Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick Sci-Fi Film A.I. Coming to Peacock

Every version of Pinocchio is different. Carlo Collodi’s original 1883 fantasy novel is a cautionary tale about disobedience, while Disney’s 1940 musical fantasy is a sanitized coming-of-age adventure. There is Robert Zemeckis’ jarring live-action version that lacks emotion, and Guillermo Del Toro’s breathtaking stop-motion animation that turns Pinocchio into a complex source of chaotic desires. The story of Marvel’s Vision, stretched across multiple movies and shows from Avengers: Age of Ultron to VisionQuest, is a riff on the classic tale as well.

No matter the differences, Pinocchio works because it taps into the universal desire to belong. At its core, it is the story of a puppet who longs to be a real boy, but this desire comes with its own set of challenges.

Steven Spielberg’s 2001 sci-fi fantasy A.I. Artificial Intelligence is an atypical retelling of Pinocchio. Spielberg worked on the film with Stanley Kubrick and completed it after Kubrick died. Set in the 22nd century, the film unfolds in a world destroyed by a deadly climate crisis. There are no wooden puppets here, but an artificial boy or mecha named David, played by Haley Joel Osment, who longs to be a real boy as he yearns for the love of his mother. A.I. Artificial Intelligence is currently streaming on Peacock.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a brutal coming-of-age story

Monica, played by Frances O’Connor, and Henry, played by Sam Robards, are devastated parents. Their son Martin, played by Jake Thomas, is in a long-term coma due to a rare disease. Henry brings home a prototype mecha child capable of experiencing unconditional love once its imprinting protocol is activated to ease their pain.

David seems both naive and eerie, but shows tenderness toward Monica, who activates a line of code that triggers his programming to love her forever. David cannot participate in everyday human activities like sleeping or eating, but does his best to mimic and integrate. David also befriends Martin’s robotic teddy bear named Teddy.

Martin is unexpectedly cured later, and his return home creates a host of problems for David. The human child mocks the android for its inability to follow human norms, while his friends bully David. David’s attempts to stick to his programming backfire. His desire to be loved becomes so strong that he shoves food into his mouth until his wiring is damaged. His self-defense modules activate on one occasion, endangering the human children who threatened him. Soon after, the prototype meant to fill the void of a real child is discarded.

Spielberg’s heartbreaking retelling of Pinocchio

When A.I. Artificial Intelligence hit theaters in 2001, the discourse surrounding artificial intelligence was very different. Even so, the movie polarized critics and audiences. Some found the fairytale-like ending overly sentimental, while others viewed Spielberg’s depiction of a callously cruel dystopian society as bleak and uncomfortable. These feelings persist, but the film is less about artificial intelligence and more about living in a society desensitized to human selfishness.

Whether David is capable of real feelings or simulating emotions like an AI chatbot is irrelevant. Spielberg wants viewers to view David’s condition as deeply tragic, much like Pinocchio’s desire to become a flesh-and-blood boy. He is a child mecha prototype whose programming is irreversible, meaning his love for Monica will never waver or change no matter how much time passes.

David’s desire to belong and to be loved by his mother does not change even after he witnesses human cruelty. David remembers even after humans are wiped off the face of the earth. He is doomed to remember as his programming tugs at his strings like an eternal puppeteer.

Spielberg’s ending reinforces how non-human David is. To love is to change, and to grieve loved ones no matter how painful that might be. To be human is to evolve, but David does not have that luxury. He remains stuck in a centuries-long stasis of wanting to be a real boy. Can a mass-produced robot meant to comfort grieving parents ever be real? This question haunts the entirety of Spielberg’s film.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence does not work without empathy for David, especially if we accept that his feelings are unnatural. It is the same impulse as rooting for Pinocchio in every version of his story, even in the version where he rejects humanity and chooses to embrace his puppet nature forever.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence is streaming on Peacock.

Source: Polygon