina Munteanu.
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Dawn B.
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I'm glad that someone else found some value to the movie. While I disliked parts of it, I was plesantly surprised to find some that I liked that echoed Dr. Asimov. I didn't find as much as Nina, but I found some and it was worthwhile.
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K Stoddard Hayes
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After the critical response to this movie, I was surprised to find myself first entertained, then captivated by the different ways it addresses the themes of Asimov's book. Thanks for taking the time to address these questions in such thoughtful detail. You've enriched my understanding of both book and movie.
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Nina Munteanu
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I felt the same way at the outset and was delightfully surprised by the movie's erudite qualities. I shouldn't have been surprised -- I should have had more faith in Proyas. There ya go... that word again: faith :-)
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Tod Olson
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Three points:
1. I, Robot was not initially written as a book with a coherent story. The individual stories were published in SF pulp magazines over several years. They were later collected into a single volume. Dr. Susan Calvin "memoirs" was added only to provide some continuity between those stories.
2. The movie I, Robot pulled much of its setup and major points from Azimov's murder-mystery Caves of Steel, an actual novel, and omitted much of what would look like quaint, retro-SF. The movie is, in my estimation, a pretty reasonable big-screen interpretation of this novel.
3. The movie I, Robot has one of the most engaging car chases I've seen in a long time.
Cheers!
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John Zook
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Painfully aware of Hollywood's history with hard SF, I held off from seeing this movie until today when I finally gave in and renting the DVD. I was surprise to the extent that I, too, was engaged by both characters and plot. Casting about on the web as I was beginning to digest my impressions, I was surprised to stumble almost immediately onto your thoughtful and well-voiced essay. While it is hard to cover every thing that might deserve comment, one point that struck me in the movie is the undercurrent/theme of the hero (Spooner) as reluctant Cyborg. Spooner's post-car wreck phobia and luddite impulses appear to stem as much from his discomfort at being saved as part-machine as for his discomfort for being saved at all. The later action repeatedly pressed the point (dare I say, rather ham-handedly? -sorry, couldn't stop myself) of his being forced to rely on the very thing what he would rather ignore and deny. I appreciated the understated sense towards the end that the character had a grudging respect, not only for the robotic soul, but also for his own emerging identity as a "blended entity". Others have developed this theme as deftly (or more so) in novels, but not as well in any other movie I am aware of to date.
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Nina Munteanu
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You're right, one can't follow every thread within a film so cleverly interlaced, but I'm glad you brought Spooner's thematic elements. It is an interesting one that resonates closely with our very ability to relate and accept AI devices in our society ... our fears that as we adopt and embrace aids and prosthetics and chips, etc., we will lose that special quality that it is to be human ... ultimately, Spooner was struggling with the very same need to find "identity" as our robot, Sonny.
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kim
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Reged: Jun 10 2007
Posts: 1
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I realize I am adding to a 2 year old thread!!!... but just saw IRobot on cable. I immediately began googling regarding the theme/s that stood out for me, and was surprised not to see much of the discussion I was hoping for. Maybe there will be renewed interest of others who just saw this movie for the first time ?
I realize poetry often fights any one interpretation, and invites different interpretations. I honestly don't know if SF is similar in this regard.
RE: I,Robot... Included in this movie, I believe, (I have not read the book) is Calvinism (and protagonist Dr. Calvin) and its system of defining Predestination and such notions that man does not have a free will to choose God. Critics of this belief often charge that the Calvinist view of election and predestination defines men as 'Robots'.
I know this is not a Theology forum, but was hoping to find at least a conversation or two about Calvinism and IRobot... (in a theology forum :)
Does anyone know if Asimov explored this topic in more detail in his book, etc.?
Thanks
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sf girl
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Reged: Jun 09 2008
Posts: 1
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Here I am coming back a year later still! I really like your comments and would like to address them in a blog post devoted to this topic. Come see it at The Alien Next Door (http://sfgirl-thealiennextdoor.blogspot.com)... I should post it within a week. I would totally welcome your further comments and I hope we generate a good healthy discussion on the matters you raised. Thanks again, Kim!
--Nina Munteanu
Edited by sf girl (Mon Jun 09 2008 04:00 AM)
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