Staff Reviews: RoboCop: A cautionary tale
RoboCop: A cautionary tale about our relationship with technology
RoboCop (1987)
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
I hadn’t seen the original RoboCop movie from 1987 before watching it on Hoopla this summer. Having grown up in the suburbs of Detroit in the 90s I was aware of the film and its themes of cyborg policing in a dystopian future Detroit. After watching it, I was surprised to see that it anticipates many of the technological and bureaucratic innovations that we struggle to keep under control in the present. While the action and campiness are cranked up in RoboCop- think a toned down David Cronenberg, it manages to ride the line between being full-on comedy. In many ways, RoboCop falls into a genre of US films about the rise of machine control. Similar to Terminator in many ways but on the domestic level. One of the strengths of RoboCop and perhaps the reason it has become a cult classic and spun off so many adaptations is its social critique of the privatization and takeover of the police department by the corporation Omni Consumer Products.
The film was also remade in 2014 by José Padilha. RoboCop is available on the library's streaming platform Hoopla as well as on DVD.
RoboCop: Citizens Arrest # 1-5
By Brian Wood, 2018
It is 30 years after the events of RoboCop. OmniCorp has launched an app that allows citizens to self-report crimes making the police obsolete. While OmniCorp tries to raze a neighborhood to go forward with its plans to redevelop and rebrand on what was once the ruins. The residents of the ruins fight back with all they have left and the assistance of an old hero. This adaptation of the original movie is a great companion piece. While it doesn’t contain the campiness of the original it is a great standalone comic series. Tackling themes of privatization, surveillance, neoliberalism and corporate control of the media - a great comic to start conversations for young adults and adults.
You can check out RoboCop: Citizen’s Arrest #1-3 using our ebook site: Freading. RoboCop: Citizen’s Arrest #4 & 5 are available on Hoopla.