Para-Relationships and the RoboCop Remake...

As someone who is old enough to have seen the original 1987 RoboCop in theaters, I can't lie, a remake was a dreaded reality once it was revealed that the film would be reworked into a PG-13 version for current audiences. The bad taste in my mouth left by the Total Recall debacle was still lingering, and hope was lost further when the initial preview showed a fight scene that looked more like something out of a Terminator revamp, with digital robots clanging away by the thousands and a computer generated RoboCop doing his best Chow Yun Fat impersonation. 

See, the film industry is based on finance for the creators, but for fans its all about the magic. Not the imaginary, the real...the para-relationship created between the character on screen and the everyday people in the audience. This is where the shock came, as what I assumed was going to be a campy, contrived remake of a hit film was actually much, much more.

The new RoboCop sought out to make a film about loss, morals, and faith in one's spiritual nature as a person to override the oppressive forces at work in the universe. I know, sounds like a bit much, but this film actually focused on the plot of a man being used as a pawn in a much larger scheme for money and power. The evil empire known as OmniCorp is looking to expand its war robotics program into domestic police work, but they are forced to find a way to make this unnatural transition more palatable to the public. The solution is creating a robot with the capability to make human decisions. Caught in the middle of this is a man who has his own battle to fight, trying to fathom being a father to a child and husband while living with the ultimate sacrifice of giving his life to become this robot. The story is brought home by using a very creative comparison to amputees who have taken robotic limbs to help them perform the tasks that once came so natural. 

When put into this perspective, the story becomes incredibly engrossing when you view RoboCop as another public servant who is forced to cope with the worst case scenario of their sworn duties. The conversation about robotics is even much more relevant, brought into parallel with the current debate on using drone technology that is currently used in war into our domestic realm. This interweaving of newsworthy themes into an already familiar story is similar to using trans-media storytelling, since we tend to make quick associations with what is familiar to us. Samuel L. Jackson plays a very 'Bill O'Reily' like character, who uses his program as a propaganda machine for the talking points of the powerful OCP company to push their agenda of robotics for police work. 

The most impressive moment of the entire film was actually void of much dialogue or action at all. The scene in which RoboCop finally goes home to see his family for the first time since his accident, he walks into his home again and his wife lays her hand on his chest, resulting in the most hollow, mechanical sound you could imagine. The work of the engineers to create this moment, with such a spot on sound, which was followed by her laying her head across the chest of what used to be her husband, happy to have him but knowing she will never have him again the way she was used to. This single sound effect drove home the point much more effectively than the many montages of the original movie where the hero reminisced over his lost family. I am happy to eat my words and admit that RoboCop was not only a solid remake, but a much more emotionally involving film that not only conveyed the senses of the main characters but included some very critical commentary about the current state of politics and the companies that sponsor the madness of our leaders.




Pavlik, J. V., & McIntosh, S. (2011). Converging media: A new introduction to mass communication. New York: Oxford University Press.  

Verhoeven, P. (Director). (1987). Robocop [Motion picture]. 

 Padilha, J. (Director). (2014). Robocop [Motion picture].