David the Droid

After Steven Spielberg has thoroughly directed the audience’s attention where he thinks it should go, it’s time to pick the “lucky” parents. It doesn’t take the head scientist very long to find his candidates. A couple has a son in a coma, and it seems unlikely that the child will wake up. So, the father is persuaded to take the experimental robo-child.

First of all, I just want to say that I found the idea of picking a robot child to replace a real son to be very disturbing, but disturbing or not, the parents aren’t allowed to have another child to begin with. The population control element of the story is mentioned in passing, but I got the suspicion that this is something the movie approves of.

Spielberg never addressed the negative ramifications of such a totalitarian tactic, and given what happens with the robot hunter later on in the film, I think that this is something the film implies will be required in the future. But at the same time, I do hesitate to say that silence is assent in this case, so I won’t go so far as to say that the film carries a positive depopulation narrative, but the idea of such control is constantly floating in the background of the story.

When the father shows David to the mother, Monica, she is obviously horrified, but for whatever reason, David’s big blue robot eyes are enough to at least allow her to give the idea a chance. During the sequence where Monica is trying to decide whether or not to keep the droid, there is an odd clashing of tones. David is obviously creepy, and he is shot in such a way as to show that he is scaring his new “mother,” but at the same time whimsical music plays in the background as David appears here and there.

I think the reason for this is because Spielberg wants the audience to empathize with David, showing him as curious and somewhat playful, but the situation simply doesn’t allow for it. This might be a clash between Kubrick’s original intentions and the idea that Spielberg is trying to convey, but I again hesitate to reach this conclusion because Kubrick does seem to be clearly going with the idea that nobody knows what real really means, and that does require validating David’s mimicry as real. But at the same time, it’s also made apparent that David has not fully “awakened,” if I may use the term, during this stage of the movie.

The whole sequence feels awkward, but not because there is any direct tension or threat represented by the movie, but because it’s honestly hard to understand what the movie is trying to convey. The whole awkward sequence ends with David watching his new mom and dad eating at the dinner table. Monica tries to eat some noodles, and one of those noodles is left hanging out of her mouth.

David busts out laughing, but is he doing this because of mimicry or because he genuinely finds the situation funny? The audience doesn’t know. His laughter is loud, and while the parents laugh with him for a moment, the whole scene ends with a bizarre, uncomfortable silence.

This moment at the dinner table, for whatever reason, convinces Monica to keep David. I don’t know why, but the next scene is when Monica decides to implement the imprinting procedure, which requires her to push a button and recite a bunch of words. She does this, and there is instantly a noticeable change in David’s behavior. He calls Monica his mother and hugs her, seeming to display real emotions.

Now, if someone isn’t paying attention, they might grow annoyed because it seems like Spielberg has simply assumed that David can really feel now. But again, I want to point out that the moral of the story is that what is real doesn’t really matter, so the question of whether David really feels anything at all doesn’t matter.

If he can mimic the emotions, that mimicry is close enough for government work. And this is either the major mistake or deception of the film. The whole film is supposed to be structured like a futuristic Pinocchio, but really, the Tin Man is a more apt analogy because the whole idea is that David was real all along.

So, at this point, the audience is really left to assume that David is for all intents and purposes a real boy; he just doesn’t know it. However, this creates a very confusing situation because David goes back and forth between acting like a robot and a human depending on what the script requires.

Anyway, just as it looks like David is going to acclimate to his new life, Monica and her husband’s son wakes up. Now, there is a sibling rivalry to add to the equation. Spielberg works very hard to make this kid seem like the spawn of satan, but really, he’s just a regular kid asking obvious questions.

The first odd choice is to have the son ask his mother to read the story of Pinocchio. The scene seems to imply that the son knows that David will be tormented by the story, but why would he think this? He seems keenly aware that David is a robot. But, instead of being annoyed by his “brother’s” backhanded shot, David is captivated by the story and begins to long to be a real boy.

The second odd thing to happen is that the brother and David get into a spinach-eating contest, and since David can’t eat, he breaks. Now, his parents tell him not to continue eating, and the robot knows he can’t really eat, but for whatever reason, David continues eating.

This doesn’t make sense with David’s character regardless of whether or not he is a robot. If he were still primarily a robot, then his programming would tell him to listen to his parents. If he is a “real” boy, then his love for his mother should drive him to stop once she begins screaming. This whole sequence is an example of contrived writing that is really meant to convey what a troublemaker the son is.

The last example is where Spielberg really goes out of his way to depict the son as just plain evil. He asks David to cut a lock of Monica’s hair to show that he loves her. The son argues that Monica will reciprocate David’s love once she sees the gesture.

Now, clearly this ends exactly as the audience expects. Monica wakes up while David is trying to cut her hair and nearly loses an eye as she rolls over. David still manages to cut the lock of hair, and Teddy grabs it. This will become important later, although I wish it hadn’t.

The whole sequence is implied to be the son’s fault, but there is simply no way the son would’ve known how that whole situation was going to play out. For all he knew, David might’ve successfully cut the hair, and Monica would’ve been genuinely touched by the weird gesture.

But because, remember, folks, the humans are the bad guys in this story, Spielberg uses this scene to portray the son as a maniacal genius when he’s really just a regular kid. The whole escalation that results from the rivalry is contrived, but the plot needs to happen.

We’ll cover the mistake that causes Monica and her husband to decide to take David back in the next review.