Channel Awesome
How evil is TMZ? Find out in this commentary on AI.
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What is TMZ exactly?
You just proved to me (unintentionally of course) why A.I. is a visionary masterpiece.
A.I.’s ending is ridiculously depressing, particularly once you realise that the cloned Monica is thoroughly unlike the real one (in fact they’re 2 completely different people). The clone Monica is fake designed to unconditionally love David, just as David was created to unconditionally love Monica. But both David and the audience bought it, which is why everyone complained about this being a “happy” ending. Is this our understanding of love? Programmed obsession? What’s ironic is that’s precisely what Spielberg intends to show you in this scene. Both David and the audience are willing to delude themselves for that happy ending. David’s ability to believe in the Blue Fairy is a parallel to man’s tendency to believe in a god he cannot see. Not to mention the ending becomes even more depressing once you realise the last shot is of a boy choosing to die next to his mother’s corpse because he’s refusing to believe that she fades away. The central question of Collodi’s Pinocchio fable has always been “What does it means to be human?” A.I. finds dark and sobering answers. To be real is to be mortal. To be human is to be governed by irrational love, blind faith, self-delusion and eventual death.
A.I. is Spielberg’s most intellectually profound film and it’s Kubrick’s most pessimistic film and in my opinion it ranks next to 2001 and Blade Runner as one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time.
If you’re looking for something good with William Hurt (and maybe you have at this point Doug) take a look at Kiss of the Spider Woman; which her won an Oscar for. But I personally liked him in A History of Violence, Syriana, and his bit part in Into the Wild. Also, my girlfriend dragged me to see The Host (Stephanie Meyer) and he was actually decent in it.