The armor is a representation of the technophobia people had about advancements in technology. Robocop showed how technology could get out of control especially after the so called law enforcement droid (ED-209) went haywire, killing a junior executive during a presentation. Not only did this show the shear destruction one of these cyborgs could be capable of but it also showed that these cyborgs could take over the world. The cyborg in the Terminator also had the armor but had shown human characteristics showed how indestructible he was to various violent impacts from being shot at, burned, and even at the end of the film being blown up. The character that fit the ‘human’ characteristic was ‘Kyle Reese’ who actually ended up being John Conner’s father.
In some ways the armor can also represent the inner strength of a human being. The relentless willpower of ‘Kyle Reese’ in protecting Sarah showed that he was willing to give his life to not only save her, but ultimately save the human race from extermination. The feeling of empathy for Sarah demonstrated in the film gave him the human characteristic (1). This extra attribute Kyle displayed was one an attribute that the cyborg was not programmed to have, which is desire. The cyborg may be able to win by shear power but by the end of the film the quick thinking and action by the ‘human’ ultimately lead to their success.
The Terminator showed the audience the major technological advancements that were predicted to happen in the future. The film also portrayed what a world would look like after nuclear warfare. This fear is similar to “the repressed of atomic paranoia in 1950’s America is radiation contamination” (3) except this was presented during an era where the cold war was coming to a close. With the introduction of new advancements happening at a rapid pace there was the fear in which Wolfgang Schivelbusch called a ‘panoramic perception’ which was a popular belief during the machine age (2). Many science fiction films worked to alleviate these fears by the “replacement of horse-drawn coach by speeding train transformed travelers into spectators” (2) which was an attempt to get the audience used to seeing these advancements so it wouldn’t be such a shock to them later on.
Robocop was a product designed because of the idea that “human body wasn’t designed for the stresses and shocks of a mechanical world,” (1) against which the body had to be armored in order to withstand the impacts of bullets as well as the stresses of everyday life. The armor in this film showed that the human body is fragile and cannot withstand physical or violent impacts which this cyborg could. The idea behind Robocop was that he was ‘perfect’ and ‘indestructible’ because of his high tech body armor. This film among others in the 1980’s fueled the fear of alienation and the fear that cyborgs would ultimately take over the world leaving it ‘lifeless’ and ‘dull’ planet.
Robocop warns us of the possible problems technology could have but also shows how this cyborg ‘Murphy’ goes against the societal definition of a cyborg. One such definition that stands out is from one Baukatman’s articles when he states that “humans simply have feelings while non-humans simply do not” (1) which means that ‘Murphy’ in reality it should have no feelings at all because he was not human. Just by looking at him he was reconstructed into an indestructible machine. But Murphy was different than most cyborgs in that he overcame the alienation of his body advanced technology and was able to regain his memory. As the film progressed he began to regain his identity and was able to seek revenge on those who ended his human life.
The traditional assumption of how cold and lifeless cyborgs can be was shown quite distinctively in the Terminator when he kills everyone in his path. He is relentlessness and will power do anything to reach his objective, which is to kill Sarah Conner, the mother of John Conner. This cyborg displays this action even when he was blown apart and continued to chase Sarah until he was crushed by a compactor at the end of the film, this is what makes the Terminator different because Robocop regains his human characteristics, whereas in the Terminator flim another character fills the role of the human. This character ‘Kyle Reese’ is transported back to the past to protect Sarah Conner. He had all the characteristics and instead of metal he had flesh which could be damaged much more easily. The audience was able to identify with Conner because he showed empathy, emotions, and you could visually see he could get injured.
These memories proved that this particular cyborg could fit the description of the ‘human’ because this cyborg had dreams and memories something the ‘typical’ cyborg did not have. The cyborg in Terminator was not anything like the cyborg in Robocop because it had no thoughts or feelings, just action. This film gives the audience a better understanding of the ‘human’ because we truly see what the differences are between the human and non-human. When ‘Murphy’ had these visions he was able to sympathize with humanity because he remembered his past life this was nonexistent in the Terminator.
These films also show us that we should not be too dependent on technology to take care of us because if technology fails we won’t know how to react to it until it is too late. These films show that computers and other advanced technology are nice because allows to “interface with the global, yet invisible, realm of data circulation-a new being to occupy the emerging cyberspaces” (2) which it makes our daily lives easier but it also can lead to our demise. The computers in Terminator mysteriously got a mind of their own and decided to end the human race. Since humans were completed reliant on these technologies when these technologies turned against them there was nothing that could be done to protect ourselves from an enemy that was suppose to be helping us.
The Terminator showed us what could potentially happen when we as ‘humans’ become too reliant on technology. A good example of this is when Sara Conner found out she was being stalked by ‘The Terminator’ when she received a call from the police department about the random killings of all the women whose names had been ‘Sarah Conner’. After she found out about this she was freaking out and called her roommate to come pick her up. When she left a message the cyborg was already present at her apartment. However, ‘The Terminator’ himself was already at the apartment. After hearing the voice message the killer cyborg left the apartment and proceeded to go to night club where she was hiding. This shows as convenient as an answering machine is to our everyday lives it actually could have lead to her murder.
Whether we like it our not technology is in our everyday lives and it makes life more convenient then it used to be in the past. We use mass transportation to get from place to place in a short period of time. Instead of sending a letter through the mail we send an email. These films show us that technology can indeed be good but it can also be the ‘thorn’ in our side. Not only could we be in trouble if technology fails that we are dependent on but we also could be in trouble if the technology is used against us by someone else.
Film:
Robocop, dir, Paul Verhoeven, per. Peter Weller, Ronny Cox, and Kurtwood Smith,
1987, DVD, 1987
Terminator, dir, James Cameron, per. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Michael Biehn, 1984, DVD, 1984.
Citations:
(1) Bukatman, Scott. “Replicants and Alien Life.” Blade Runner. BFI Modern Classics Series. Ed. Rob White. London: British Film Institute, 1997. 64-91. (CR 53-66)
(2) Bukatman, Scott. “Zooming Out: The End of Offscreen Space.” The New American Cinema. Ed. Jon Lewis. Durham and London: Duke University Press. 248- 272. (CR 233-245)
(3) Hendershot, Cyndy. “The Invaded Body: Paranoia and Radiation Anxiety in Invaders from Mars, It Came from Outer Space, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy. 39.1 (Spring 1998) 26-39. (CR 37-43)
