Text/Nanke Documentary
Editor/Nan Ke Documentary
<<——Preamble——>>
How many men dream of a passion to manipulate mecha battles?
Since its appearance, good food dock science fiction movies have become an enduring evergreen tree in many film genres, and robots, as frequent guests of science fiction movies, have accompanied the audience through nearly a century.
A sci-fi masterpiece called "Pacific Rim" has landed around the world, and all kinds of mecha in the film have amazed the audience's attention, but this sci-fi masterpiece is very different from other robot movies in the past.
It completely subverts the movies of the machine series on the big screen, and also outlines a new chapter in robot movies.
<< - Robot Age - >>
Once upon a time, robot movies on the big screen were dominated by various mechanical life forms with autonomous consciousness.
From the robot boy Dawei in "Artificial Intelligence" to the T-800 in "Terminator", from Johnney Five in "Thunderbolt 5" to Wall-E in "Robot Story", and the "Transformers" series of robots that have become popular all over the world in recent years have the same status, the same attributes, and even stronger capabilities as humans.
Due to its similarity with human beings in the composition of life, wisdom, autonomous consciousness and a certain social structure, the emergence of robots has attracted widespread attention from all walks of life.
The history of robot movies can be said to be the history of science fiction movies. As an indispensable theme for various creators, robots have evolved into different categories over time.
In the 90s of the last century, American director Stuart Gordon made a movie called "The Mechanical Dragon". In this film, the robot does not possess any consciousness or intelligence, and only exists as a human-operated mecha.
Since then, a subgenre of Hollywood robot movies has emerged - mecha movies, and later films such as "Iron Fist" and "Pacific Rim" were born.
<<·——"Pacific Rim": Mecha is not the same as robots——·>>
The film "Pacific Rim" tells the story of the human world being invaded by monsters from another world, and the monsters built a space tunnel in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, and from this tunnel, people continue to invade the human world.
Because the body composition of the monster contains highly poisonous, it will permanently damage the ecological environment of the earth, and weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear bombs cannot be used, so humans started the "Ska Gull Project" to create a giant mecha that rivals it, and simply through the physical attack of the fist to the flesh, causing the giant beast to die of "internal injury", and prevent the monster from releasing poison to pollute the environment.
The protagonist is the last line of defense to protect humanity by driving this giant mecha to fight monsters.
The movie "Pacific Rim" is not a robot movie in the traditional sense, although the film is also full of giant humanoid robots. But there are three factors that robot movies in the traditional sense usually focus on.
Should or how should robots be given human rights? Where is the boundary between robots and humans? Will robots eventually control the world and rule over humans?
For example, the "Terminator" series starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Artificial Intelligence" directed by Steven Spielberg, and "Public Enemy Mechanica" starring Will Smith.
The theme of these films revolves around the contradictory relationship between humans and machines, and the development of technology will ultimately make the future of mankind better or destroy humanity itself.
And "Pacific Rim" does not focus on the relationship between robots and people, because the robots in the film are machines that do not have any intelligence and need the operation of the driver, and without the driver, these huge "humanoid machines" are just a pile of steel.
The film's screenwriter, Travis Beechham, once pointed out: "There are no robots in this film, and the audience sees only mechs that rely on human control. ”
And director Del Toro also emphasized: "The machines in the film are not robots, but mechas!"
<< - Traditional Robot Movies - >>
So what exactly is a mecha movie, and why did it diverge from a robot movie? To understand this question, it is necessary to first understand the history of robot movies.
The word "robot" first appeared in the science fiction play "Russum's Universal Robot" by Czechoslovak writer Karel. Since the term "robot" was coined, it has swept the world with its mysterious sense of the unknown.
Robots are not only regular visitors to science fiction, but also guests of philosophers and sociologists.
Metropolis
In 1927, German director Fritz Lang made a film called "Metropolis". This film is a great work that puts robots on the screen for the first time in human history.
The robot Maria in the film laid the foundation for the image of robots in future science fiction movies - made by humans one by one, with artificial intelligence, with the same appearance as humans, and basically no different from humans in intelligence, morality, and sociality.
Robot Maria
And the symbiosis between humans and robots has become the eternal theme of robot movies from the very beginning.
As the first monument in the history of science fiction films and the pioneer of robot movies, the shadow of "Metropolis" can basically be seen in the robot movies that have appeared since then.
Classic robot images such as "Astro Boy", "Terminator", and "Mechanical Public Enemy" have also become topics of conversation among the audience.
In 1984, Hasbro produced a series of animations called "Transformers". In this anime, the robots become creatures as intelligent as humans, they are not made by humans, and they have their own planets.
Similar to the history of human development, these mechanical beings living on the planet Cybertron also experienced enslavement, rebellion and freedom. Eventually, due to the depletion of the planet's resources, a part of the Cybertrons came to Earth.
Of course, this is the story between Optimus Prime and Megatron that we know as well. Although "Transformers" created a new type of robot, mechanical lifeforms, it is still inseparable from the question of "symbiosis between robots and humans" in terms of thematic connotation.
With the advancement of science and technology, human life is increasingly inseparable from machines. On the other hand, humans are also afraid that machines will become enemies of humans when they have autonomous consciousness.
As the core of robot films, the relationship between humans and machines has become the core issue explored in almost all robot films.
<< · - Mecha movies and traditional robot movies - · >>
In science fiction movies, especially robot movies, people are no longer the center of the film, robots have replaced people and become the protagonists who dominate the screen, and human subjectivity seems to be slowly missing.
In the film "Transformers", the protagonist is a robot, and humans exist only to help robots, and humans are powerless in front of giant robots.
Here, man becomes a "non-human" and a tool of others, while things gradually replace humans and occupy a dominant position in social life. Instead of people, things have become the protagonists on the stage.
In 1990, the advent of "Mechanical Dragon" brought the focus of robot movies back from machines to people. In this movie, the robot is just a large piece of armor, a humanoid machine that requires the driver to enter the built-in cab of the human body to operate.
Unlike other robot films, this film does not explore the question of the "relationship between man and machine", and the robots in the film do not have any artificial intelligence or autonomous consciousness.
The protagonist of the film returns to the "man".
So far, Hollywood robot movies have given birth to a new subgenre - mecha movies.
Mecha movies, as a type of science fiction films, also belong to a branch of robot movies. In the film, the protagonist usually fights with the help of a giant "humanoid power mech" and shows human themes of family, friendship, or love.
"Humanoid power mech" refers to a large humanoid armored weapon, controlled by a real person. The concept comes from the 1934 novel The Lens Man by American writer Edward Emmer Smith. And quickly occupy a place in science fiction culture.
Due to the harsh technical requirements of science fiction films themselves, and the difficulty of reproducing large mecha on the screen, mecha movies have always been a theme that Hollywood wants to shoot but can't shoot.
However, with the advancement of science and technology, 3D CC technology has been used more and more in movies, and continues to break through the upper limit of visual experience, and mecha movies finally have the opportunity to show the audience with perfect visual expression.
In the summer of 2013, Hollywood delivered a visual feast to the audience. "Pacific Rim" brings mecha movies back to the mainstream cultural circle after two decades of silence.
In this film of "large mecha fighting monsters", all kinds of mecha are undoubtedly the focus of the audience's attention.
But unlike Transformers, another equally big-budget film, "Pacific Rim" only features five mechs, but each of these five mechs has its own unique characteristics and shares the same personality as their pilots.
Although the film has dazzling special effects, it still can't hide its depiction of human nature.
The main character, Raleigh, gave up piloting the mecha because his brother was killed by a monster during the battle, and later returned to piloting the mecha in order to destroy the empty tunnel where the monster invaded the earth.
The heroine Asako was rescued from the monster by the mecha when she was young, and became a mecha pilot with gratitude and revenge. It can be seen that the film's portrayal and interpretation of characters is always more important than that of mechas.
No matter how powerful the mecha is, it is only an extension of the pilot's limbs, and it is not the mecha itself that can make these heroes complete their mission, but the family, friendship and love that people show when they encounter danger.
This brilliance of human nature is also the difference between mecha movies and traditional robot movies.
<<·——Conclusion——·>>
"Pacific Rim" has allowed Hollywood to find another gold mine that is different from traditional robot movies, and its appearance will undoubtedly lead a new trend of mecha movies.
With the popular culture of "entertainment to death", mecha movies have created a new kind of screen spectacle, and will become an important branch of science fiction television color in the future.
Mecha movies that are differentiated from robot movies will become the subject matter that more and more film and television creators are involved in, and the screen mecha trend is expected to intensify from now on.