i had to write this for class, so its really long.

Name: Jacob Jones
Name of film: Robocop
Genre: Action
Year: 1987
Rating: R
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Cinematographer: Sol Negrin & Jost Vacano
Art Director: Gayle Simon
Scriptwriter: Edward Neumeier & Michael Miner
Actors: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O’Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, Miguel Ferrer

Plot Synopsis: In Detroit, crime has reached epic proportions, and it seems that the rest of the world is just getting worse. A corporation, Omni Consumer Products (OCP), has signed a contract with the city to fund and run the Detroit Metropolitan Police department. Into this mess strides Officer Alex J. Murphy, and his first day on the job is a doozy. After being brutally murdered in front of his partner, what is left of him is salvaged to become OCP’s newest line of defense against the raging tide of crime: Robocop, a super-strong, super-tough cyborg programmed with just four directives. One: serve the public trust. Two: protect the innocent. Three: uphold the law. And four: classified. The only problem is that part of him is still human, and it is this part that finds that the worst criminal of the city is second in command of OCP itself, which is where the classified directive comes into play: any attempt to arrest a senior officer of OCP results in immediate shutdown. So, after being almost killed again by the very company that brought him back from he brink of death, he is forced to defeat his original murderers, but not before he is able to obtain the confession he needed to play before the president of OCP, so that he can fire his second in command, and Robocop can finally serve justice.

Symbols or Motifs: The first image we see of this film is a fake newscast claiming, “Give us three minutes, and we’ll give you the world.” During this short newscast, the stage is quickly set: it is somewhere in the near future, and the world is reaching closer and closer to chaos. But this horrible news is delivered by happy news anchors, seemingly oblivious to the bizarre words that are coming out of their mouths, and interspersed with campy ads advertising quasi-futuristic products. The media, and for that fact anything that comes on television in this film, are from the beginning characterized as callous and vapid. However, it is quickly seen that they are not the only ones that are unconscious of the ramifications of the misdeeds being committed in this world.
For the first about ten minutes of the film, it seems like some kind of very near-future cop drama, punctuated with some wry humor. But when ED-209 malfunctions and guns down an office jockey during a board room meeting in an incredible display of violence that leaves the viewer with their jaw instinctively dropped, and the first thing the president of the company says is, “Dick, I’m very disappointed,” you can’t help but be stunned at the soullessness of these people. This scene contains all of the primary conflicts of the movie, and also one of the best uses of symbology. When this nameless character is mutilated by this giant obdurate machine, the impact of the bullets pushes his body back onto a table. On this table lies the model of Delta City, the massive urban redevelopment project headed by OCP that involves tearing down Old Detroit and replacing it with all OCP owned and operated structures. Now, although this plan is actually made in the best interest of Detroit, as evidenced by the Old Man’s passion about wanting to “cut out” the “cancer of crime,” it doesn’t stop the anonymous bullet-riddled body from crashing down upon it, tying violence and progress to each other in a bloody money-obsessed marriage.
The other main symbol in this film is Robocop himself. As a mix of man and machine, he literally embodies the future. But as a character, he is confused about his past, ignorant of most of it. Since he is supposed to be devoid of emotion, when he is confronted with it, he has no idea how to handle it, and defaults to the simplest of human emotion: anger. He is efficient and effective, but to what end? He alone cannot turn the tide of a city infested with crime, and in the end he must defend himself against the very people who created him.
Finally, the nature of crime itself is an overlying motif. Not to get too vulgar, but I was reminded of a line in a song by a member of the Wu-Tang clan, the Gza, “What is the meaning of crime? Is it criminals robbin innocent motherfuckers every time?” Who in this movie is worse? Boddiker and his henchmen, doing the dirty work of the corporate boss, are engaged in the activities that most people would associate with the term ‘crime,’ their actions somehow more familiar and condonable, because after all, they’re criminals. But the corporate board of OCP and the city of Detriot are actually far more sinister than Boddiker, simply because they believe what they are doing is right. By privatizing the police force, they put the safety of the city in the hands of an entity that is focused on simply one thing: profits. The police eventually strike because the company just isn’t listening to them, they don’t heed their cries of frustration and pain, because those things don’t mean anything to them. Human life means nothing to them. It is simply about numbers, profits, money. And so OCP, instead of trying to fix the problems of Old Detroit, simply plan on building a massive new complex that they can control exclusively and without contest. They first allow, and then plan for the city to plunge into chaos so that they are guaranteed to profit. It is this kind of corporate greed and lack of respect for human life that the makers of this film are warning us of. Do not trust these people. They do not have your best interests in mind. They only care about one thing: profits.

Music: Like some action movies, when the hero of the film is shooting the bad guys or doin his hero-y thing, he has a theme song playing in the background. But when Robocop’s theme plays, it sounds sad, desperate. With the brass section bellowing out the melody and counter-melody, string flourishes adding a theatrical melancholy, it is the percussion section of the theme that is the most important. The image of a blacksmith hard at work making a new sword comes to mind. A constant metallic pounding, a metronome for a march of death; that’s what his theme sounds like. In the scene where he is taking a tour of his old house, his theme song floats in on strings only at the end of the tour, where in a fit of impotent fury he smashes a television. His theme never really resolves at the end either, it just kind of fades into the next scene without coming to a major chord to declare the end. Also, it should be noted that only Robocop has a theme song, not Murphy; it is only after he has become Robocop and he is goes out to begin fighting crime in the city that the theme finally plays.

Editing or production elements: The most memorable and important visual aspect of this film is the use of Robocop’s point of view. Now, a precedent had already been set by Terminator for the HUD first-person view of a cyborg. Yet this device is expanded upon ingeniously, most notably when the entire movie fades in and out with Murphy’s consciousness as he is transformed into Robocop.
There are some generally clever uses of camera angles as well. A good example is when, again, in the scene where ED-209 kills the office jockey, when he collapses on the table, the table is partially obscured in the foreground of the shot, making the point of the scene much subtler than if it were shot from above, or from the side. It is instead shot from behind the table, with the table taking up the lower quarter of the screen.
Art direction and special effects: By meshing existing metropolitan architecture (Dallas City Hall) and matte paintings, the art direction in this film makes this world seem very, very real. The actual design of Robocop was based on a Japanese anime series, as was the storyline. The special effects are fairly standard, run-of-the mill action movie special effects, but a lot of fake blood, and a little silliness.
When one of the henchmen runs his car into a conveniently placed vat of toxic waste (oh the 80’s..), his hideously disfigured body stumbles around for awhile before being liquefied by a car that runs him over. This special effect, though the idea is gruesome, typically elicits laughter from the audience. The question is whether we are laughing because of the silly image and sound effect of this baddie splashing over the car, or if, like the characters in the movie, by that time in the film we have been so desensitized by all the violent images preceding that we honestly find a guy who’s been turned into a horrible mutant being run over by a car funny. Sure, the premise and the execution are over the top and ridiculous, but this is an excellent example of a special effect reinforcing a central theme.

What was this film’s impact on you? How did it affect your emotions? A lot of people I know saw this film as kids, and were understandably a little freaked out by it. It seems to get lumped with the rest of the action movies made around this time, and I think that’s unfortunate. I think this film has a lot more going for it. Its dark, subtle humor in and of itself sets it apart in my mind. It was unfortunate that neither of the sequels were able to extend the spirit of the first film, the other two falling easily under the chronic sequel curse. Overall though, I appreciated the fact that this movie and its sequels dealt mostly with problems arising from Robocop’s human part, rather than relying on piles of special effects to ensure its profitability status.

What makes this film stand the test of time? I think, just by pointing out our potential total desensitization, this film adds a valid point in the overall discussion of violence and its effect on society as a whole. Its special effects are simple but effective, and have aged better than you would expect, the stop-motion scenes in particular. On top of that, it’s just a great action movie, with scenes that everyone has at least heard of, if not copied later on.
What other films did this remind you of? Was this film better, worse, newer, older? In terms of predicting our future society’s actions, I’d say it reminds me of Brave New World, with the total lack of regard for human life. It is reminiscent of Terminator, but with an important twist: Robocop is outwardly not human, but in fact possess a human soul, and it is this soul that causes him to turn against his creators to ensure justice is served.