In RoboCop, we see death and resurrection through Murphy’s eyes.
We can do pretty much what we want to him.
Case in point: Alex Murphys death and resurrection as RoboCop.
Resurrected as RoboCop, Murphys freewill is replaced by a series of pre-programmed directives.
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WhatRoboCopdoes so brilliantly is place the viewer in Murphys situation.
Theres the whine of electric screwdrivers.
Bring in the LED, someone says.
Murphys death may have been horrible, but his treatment by OCP is no less ghoulish.
We can do pretty much what we want to him.
We get the best of both worlds.
Its the slick patter of a car salesman.
Overwhelmingly, though, the POV scene sets up one of Murphys primary motivations.
The remainder of the movie is about Murphys reawakening.
RoboCopfits many genres: action film, dystopian sci-fi, black comedy and so forth.
That it manages to be all those things and more is a testament to how rich its storytelling is.
But for this writer,RoboCopsbeating heart is its human story; its protagonists fight to reclaim his individuality.
Its worth comparingRoboCopto one of the first sci-fi stories about the creation of an artificial human: Mary ShelleysFrankenstein.
InFrankenstein, the monster is an imperfect creation, shunned by its creator and fated to be an outcast.
RoboCopis also an artificial creation: like Frankensteins monster, an amalgam of science and human body parts.
But unlike the monster, Murphy triumphs over his enemies, and over the directives that confine him.
Through those superbly-crafted first-person sequences, were shown what Murphy loses physically and mentally in the first act.
In the final scene, Murphy gives a wry smile as he utters his own name.
