Does anyone find sad movies about robots heart wrenching?

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I never used to cry at many movies except those that had some kind of personal signifigance (as I get older, more movies touch me this way) but what always and still turns me into a bucket of tears are movies about robots or some other kind of "artificial intelligence" and their struggle. Actually, seeing any robotic toy or even the robots at Disney World makes me really upset. It started from watching The Brave Little Toaster, to Edward Scissorhands and especially movies like Steven Spielberg's A.I. and Bicentential Man. And even when I see videos of actual robots that are being developed and are starting to interact with world. It's like these robots didn't ask to be brought into this world, made to be dependent on humans, and I especially hate the idea that they would be mass produced, only to be thrown into the trash heap once they were replaced with a "better" model. It bothers me kind of the same way as "breeding" dogs to be better pets does; like with small dogs; if humans suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth, small dogs would eventually become dog food for the big dogs.

My parents bought a coton de tulear dog, and he is so sweet. They are bred to be real 'people' dogs, they get real separation anxiety when away from their people. I love him so much but this really sadens me and I feel like it's unfair to the dog, to create an entire living breed that is so dependent and gets so much meaning from people, when so many people are not worthy of that trust. A world where some people will leave their dogs in the woods to fend for themselves once they tire of them.

I feel much more strongly towards robots, and even toy ones like a furby, than I do to most people. I feel indignant about it, like it's a human rights issue. I feel like once they become somewhat sentient, it will be on par with how much anger and sadness I feel when I hear about animal cruelty, though I believe animals are currently really no different to humans in this way.

I don't know if this is something other aspies/autistics can relate to...?

WALL-E reference?

I would never take a wrench to a robot's heart. A spanner perhaps.

Yep I went into that movie knowing it was going to be like self torture. At least it ended a lot more happily than most movies like that do.

For myself, that is the bottom line here, and with "robots or some other kind of 'artificial intelligence' and their struggle" being symbolic of my own (and even other people's) struggles in life.


Those kinds of devices can make me uneasy, but not necessarily upset ... and I just called them mere "devices" because I intellectually know that is true ... yet I nevertheless typically do find myself still "avoiding eye contact" anyway. Overall, it is as if those devices and I have something in common and I have no perfect-and-complete explanation for either of "us".


My own emotions never take me that far.


At least robots never feel any pain.


Here is where some simple logic can spare us some struggle: Robots are just as painlessly expendable as toothpicks, and giving them any kind of identity much beyond that can only lead to confusion all around.

Ouch. I guess I do have robot-empathy because that statement (though logical) FELT wrong and heartless! Actually, though, I CAN relate to what the original poster is saying. I always felt squeamish when I saw this commercial too... Dunno if it was widely circulated, here's the link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeyEXt7-0jU

I think half of it has to do with the fact that people who make those movies make extra effort (through effects and exaggeration and musical overlays, etc) to give life and emotion to the robots - or to E.T. for that matter.) The other half probably has to do with us (all humans to an extent - even NTs a bit [must be, that commercial wouldn't have been put out to appeal to just 1 in 200 people]) .. with (omg too many parentheses!)

The other half of the emotional attatchment has to be something to do with having emotions in general, and fears or feelings of being left out and set aside. Something we experience more often than does the typical NT, though obviously (since those movies and that commercial strike home to a wider audience than just us Aspies) they have some of it too.

Most definitely.

I remember reading a short story as a child about a robot who was treated badly by his owners, but assumed he was human like them until the end of the story when he realised he was just a robot. I felt so sorry for him - imagine thinking 'you' were 'real' and then finding out that you were just an artificial construction with no hope of anything better.

Ironically, since then I have realised that I am effectively a robot - have come to believe that there is no essential self and nothing beyond this life. At least it didn't hit me all at once like it did the robot.

But Gephetto! I'm a REAL BOY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xlMnrd5 ... re=related

** Note: VOLUME warning on that clip! **

Brave Little Toaster yes but the others no.

"Super Toys that Last All Summer Long" by Brian Wilson Aldiss

My favorite is Blade Runner. The Rutger Hauer character is the films actual protagonist

Oh yes, I find them terribly sad.

I watched Sonic the Movie first time when I was 9, and it was about how Sonic and Tails get lured into a trap by Dr. Robotnik, who releases 'Hyper Metal Sonic', designed to try and kill the real Sonic. Hyper Metal was built mistakenly with all of Sonic's life data, which meant that Metal felt everything Sonic felt and had exactly the same memories and knew everything Sonic had ever been through- like identical twins. Throughout the film, Sonic develops a desperate attatchment to Metal, and feels averse to destroying it. Eventually, Metal sacrifices himself, throwing himself into a vat of molten lava, choking out "There is only one Sonic...". He dies and Sonic is left devastated, even though the world is safe again.

I cried and cried after watching it. But I've never cried after films about people. The only films that had have made me so much as flutter an eyelid are Boy in the Striped pyjamas and Marley and Me.

"Many of you feel sad for that lamp. That's because you're crazy. It has no feelings. The new one is much better."

But I did feel sad for the lamp. And then felt like a doofus when the narrator pointed out how silly that is. But anthrompomoorphising is a normal human thing. There may be some sort of neurological wiring out there that prevents a person from anthropomorphizing and feelimg emotions about inanimate objects, but if there is, that wiring is a heck of a lot rarer than autism.

How could I forget HAL in 2001. He seemed like the most human character on the whole ship.

I think A.I. is the saddest move I've ever seen.