Now is the time for me to discuss one of my favourite movies of all time. Robocop is a well remembered classic but many often miss the deeper meaning in the movie. More than just an action film, the movie was a brilliant satire on the culture of the 1980’s in America. It was brutal and held nothing back, highlighting every social wart that others tried to ignore. Nothing was off-limits, from crime to corruption in business and politics , to the way the media distorts what is actually going on for their own reasons. What was mocked most of all though, was the rampant consumerism that dominated the decade and the dehumanization of individuals which would continue for decades.
Robocop can be thought of as the American answer to Judge Dredd as seen in the British comic anthology 2000AD. Both are futuristic lawmen in America, but the way things were discussed are handled differently. Judge Dredd ( The comic, not the movie) has the law as more distant from the people, whereas a major theme in Robocop is the humanity behind the cop. This is a bit of a simplification, but it ties into the fact that British and American scifi handle the same idea in different ways and with different outcomes.
Robocop was a violent film from start to finish. Alex Murphy’s death is one of the most brutal scenes in Cinema, and of course the scene with ED-209 killing the junior executive at OCP. What many don’t realize is that the violence was originally even more intense, and this is because the violence itself was part of the satire. It was supposed to be so over the top that it couldn’t be taken seriously, but the censors stepped in. As a result, the satire was amped up in other areas. The commercials, the corporate nature and so on. Even ED-209 being an unresponsive and ineffective machine Is part of the criticism of American mass consumerism. You can see in his design, pieces of tech that were in vogue during the 80’s, over designed and unable to actually function.
In the end, the main issue that the sequels and remake missed is how the story served as a backdrop for the satire. The edge was gone from later works and they were not as good as a result. Still I suggest you check out the original so you can see how truly innovative it really was.