The Breakdown: I, Robot book vs Movie

In the story I, Robot that takes place in the future, the production of robots are made in order to better society. These robots are implanted with three laws that govern all of their actions, but on the other hand the vagueness of the laws themselves leaves room for error; that wasn't anticipated by the creator or the citizens of the community that depended on them on a day to day basis. In the story, I, Robot written by Isaac Asimov in 1950, there are contextual differences that practically disconnect its relation from its movie that made its debut in 2004, such as themes, plot, and characters in the story. The most obvious difference between the book and the movie are the times that they made their debut. This made a great impact in the way the themes, plot, and characters in the story were presented. The book was a series of short stories that made up the book and the movie was one whole story.

In both the movie and the book the main theme was technology's effect on society. Within the book and movie, it presented how people reliance on technology was the beginning of their overall downfall. The technological devices in both cases were the robots. In both versions of the story I, Robot, the robots were unreliable and caused a great deal of damage on the societies, and they also foreshadowed what society would be like in the future. In Asimov's book, the world is portrayed in a post-apocalyptic version where the robots have taken over society, and the advanced beyond human control. In the book, they control society indirectly and similar to the way modern society uses technology for everyday use. The movie offers an alternative reality where the robots, like the book, take over society; however, they take over in a more viole...

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...essentially decent." In the movie she is shown as a livelier woman with emotions that are even displayed towards Det. Spooner.

Despite the few similarities between the book and the movie such as the title, similar character names, and underlying themes, the overall connection ends there. Kim Hollis likely agrees when she states " In reality, the movie I, Robot has very little to do with the aforementioned short stories other than title and common ideas. (¶11)" The original story written by Asimov severs the association between the book and the movie because of the time difference in which they were presented. In Asimov's era of technology and economy, those concepts weren't understood to the extent that it is now when director Alex Proyas produced the film version. Moreover, Asimov's series of short stories contained much more content than the 115 minute film.