DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What were the future mechas doing at the end of the film?
2. Why the mechas were only able to bring people back for a day?
3. How did the human race become extinct?
4. In what year is it set? In what city is it set?
5. What is the significance of the seven word code used to activate David?
6. What is the name of the female child Mecha that is inscribed on the boxes across from the boxes
of David?
7. What did Gigolo Joe mean when he said, I am, I was?
8. Why is it that on some of the notes David wrote for Monica, he said he hated Teddy, but on others
he said he loved him?
9. Why did Professor Hobby, at the beginning of the movie, tell the Mecha to undress?
10. The film opens with the narrator stating that, because of depleting natural resources, human
reproduction had been placed under strict control, and only licensed couples could have children.
How bad would things need to get before licensing parents would become a necessity?

11. At the beginning of the movie, Professor Hobby states that to create an artificial being has been
the dream of man since the birth of science. Theres probably an element of truth to this. Why do we
have this fascination?

12. One of the scientists at Cybertronics asks, If a robot could genuinely love a person, what
responsibility does that person hold toward that mecha in return? Professor Hobby responds, In the
beginning, didnt God create Adam to love him? What is implied by Professor Hobbys answer?

13. When David's mother drops him off in the woods, David cries out "I'm sorry for not being real!"
Aside from the fact that he's been kicked out of his house, why is he sorry for this?

14. In a documentary on the movie, Steven Spielberg states that the story is set at a time when
humans and robots are on the brink of civil war. This is graphically depicted in the Flesh Fair,
where old or unregistered mechas are rounded up and destroyed gladiator-style before a cheering
crowd. One of the mechas explained that the Flesh Fair was an attempt to cut back on the numbers
of mechas so that humans could "maintain numerical superiority." From the opposite perspective,
one of the humans at the Fair said that mechas should be destroyed since they will take over. Why
can't we just live in peace with robots?

15. Consider some of the imagery the Flesh Fair: motorcycles, cowboy hats, heavy metal music,
flannel shirts. What statement does this make about the kind of humans that opposed robots?

16. An announcer at the Flesh Fair states the following "What about us? We are alive and this is a
celebration of life, and this is commitment to a truly human future." How might the brutal destruction
of robots a celebration of life?

17. The owner of the Flesh Fair states that child mechas like David, were built to disarm humans by
playing on human emotions. Nevertheless, the human spectators feel sympathy with David,
particularly because he pleads for his life. What abilities would a robot have to exhibit before we
would consider it an equal with humans?

18. Gigolo Joe states that sex robots like him "are the guiltless pleasures of the lonely human being."
Would it really be guiltless to have sex with a robot that looked just like a real human? What if the
robot had the appearance of a ten-year-old human?

19. Gigolo Joe tells David that his mother does not love him, but only loves what he does for her. Is it
plausible to think that a normal human could love a robot as though it were a real human?

20. Gigolo Joe tells David "They made us too smart, to quick, and too many. We are suffering for the
mistakes they made because when the end comes all that will be left is us. That's why they hate us."
Is this a good reason to hate robots?

21. David was the first of a kind in mecha design with an ability to experience love. On the box
containing the mass-produced Davids it states at last a love of your own. It turns out, though, that
David has desires, self-motivated reason, and the ability to chase down his dreams. What is the
connection between love and these other cognitive abilities?

22. When David meets another David robot, he destroys it in a fit of rage, believing that this new
David will compete with him for his mother's love. In retrospect, this outburst justifies the decision of
David's parents to return him to Cybertronics for destruction. Is this a critical element of the plot, or
just bad (and inconsistent) storytelling?

23. David enters a warehouse containing boxes upon boxes of other Davids. He walks up to a facial
mask of one of the Davids and peers through its eye openings. What if anything does this
symbolize?

24. As Joe gets magnetically pulled up to a police helicopter his final words to David are "I am, I
was." The "I am" clause is a reference to Descartes' famous statement "I think, therefore I am,"
which indicates Joe's assertion of his existence. What does the "I was" clause signify?

25. The ancient Greek term "deus ex machina" refers to an awkward plot device introduced to get
the hero out of a tough situation like the cavalry coming over the mountain at the last minute. Does
the ending of this film rely on a deus ex machina?

26. Why does the narrator robot at the beginning and end of the movie have a British accent?

27. In a documentary on the movie, Steven Spielberg states that a key issue raised by the movie is
the extent to which we have a moral responsibility to the intelligent robots that we will someday
create. What kind of qualities would a robot need before we would recognize our moral responsibility
towards it?