Hello, everyone.
This is Hack No Gem.
The film we are going to hack is Steven Spielberg’s A.I.
As Spielberg said, this film is about the end of the human race.
But as we watch the film,
we begin to find out that he isn’t merely talking about our physical extinction
he’s talking about the absence of what makes us human
humanity.
And this theme is visually incorporated throughout the film by the cinematic mastermind,
Steven Spielberg.
The people we see in A.I. are… pretty messed up.
Sure, love still exists in people,
but it’s an ugly one.
They test their love,
they become obsessive and fight,
and they even kill their loved ones.
They applaud when they see a robot react to pain,
and burst out laughing when someone jokes about robots that can make love.
They even kill robots like savages.
The only exception is Monica.
Despite abandoning David for Martin, she was the only person who truly cares for David for who he is.
Let’s first look at the main protagonist of the film,
David.
He’s a mecca child that was built as a robot that can love, as Dr. Hobby proposed.
He looks so real that everyone thinks he’s human at first.
But in the end,
to humans, he’s a robot,
and to robots, he’s human.
And his unclear identity is cinematically shown from the beginning of the movie.
No matter how he looks on the outside, on the inside, he’s empty.
No one understands him because he’s the very first of its kind, and the only kind in this world.
And his isolation from the entire world is visually shown like this,
being trapped in a ring.
As the story unfolds, we learn that it’s not only a depiction of the world of cruelty towards robots that David will face,
but also the cold world where humanity, once what made us human, is nowhere to be found.
As we constantly look for the one who made us,
David constantly looks for Monica,
whom he believes to be his creator, whether it’s true or not.
However, once David finds out that he’s just one of the many robots made by Professor Hobby,
he loses his purpose, and tries to kill himself.
But even after that, he still doesn’t give up his dream of finding the blue fairy.
And the reason behind his pursuit towards his dream, something only humans can have,
is explained when David destroys his copy mecha with anger
throughout his journey,
the people and the surroundings slowly made him become more human than anyone in the movie
one who can envy,
become angry,
and desire love.
He has broken out of his own circle as Professor Hobby intended.
David wasn’t the only one who was more human than humans themselves.
Joe almost looks as if he is self-motivated to help David in his quest of becoming a real boy,
when he chooses to help David over pursuing a woman,
and when he submerges the amphibicopter before he is caught by the police.
Teddy shows his human side when he runs towards Monica for help when Martin and David compete for his affection.
And he’s the only character who stays with David until the end of the movie.
Tears are usually measurements for estimating and sympathizing emotions of humans only.
However in A.I., there are many scenes that associate robots with tears.
The repeated showing reminds us what we are missing from most humans in the movie,
and allows us to sympathize with the robots, who shouldn’t have emotions.
This is shown contrastingly with humans who have already lost humanity
to visualize the human aspect of the robots, reflecting the theme of the movie.
Spielberg tries to emphasize this theme again by showing images of holding hands,
which signifies development of bonding.
David, who is designed to love people,
keeps trying to connect with others on an emotional level.
And 2000 years later, his dream finally comes true,
as he finally connects with the person of his dreams,
Monica.
These are some of the scenes that are worth looking at.
Spielberg filled the set with actors and items in both foreground and background to make the room crowded,
and as the camera moves around the room,
the objects in front of the camera makes the shot more dynamic.
And when the camera stops, Professor Hobby climbs the steps and stands in the center of the camera.
This composition, along with the lighting emphasizes his presence among the crowd, making him the central figure in this room,
which makes the extras as well as the audience to focus on him.
This is also a very good scene to study.
First Henry is reflected multiple times in the mirror to show that Monica is psychologically being trapped in.
It shows the pressure of choosing whether to accept David or not.
Although it is Henry who explains the important plot detail,
the camera focuses on Monica, who has to make the decision.
The camera gets close as the plot detail is being delivered,
and Henry, who was on the side of Monica,
moves to Monica’s front, capturing Monica’s reaction very naturally.
It is a setup that could look a little forced,
but was executed very seamlessly here.
In this scene, the person who feels uncomfortable the most is Monica,
which is why as the camera slowly moves to the left, Monica has Henry between her and David,
and she is cornered all the way to the left of the screen.
Another interesting point is the lighting
as soon as the door closes,
an extra lighting immediately turns on to show Monica’s reaction towards David.
It is one of the traits we often find in Spielberg’s films;
as long as it has purpose,
lightings will be used no matter how unnatural or forced they may be in situations.
Monica refuses to turn and face David, a sign of rejection.
But she tries to hide her feelings because she cares for David,
which is why only the side of her face is shown, out of focus,
making it harder to read how she really feels.
Then David comes closer to Monica, and places his head on her lap to look her up,
to have us look down on him.
This high angle shot makes David very desperate, and vulnerable.
Professor Hobby first sits David in a chair,
and as he explains what David means to him,
he slowly spins the chair around;
this is a clever way to reveal David’s reaction to Professor Hobby in one single take.
The lighting on top slowly reveals David’s face as he walks towards the blue fairy,
making the anticipation even much higher for this dramatic meeting after a long wait.
A window continues to act as a psychological barrier between Monica and David.
At first it gives a very blur, distorted image of David, making his presence mysterious and tense.
The barrier becomes less thick as the story progresses, but it still exists between them.
There are some other very good examples where Spielberg visually gives information.
The folded page on the book tells us that this isn’t the first time she is here to read Martin a book.
The movement of Martin’s feet was the only thing we need to know whether he is alive.
The camera focuses on Monica, leaving David unfocused the entire time,
showing how Monica is trying to keep her distance from David to make things easy for her.
The picture of David on Dr. Hobby’s desk tells us that David was his son.
Each different reaction shot of David and Joe when they see Dr. Know shows who’s used to seeing this and who’s not.
Many thought the film was wrecked by the sentimentalities of Spielberg,
whom both the critics and audience believed ruined Stanley Kubrick’s original vision of the film.
However, this wasn’t true.
From early on even in 1970s, Stanley Kubrick knew Spielberg was the perfect director for this film,
believing the film’s sensibilities were more of Spielberg’s, not his.
In fact, the ending, which many thought was Spielberg’s idea, was Kubrick’s original.
We would never know how the movie would have turned out had Kubrick directed the film,
but we believe Spielberg was the right choice for the movie,
and it was the best outcome that we could have expected from this movie that is often overlooked.
This is all we have for A.I.
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