Throughout this essay I will be analyzing a sixty second sequence of the film I-Robot. Directed by Alex Pro yas, the film was released in 2004 and was a hit at the box office. The film is an action-thriller inspired by Isaac Asimov’s classic short story collection. Asimov’s books set forth the three laws of robotics. Law 1. A Robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Law 2. A Robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with first law. Law 3. A Robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law. Although the film does not follow any of the short stories, the three laws are an integral part of the storyline and the philosophies set forth by Asimov are ever-present during the film.
Set in the city of Chicago 2035, the world has developed a considerable reliance on robotic ‘Automated Domestic Assistants’. They have become a trusted part of everyday life; cleaning homes, walking pets and basically doing everything that humans can no longer be bothered to do, and due to the three laws are trusted by everyone. Everyone except Detective Del Spooner, the main character played by Will Smith. He has a deep mistrust of the Robotic world due to an unfortunate accident in his past. On the eve of the release of the latest model robot, the NS-5, Dr Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell), the father of robotics, seemingly commits suicide. When Spooner is called to the scene, he is immediately suspicious of the circumstances and believes that the victim was murdered.
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Del digs a bit deeper and discovers a new model robot named Sonny locked in the office of the victim, who flees from the crime scene and refuses to obey the orders to halt given to him. The fact that the robot ignores commands that violate his central laws of programming is put off as a simple malfunction by Billionaire Lawrence Robertson (Bruce Greenwood), who does not want Del’s suspicions to disrupt his business plans on the eve of the largest roll out of new robots in history. Naturally, Del does not follow this command and he suspects that there is a larger and much more serious threat posed to the public even though everyone around him says that he is paranoid. What follows is an action packed game of cat and mouse as Del and a U. S. Robotics scientist named Susan (Bridget Monahan), start to uncover a deeper mystery, one in which the very world they have taken for granted is about to change.
I have decided to analyse the scene when Spooner has caught Sonny after his escape from the murder scene. He is taken to police headquarters and although the lieutenant is hesitant about the idea, he lets Spooner interrogate him. I have decided to use this scene because I believe it helps the viewer see how Spooner’s prejudice of Robots will diminish through his interactions with Sonny. Sonny’s child-like inquisitiveness stops him in his tracks. This pattern of Spooner questioning Sonny’s humanity and Sonny replying to these questions in a very human way is repeated throughout the film. There are also what seem to be small events in this scene that turn out to be significant later on in the film.
“My favourite scene is Sonny and I in the interrogation room. I love its humanity. His direction to me was that I was a racist sheriff who’d just captured the person I am most racist against.” (Will Smith 2004) The seen is set in a police interrogation room. It is typical of any other police interrogation room seen in many other films. There is a table placed in the middle of the room with Sonny sat at one end. The room is dimly lit except for the table where there is a large light shinning down on it.
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Apart from another chair there are no other objects. Also in the there are six armed guards, pointing there weapons at Sonny. The film is set in the future, so in order to make this simple room seem futuristic, all the furniture and walls are chrome. It has large electric sliding doors, a must for any film set in the future.
There is also a low pitched humming noise throughout the duration of the scene. This also helps give an impression of a futuristic building although it is hard to say why. It is similar to the humming noise found aboard the enterprise in the series Star Trek, giving the impression of a large reactor powering the building. The scene begins with Will Smiths character (Detective Del Spooner) turning to his Lieutenant and winking.
As he does this, the camera quickly zooms in on his eye combined with a blue iris special effect around the edge of the shot. Accompanying this is a futuristic camera shutter sound effect. This small sequence of shots represents the Robot Sonny noticing Del winking. We know this because Sonny has vivid blue eyes, represented by the blue iris special effect. He is the only robot of his kind to have these blue eyes. This has been done to enable the audience to tell him apart from the others.
The next shot is a close up of Sonny’s face as he is pulling an inquisitive expression. Del Spooner hands over photographic evidence to Sonny and begins to interrogate him. We already know the Detective dislikes robots from previous events in the film, but this is the first time we get to see him interact with one properly. His contempt for them is obvious. He says “Murder’s a new trick for a Robot. Congratulations.
Respond.” It implies that he sees Robots as objects that perform tricks. I also believe this comment shows Smiths character beginning to change the way he thinks about Sonny as he is trying evoke an emotional response from him. This is not the way you’d expect a Robot to be questioned. He then demands Sonny to respond, showing he still thinks of him as some kind an appliance but a small amount of doubt is beginning to creep in. This doubt escalates throughout the film until finally they become friends.
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Sonny responds by pushing the evidence away in disgust. He then changes the subject by questioning Del about the wink he gave the Lieutenant. It is not the response neither Del nor the audience expect. The wording Sonny uses is very robotic. He asks “What does this action signify?” then winks. But the inquisitive way he asks it is very child like.
You instantly realize that Sonny is different from the other Robots. Del’s response again shows his prejudice against Robots “It’s a sign of trust. It’s a human thing. You wouldn’t understand.” This scene is significant as later on in the film it seems that Sonny has joined the other Robots and turned against the Humans.
It is only when he looks over at Del and winks that you realise it is a ploy to deceive the others. This is why I believe the Director has used the special effect at the beginning of the scene. Without it you would still realise that Sonny had noticed the wink, but adding it combined with the sound effect helps the audience remember this scene later on in the film. This helps signify that Sonny is a lot more human than Del thinks he is.
Spooner’s attire in this scene and throughout the film is important. It is hard to see why from this scene because there are no other characters to compare him with. The film is set in the future and fashion has changed with the times. Spooner on the other hand prefers to wear present day clothes. At the beginning of the film he purchases a pair of trainers that he calls “2004 classics.” This behaviour is also seen in regards to his apartment. All the decor and technology including his hi-fi seem to be from the present day.
No obvious reasons are given for this throughout the film. My opinion is that Spooner’s distrust of the robotic world is so deep that he prefers to live in a time before humans become so reliant on Robots. Wearing these cloths help him think that he is achieving this, although it is a futile attempt at hiding away from the robot world he lives in, as soon as he opens his front door he is instantly face by one. What I have discovered from writing this essay and studying this scene is how every detail helps the audience where the story is, where its been and where its going. Many of which I would not normally have noticed, but now realise are crucial for helping the audience develop an opinion of what the film is about. Many of these facets may go unnoticed but it would be very noticeable if they weren’t there.
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Reference sTim O’Sullivan (2003) Studying The Media Isaac Asimov (1991) I-Robot web.
