Is The World Moving Towards Robocop’s?

Robocop was a highly successful movie of the late 1980s. It told the story of a dystopic and crime-ridden future Detroit, where the government has been replaced by a huge company known as OCP (OmniConsumer Products). After privatising the Detroit police force, OCP plans to rid the city of crime and rebuild it as ‘Delta City’. After an initial plan to create a crime-fighting robot failed, OCP decided to ‘resurrect’ a police officer killed in action, and enhanced his body with robotic parts, thus creating Robocop. The film delves into and discusses several issues, of which many are prevalent today. Issues the film raised included the privatisation of the police force and other public services; the existence of personal identity in a cyborg; the rampant spread of capitalism; and whether humans will be able to control the advances in technology, or just succumb to it.  This essay will compare the economic and social world of today with that of futuristic Detroit. To an extent the world of Robocop is quite similar to the world of today, especially in the Western world, because of most of the reasons above. It will be highly likely that as the years pass, some if not all parts of the world will move towards the one conjured in Robocop.

One key issue raised in the film Robocop is the privatisation of the police force and other public services, and the implications of that. In the movie the entire Detroit police force is contracted out to OCP, in order to protect the workers who will build Delta City. OCP is given management of the police force, and the city pays it a fee in order for it to organise police activities. Police privatization was prevalent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where clients hired out police officers for personal protection. It became prevalent again in the late twentieth century, with governments contracting out the police service in order to save money. This year Detroit’s government had its power taken away from it and a state-appointed ‘emergency manager’ was instilled into power in order to stimulate its tanking economy (Moritz, 2013: p. 22  http://global.factiva.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/aa/?ref=ARK0000020130815e97t00014&pp=1&fcpil=en&napc=S&sa_from=
). Although this example is not specifically of a company taking over the role of government it is still a body taking over a government in the pursuit of money. Several issues arrive from police privatization and Robertson’s article outlines some of these. A company’s main goal is to make a profit, so if they buy out the police service they may reduce costs in order to make as much money as possible. This may be done by replacing people with technology, as in Robocop, or by reducing training (Robertson, 2008: p.223 http://search.proquest.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/209809976/fulltextPDF?accountid=14543).  Police privatization is happening in the world of today, and is has been hit with significant criticism. In 2012 almost twenty thousand police officers marched through the streets of London, protesting against the privatization of their service, worried about the possible job cuts (Laville 2012 http://www.theguardian.com/uk/crime-and-justice-blog/2012/may/09/police-to-march-on-london). This is related to the issue of replacing or discarding staff. In order to gain the most profit, a company may just release a significant number of staff to lessen the payroll. The issue of police privatization is also related to the pursuit of capitalism, another issue explored in the film. 

Another key issue raised by the film Robocop is the system of capitalism, and the implications of endlessly pursuing a profit. According to Best, “it is fore grounded as the prime player on the scene, the determining force behind labor conflicts, crime and corruption, social distress, cutthroat individualism, and the impoverishment of subjective life” (http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/best1.htm). In the movie OCP almost entirely runs Detroit, and after privatizing state services, they employ rampant cost-cutting measures in order to keep turning in profits. The key reason for privatizing the police service was to make millions of workers safe who would construct the new Delta City. However OCP planned to make money of the workers as well, through drugs, gambling, and prostitution (Robertson, 2008: p.220 http://journals.cambridge.org.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=3643100&jid=IJC&volumeId=4&issueId=03&aid=3643092&bodyId=&membershipNumber=&societyETOCSession=). Large casino companies gain almost all their revenue from gambling, so in this aspect the world of today is similar to the one of Robocop. In its quest for the highest profit, OCP eventually became a complete monopoly, and profited from crime, under the corrupt control of Vice-President Jones (Best, 1989: p.20 http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC34folder/RobocopBest.html). Police officers are disposable for money, as was the case with Murphy, who was sent to a dangerous part of Detroit in the hope he would be killed as used for the Robocop project (which eventually happened). Capitalism is the driving force behind almost the entire world of today, with many nations, especially the United States, almost encouraging citizens to earn as much money as possible, with almost no checks on wealth. Large multinational companies have almost complete control over the sectors they are in, and form either monopolies or oligarchies. Whilst the world of today is not necessarily the same as futuristic Detroit, there are obvious foundations for change, and with the need for money and profit increasing, companies may eventually do anything, even if it is not legal, in order to be successful. Another reason why OCP was so successful was because of its investment in technology, and the question of whether Robocop can actually control his robotic side comes into question.

The third issue raised by Robocop is whether humanity will be able to control the rapid increase and advancement of technology, or just succumb to it. Robocop himself is built to be more machine than man, and was given a limited ‘human’ memory. He also had programmed into his brain three Prime Directives that guided his crime-fighting and another that prevented him from arresting anyone from OCP, stopping Robocop from rebelling against his creators (Telotte, 1995: p.93). However Robocop’s human morality eventually takes over, and once he realizes who he was before his transformation, he rebels and hunts the OCP employees responsible for his planned murder. Robocop belies his purpose as an effective killing machine and eventually acts more man than machine. Although Robocop was able to control the technology imposed on him, the question is raised whether the rest of humanity will be able to although their lives are almost saturated with technology. Today’s world has an almost unhealthy obsession with technology, to the point where modern humanity would probably not survive without all the latest gadgets. The result is, as Lupton argues, is that “technology becomes the master rather than the servant, taking control over the everyday lives and futures of humans” (1994: p.564 http://vxheaven.org/lib/pdf/Panic%20computing%3A%20The%20viral%20metaphor%20and%20computer%20technology.pdf). Computers and mobile phones especially could almost be classed as technology ‘masters’ because modern humans cannot seem to function without them, and heavily rely on them in order to live their daily lives. Also some people are fitted with pacemakers in order to keep their hearts going, and effectively the technology is the master of them, because without it they literally would not survive. Some companies today gain almost their entire profit from technology sales, such as Apple and Microsoft. In the movie OCP gains some of its profits from the Robocop project, and also arms dealing. Weapons are a huge commodity in the world today, with many companies generating huge profits from the manufacturing and sale of weapons. However some weapons manufactures don’t necessarily make weapons for good people. Technology is also increasing taking on human roles, such as in the car making industry. In some cases industries almost solely rely on technology. This is the area that the modern world is closest to the one of Robocop, because humankind will increasingly rely on technology to the point that there is no alternative. It will be highly unlikely that humans will be able to control technology in the future.

The world of today is similar and increasingly moving towards the one of the movie Robocop. Public services such as the police force are increasingly being privatized by companies, and governments are having power taken away from them by money-hungry companies. Capitalism will continue to grow rapidly to the point that people will do almost anything to gain the highest profit. Also humankind will not be able to control the rapid spread of technology, because in some cases it has already taken over their lives.

Reference List:

• Best, S., W n.d., “Robocop: The Crisis of Subjectivity”, Retrieved from: http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/best1.htm, Viewed 15 September, 2013.
• Best, S., 1989, “Robocop in the ditritus of hi-technology”, in Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, Volume 34, p. 19-26.
• IMDb.com, Inc., 2013, “Robocop (1987)”, Retrieved from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093870/, Viewed 15 September, 2013.
• Laville, S., 2012, “Police officers to march on London”, weblog, 10 May, Viewed 18 September 2013, Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/crime-and-justice-blog/2012/may/09/police-to-march-on-london.
• Lupton, D., 1994, “Panic computing: The viral metaphor and computer technology”, in Cultural Studies,
• Moritz, G., 2013, “Robocop is coming true”, in Arkansas Business, Volume 30, p. 22.
• Pursel, C., W n.d., “Robocop (1987)”, Retrieved from: http://www.umich.edu/~engb415/credits.html, Viewed 15 September, 2013.
• Robertson, M., 2008, “Property and privatisation in Robocop”, in International Journal of Law in Context, Volume 4, p. 217-235.
• Telotte, J.P., 1995, “Replications: A Robot History of the Science Fiction Film”, Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, Chicago.