Throughout the 21st century our species has been witness to some of the most readily visible disasters from our screens. Artificial Intelligence releasing only months before 9/11 makes it more poignant by recognizing these technological breakthroughs and our relationships to them. We gravitate to our screens and media to help us feel secure in times of crisis after witnessing a major tragedy. In the waking years, the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions were subsequently televised on a major scale to provide those watching with constant validations of their curiosity of the unknown. The unknown feelings of not being in control over a potential threat. Playing reports of death and genocide ensure that those at home, far away can be satiated in their security.
A.I. has us invested in a world which has seen apocalyptic death and destruction hoisted upon it due to human impact on climate. Cities like Venice, New York and Amsterdam are completely flooded. Hundreds of millions have been starved out of society as the wealthy countries hoard their wealth to protect their power. This is where the elite have access to advanced robotics to perform seemingly any act necessary to entertain humanity. David (Haley Joel Osment) is an early prototype of a robotic child who can be capable of love if programed accordingly. David is brought into to the Swinton family who are grieving their young son Martin who is suffering from an illness and is being kept in suspended animation until progress is made. In their grief, the Swinton’s are given David to be their new son, to be molded to their liking. Something to forget about the state of their lives and the world around them.
The new era of robotics put forth these child-like robots, designed to emulate humans to the point of expressing love and affection towards their “parents”. David is introduced to his new guardians when Henry brings him home to see Monica. Monica is furious when approached with the idea of David replacing their incapacitated son. However, when Monica comes around to the idea of having David as Martin’s replacement. She becomes the one to utter David’s code phrases which allow his processing to interpret and display affection, making David automatically more attached to her. In an untimely series of events Henry has awoken from his illness and is able to rejoin the family. After he returns the social hierarchy of human/robot relationships are shown in full to David. David gets humiliated when he begins to understand his technological shortcomings when compared to Martin. He cannot consume food, he does not sleep he only serves the purpose of serving humanity. This is also exemplified when Monica gives David an old toy that was used by Martin, a mecha teddy bear that is able to walk and move around and interact with others. Teddy has been trapped in storage for some time since Martin has been ill. When Teddy’s worth for humanity had worn out, he had been moved into storage to be forgotten until use befell him again.
Martin attempts to bring more humiliation to David by having their mother read Pinocchio to them at night. The story of a wooden doll whom with the help of a blue fairy can become a real boy. David is already aware that his relationship to the family is different than that of his brother. He is unaware of the world outside of his programming. All he is designed to understand is the love he feels for his mother. He is not programmed to understand that he is seen as different in the eyes of the world. David learns this more so when his programming forces him into a compromising position at a pool party, leading to him nearly drowning Martin. This brings Monica to make the decision to abandon David in the woods. She realizes that David’s purpose has been achieved. He served the family until their son became healthy again. Monica is emotional but unmoving in her need to abandon him. She does not feel enough empathy because she truly does not see David as her own. He is too different for her and needs to be removed from their lives since he has lived out his purpose. Just as cities which have been lost to climate change had outlasted their necessity for the elite ruling class, David is cast aside by his owners.
David and a group of cast-off robots are captured by a “flesh-fair”. A form of entertainment where humans use various methods to destroy robots in front of a paying crowd. Another example of the ruling class being allowed to berate and discriminate against their societal cast-offs. David was able to escape alongside a “mecha” prostitute named Gigolo Joe (Jude Law). They adventure to discover the location of the Blue Fairy who can grant David his wish. Their adventure leads them to the ruins of Manhattan. Nearly completely submerged in water due to rising sea levels. David and Joe are directed by holographic encyclopedia Dr. Know to the top of Rockefeller Center where David meets another version of himself. In a rage, he does not accept that he is not unique and destroys the other David. David’s love for his mother Monica stems from the individuality that he feels as her son. He watches how Monica and Martin’s relationship exists as a mother and son. Martin’s individuality is what keeps him attached to Monica. There is no one like Martin, that is what separates him from other boys. When David is met with rows and rows of prototype David’s and Darlene’s that are to be sent to households in need of a temporary connection, he has an existential crisis and throws himself into the water that surrounds the building.
He is saved by Joe in the helicopter they arrived in. Joe is quickly captured by authorities, but David is able to escape alongside Teddy. They travel through the underwater metropolis looking for the Blue Fairy. David and Teddy happen upon Coney Island’s Pinocchio attraction where they discover a plaster statue of the Blue Fairy. David still determined to achieve his mother’s affection and begins to pray to the statue in front of him. He believes the statue to be a form of deity that can grant him mortality. David’s unwavering commitment leads him to continue to wish upon the fairy until his power systems and the ship begins to fail. David’s world has crumbled around himself. The only person he knew to love had abandoned him for seemingly no reason in his eyes. He, like many in times of crisis seek comfort in godly figures to help explain the unexplainable, or in David’s case, assist in his life’s journey. David had been told he has been different his whole life, he simply wanted to be accepted as an equal. David continues to wish for mortality, over and over until the flooded city begins to freeze over the next centuries. We flash forward two thousand years past the extinction of the human race. The ruling class has been replaced by highly intelligent mecha who discover David and revive himself and Teddy. David has his memories analyzed by the mecha who reconstruct the Swinton household. They explain to David that his wish to see his mother can come true, however, their ability to reincarnate organic lifeforms has only come so far. He would only be able to be accompanied by her for one day. David proceeds with the wish and intends to experience what he never was able to in his time with the Swinton family. David meets Monica who embraces him with open arms, the way he was programmed to expect their relationship. The closing shots of the film are of David and Monica spending a full day together and a mother and son. Showing David experience a relationship he had been searching for from the start of his activation.
David’s creation and affection programming are a symptom of a species in desperate need for a passive hobby while their own existence begins to fail. The results of climate change and eco-fascism that resulted in large swaths of the world population being starved out of existence. Humanity begun to create more and more mecha, useful for the elites’ various needs. Weather that be sexual promiscuity in the case of Gigolo Joe, or the flesh-fair events where humans execute mecha for sport and entertainment. The world crumbled around the Swinton family and in their time of need they sought out David. Who they introduced to the crumbling world without warning him about how he is seen by the public or the existential threats to their way of life. A.I. is a film that is able to distill the human experience during the time of climate anxiety incredibly well. David begins his life attempting to find connection to society however deals with the harsh reality of the world in a way those who live in crisis do. Seeing that when his existence does not contribute value to his “owners” he is thrown away and left for dead. A feeling that we can only hope does not befall any of us as we continue to exist in a world dealing with the realities of climate change and the rise of right-wing nationalism in the western world.
The FilmSpot 