✹ Siny in movie - Robots
5th April 2021
From my memory, I remember one animation that, similar to Moana, has demonstrated shininess as the symbol of superiority. Robots,2005 animation movie produced by Blue Sky Studios. The story is about Rodney, the son of the dishwasher that was born in Rivet town. He wants to be an inventor as he is inspired by Bigweld, the great inventor that Rodney saw on television since he was young.
One day Rodney decided to go to Robot City to follow his dream and wish to see his idol, Bigweld in the Bigweld industry. But he has disappointed by the fact that Bigweld has gone and left the company to be in charge by Phineas, a brand new shiny silver CEO robot who tried to take over the company.
In the movie, Rodney has to change his part every birthday - implying growth and development of his physical appearance. He always is disappointed by the fact that his family doesn’t have much money to afford a brand new part, rather he has to use the passed on one from his relatives.
The ambition to be an inventor, I think, came from the poverty of his family. The struggle that he has growing up has pushed him to follow his dream. The motto from the Bigweld industry that Rodney always looks up to is ‘You can shine, No matter what you made of’ This, I think, has given him hope. To have a better life. From this idea, I think shiny has given the sense of hope - kind of saying that within everyone, shininess is something we all have.
Opposite with the time when Phineas, the new CEO that in charge of the company, the motto has changed to ‘why be you, when you can be new’ this is another idea of shininess but rather be who you are this imply newness, completely change, gave up the original self. As Phineas tried to stop producing the old model part of robots in order to sell the new model only. This also reflects the idea of monopoly in capitalism as poor people can not afford a new model and start to broke down/die/get sick without any means to fix it.
The greediness of Phineas that tried to get rid of the old model completely has lead him to the end of his career when Bigweld comes back to the company and fire him.
In the sense of shininess as the symbol of superiority, I have noticed in many scenes where the party of high society has held. Rich robots will have shiny, fancy and smooth model whereas robots in the lower class will appear to be stain, old and dull in colours.
I think this movie has given me the idea of shininess as the symbol of superiority since I was young. And it develops into this idea of energy transformation in my subject. Interestingly, in this story there are 2 different angles of shininess - one gives people hope, to be themselves and shine. While another has done the same but not really, completely change and be someone new.
I guess, I still am confused about which idea I would like to emphasise in my project, obviously, the first one sounds better ethically. But even the second one is not, I still wonder whether I’m into it or not?