Brave New World 'And I Robot': A Literary Analysis
Science fiction’s genre characteristics allow it to explore the perceived dangers of the advancements in science and technology. This is evident in the satirical text “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick, and finally I Robot, directed by Alex Proyas. These different texts share the same genre of science fiction, and so they convey similar themes and messages. Similarly, all three texts share a sub genre of dystopia. Originally derived from the dangers of technology, within these texts themes of social class and the flaws of humans are brought up.
Social class is clearly a theme portrayed in these texts. Firstly I Robot portrays the robots serving humans as underlings, hence slavery is brought up. However the irony is that humans with the exclusion of Detective Spooner seem to put more trust …show more content…
This is evident in an opening scene with the asthmatic woman, where Spooner accidently targets a runaway robot assuming it was stealing a purse, when in fact it was bringing the woman her inhaler. This simple mistake illustrates the lack of trust within the human race, and their high dependence on technology, which can become dangerous when it fails. However the robots that are slaves to humans soon are presented with a power reversal, in that the powerful rich CEO and the controlling humans compared to the average robot that has nothing soon overturn. Power is given to the high class, and this is shown through the first scene of a robot where Spooner pushes the robot out of the way with a “get the hell out of my face canner” and the robot replies decently with “have a nice day sir”. This is similar to both Brave New World and 2001, in that power is given to the dominating race. In 2001, even though they state they see HAL as a friend and equal, similar to when Sonny malfunctions in I Robot, they also choose to disable him. However this abuse of the low class can only be taken so
Social class is clearly a theme portrayed in these texts. Firstly I Robot portrays the robots serving humans as underlings, hence slavery is brought up. However the irony is that humans with the exclusion of Detective Spooner seem to put more trust …show more content…
This is evident in an opening scene with the asthmatic woman, where Spooner accidently targets a runaway robot assuming it was stealing a purse, when in fact it was bringing the woman her inhaler. This simple mistake illustrates the lack of trust within the human race, and their high dependence on technology, which can become dangerous when it fails. However the robots that are slaves to humans soon are presented with a power reversal, in that the powerful rich CEO and the controlling humans compared to the average robot that has nothing soon overturn. Power is given to the high class, and this is shown through the first scene of a robot where Spooner pushes the robot out of the way with a “get the hell out of my face canner” and the robot replies decently with “have a nice day sir”. This is similar to both Brave New World and 2001, in that power is given to the dominating race. In 2001, even though they state they see HAL as a friend and equal, similar to when Sonny malfunctions in I Robot, they also choose to disable him. However this abuse of the low class can only be taken so