Different Models of the Same Blueprint

("The Bicentennial Man", Isaac Asimov )


Plot

The structure and actions of the story and movie of Bicentennial Man take different directions. The short story choose to focus on Andrew's impact on robot history and his works while the film took a more personal spin with a focus on Andrew's different relationships. The film did this by adding new characters of the story, such as a human marriage partner for Andrew to fight for. He doesn't spend his time reading and writing in the film as he did in the play. His personal goal to be claimed as human is used in both works, but the film gave it a drastically more emotional kick. The film also increased the level of pity and emotion by changing the attitude of the robot companies. In contrast to the story where the company was a single and more just company, the company of the film openly rejected Andrew and claimed he was an object. Additionally, the treatments that make Andrew more human are preformed differently in the story and film; the film used an outside company instead of the original company in order to give a more evil impression to company. However, while these works were quite different, both structures worked to give similar themes and ideals about fear and rights.


Point of View

The story uses a third person point of view with a focus on Andrew. This was done to display the lack of emotion and feelings that a robot would have in comparison to a human. Using third person simply offers distance and contributes to a inhumane theme. The film also used this point of view in the beginning; however, as the story progressed, the point of view also progressed. This is displayed with the shift of Andrew calling himself "I" instead of "one". Throughout the film, the viewer is exposed to more of Andrew's thoughts and eventually his emotions (such as when he cries in court). At the end, the point of view was still third person, but there was an obvious shift to capture Andrew's emotions that isn't found in the story. These different focus show the differing focus of the works. The story wants to center on the effects of human fears and history while the film desires to focus on the Andrew's emotions and impact of his "humanity".


Characterization

The characterization between the film and the story doesn't change much in concern to Andrew; He is quite smart and unique in both works. The film did a better job at documenting the transformation of Andrew simply because it was visually shown. However, the minor characters play drastically different roles in these works. There aren't too many minor characters in the story, displaying the isolation and differences of Andrew to humans. In the film, the differences of humans and robots are bridged with the development of new characters that interact with Andrew. There is the woman that falls in love with Andrew, and a personal scientist that modifies Andrew and both characters give Andrew a more human aura. Additionally the film developed more characters to create a more humorous piece, such as an annoying preteen family members and goofy robots. The different uses of characters reflect the different impacts of the story: the story trying to show isolation while the film tries to make Andrew more human.


Setting

This is the most similar aspect of both the film and story. Both seem to occur in a futuristic society. The film gives a year range of 2005 to 22o5 while the book simply describes a developing society. Both works cling to traditional activities regardless of time, such as reading books, walking, and human interaction. This lack of change reflects the difficulties of both of these societies to grasp the changing images of robots. Still, both works changed as the years passed. Fashion and technologies and robot mechanics were documented in the story. The film also had these changing elements; however, many more elements such as architecture and health care were captured in the film. Because the film is a visual piece, it is easier to feel and see the change of time. The change of time holds a bigger impact as the viewer witnesses the setting change and people and generations grow old.


Theme

The differences of the film and story reflect the vast differences of the themes and ideals. While both worked to question what is human, both took drastically methods and hold different ideals. The story focused more on human fear, fear of mistakes the future and the unknown. This is described in the countless different legal obstacles Andrew faces the societal focus on keeping robots as machines and structured. The film, in contrast, holds a places more stress on the qualifications of humans. The last scenes of the film require emotion as Andrew tries to overcome the judgemental requirements of being human. The additional aspects of his marriage and visible human-like aging body create a theme more centered on questioning what is human. Other elements of characterization and point of view and plot also reflect the differences of themes between the film and story.


All and all, the film and story of Bicentennial Man are too different to be compared. Both were well-done works that shouldn't be condemned based upon their differences. Rather, they should be viewed as completely separate works with different, important ideals. Both were entertaining and called for questioning of human morals.