In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the main character Victor’s creation turns into his own worst nightmare. In Alex Proyas’ movie I, Robot, Will Smith works to uncover a similar situation. In this futuristic society, set in the year 2035, Dr. Alfred Lanning creates robots to do everyday human tasks, to work almost as slaves. It becomes apparent however, after the mysterious “suicide” of the creator of the robots, that the robots may not be the perfect helpers that they were designed to be. The main character Will Smith suspects that the Doctor’s robot helper is in fact his murderer. Therefore, in the same way as in Frankenstein, the Doctor’s creation has become, similar to Victor’s situation, his own worst nightmare. There are two scenes in particular in the movie which greatly echo the themes of Frankenstein.
One of these scenes in particular, involves Will Smith’s interrogation of the robot which he believes killed the doctor. It becomes clear in this scene, where the robot becomes enraged after Smith’s constant questioning, that the robots have achieved a level of understanding of the world and their own emotions that may be dangerous. As the robots become aware of their emotions and their relationship to the humans, just like Victor’s creature, they seem to begin to realize how unfair their situation is and act out because of it. The robots display of emotion can be observed in this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pnLtsdSqU4. Also, another scene which echos the themes of Frankenstein involves the robots attack on Will Smith as he is driving in his car. As he is driving he becomes cornered as the robots jump onto his car, breaking his windshield. This attack on Smith reiterates the creatures attacks on Victor’s family and friends due to his own unhappiness. The scene can be observed here: http://www.youtube.com/watchv=Bzg1mzwZDko&feature=PlayList&p=9A2D5D549CD9385D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=8.These scenes shows just how dangerous the robots, being able to think for themselves, have become to human society.
It becomes clear as one watches the movie I, Robot, that there are certain themes which are very similar to the main themes seen in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Just as I wondered what would have happened if Frankstein treated his own creature with more respect and caring, I wonder if the robots would have rebelled in the same way if they were not treated as slaves. If there was the chance that the robots could achieve the ability to think for themselves, perhaps they should not have been treated as poorly as they were in the movie. It seems to me that their rebellion could have been most likely avoided, just as the rebellion of Frankenstein’s creature could have been avoided.
