Close Reading of Film Stills in I, Robot

 The film still is an image from the beginning of the movie when a FedEx robot delivered Will Smith his mail.  This still reveals that robots are apart of everyday human life and it is normal to receive mail from a robot. In this still the director has chosen to make the main emphasis on the FedEx robot. Everything else in the background is kind of a blur and you can't really see the faces clearly of the humans in the background.  I think this was a great decision by the director because it kind of foreshadows what life is like in the movie and how robots interact with humans.  While watching the movie and seeing this part I thought of it as kind of comedic and very cool that a robot could deliver mail.  But after taking a closer read at the film still that's when I read that this is a symbolic part of the beginning of the movie. For my paper this could be a great discussion because this would be some of the jobs that humans would no longer have if there were robots. This proves that many jobs would be lost.  Looking at the film still this way made me use my critical thinking skills and really analyze the photo.  It also has given me a focus of something that could be written about in my paper.

This film still reveals that the character Detective Spooner (Will Smith) feels threatened by robots.  It also shows that the robot was actually innocent and was trying to help a woman get her purse.  This shows that Will Smith wants a reason to attack the robots or even get rid of all of them for good.  The director has chosen to show clearly the looks of the pedestrians faces as Detective Spooner has the robot down.  This was a great move by the director because it shows that these people are comfortable with robots and they are looking at Detective Spooner in disbelief.  This shows that Detective Spooner is one of the only ones who isn't comfortable with the idea of robots in humans everyday life.  Will Smith's facial expressions in this scene is like "listen I got this guy, look I caught him doing something bad."  But in reality the robot is innocent and was just trying to be helpful.  Looking at the film still has helped me analyze the pedestrians faces which I missed when watching the movie.  This is actually really helpful because it helps me understand that many people may be comfortable with the idea of robots.

Are Hollywood Films Realistic?

I believe hat Hollywood films are sometimes realistic because they are based on true stories or something that has some truth to it.  However, I do believe that sometimes Hollywood films do get things wrong. I think that we have to use our own discretion and use research to decide if a film has some truth to it or not.

Blog Assignment #1

The topic of my research paper is Portraying Robots in Film.  I will be using the film I Robot to discuss the possibilities of life with robots and how much truth is in the film.  My thesis statement is: Based on several popular and scholarly sources, I will argue that the promise of robot technology outweighs its possible dangers as portrayed in the film I, Robot.

One of the articles I will be using is entitled Robots and Robotics by Robert Sparrow.  I found this source using the Gale Virtual Reference Library.  The thesis of this article was  "The ethical, political, and legal issues surrounding robots can be roughly grouped into two categories: those that are raised by existing technologies and a more speculative set that would arise if genuinely ‘‘intelligent’’ or conscious robots were to become a reality" (Sparrow 1655).  This article provides information about the pros and cons of robots. Athough the author doesn't make a point to agree or disagree with the pros and cons of robots, he does offer more reasons of why robots pose a threat.  I chose this particular source because it gives so many interesting reasons of why robots pose a threat.  Out of all of the other articles, this particular one gives creative perspectives on robots.  This source fits my research paper topic because it discusses the promises and perils of robot technology.

The second article that I will be using is Robots that talk and listen by Elaine Williams. I found this article using the database LexisNexis.  I really like this article because she gave an argument and stuck with is throughout the entire article. She says "In reality, robots are blind, deaf and rather dumb -- capable of doing relatively simple tasks which have to be programmed into the machines' memories" (Williams 53).  Her main argument was that robots are pointless because humans have to create them to make them smart.  This perpective adds a different perspective than what I have and therefore adds a different point of view for my paper.  I choose this source because the author seems to feel very strongly about her argument.  

  

Sparrow, Robert. "Robots and Robotics." Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics. Ed. Carl                 

Mitcham. Vol. 3. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 1654-1656. Gale Virtual Reference

Library. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

The article, "Robots and Robotics" by Robert Sparrow is an encyclopedia article.  The article not only looks at one argument about robots but it looks at several.  The article also discusses the different areas of life that robots are being used.

Williams, Elaine. "Robots that talk and listen." Financial Times Survey 18 January 1982: XVII.LexisNexis

               Academic. Web. 20 March 2014.

The article "Robots that talk and listen" by Elaine Williams is a newspaper article.  It is of some value for my research paper because she gives an argument.