Short Circuit (1986)

Summary

Short Circuit is about a piece of machinery gaining life. Robot Number Five is one of the world's most advanced robots. Armed with lasers and designed to be a perfect warrior, he is an extremely dangerous creation. When this robot, Johnny-5, gets zapped by lightning, he realizes that there is something different about himself: he is now alive. He wanders off and is now on the run from his creator, who wants to repair him, and a trigger-happy security chief, whose intentions aren't nearly as benevolent as the creator's. It is a story of a robot who begins to formulate questions about the world he is now a part of and he embarks on a quest for meaning.

Questions

1. What is the robot's role/function? Why was it created?

Johnny-5 is a robot designed for military purposes. He was created at the Nova Robotics factory with hundreds of similar robots.

2. How human is it? How human is it meant to be?

Although he does not appear very anthropomorphic, with his treadmill "feet" and binocolur looking head, he actually becomes very human once he is struck by lightning. "Johnny-5 goes from being a potentially deadly meachine to being a rebellious mechanical citizen with a lust for life, a fear of death, and love in his heart."

3. How does it interact with society? How do humans react to it?

For being completely mechanical, Johnny-5 interacts fairly well with society. It is through his adaptation into popular culture that he identifies with the audience and causes them to accept him as one of them. "By adopting pat phrases, idioms, and advertising slogans, Johnny-5 becomes 'one of us'; he taps into our experience and world and becomes part of it." (Schelde, 160). Although he probably would never have survived on his own, he is taken in by a woman, Stephanie, who shows him love and gives him help. "She becomes Johnny-5's surrogate mother and supplies the other essential ingredient (in addition to popular culture) in the sf movie definition of what a self is: selfless love. If someone loves Johnny, and if he loves her, he isn't a machine. He's a real, live human being. Stephanie's love transforms Johnny-5 fromg a robot, a thing, to a human being." (Schelde, 160).

4. What are the consequences in the world of the work?

Johnny-5 eventually does become accepted by society in the second film, Short Circuit 2. He becomes gold-plated and an American citizen.

5. Does it introduce a new idea or aid in the evolution of the robot? i.e. What's its contribution?

The fact that a completely mechanical product becomes completely assimilated into American society is a relatively new concept, especially considering the lack of human features that Johnny-5 possesses. It is a step closer towards the merging of technology and humanity, where one cannot be differentiated from the other.