A.I. Artificial Intelligence (part 2 of 3)

**Spoiler Alert: This post explores various theological questions and topics that are present throughout the film's storyline**

Hidden in the woods, David first encounters other mechas.  Near his hiding place, a dump truck deposits its refuse, a collection of mangled mecha body parts and scavengers swarm the site to find new eyes and limbs. He wanders into a mecha shantytown where damaged and discarded mechas roam. 

Questions:  What is disposable in our society? How do we define wholeness? What about community? Many of the mechas are created for one job - nannies, lovers - which they do extraordinarily well; are people disposable when they are no longer useful or productive?

Caught in an orga police raid of the camp, David and other mechas are hauled away in a trawling net and taken to a “Flesh Fair.”  The fair combines the most exploitative elements of a circus and a demolition derby, taking aim at imprisoned mechas and destroying them in public and humiliating displays.  It bears an ugly resemblance to the slave trade markets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with mechas corralled in cages. 

Questions:  Whom do we call neighbor? How do we treat our neighbor? When do we avert our eyes to oppression or bigotry? When do we even participate in oppression? What effect do hatred, division and fear (sin and brokenness) have on our world?

Led into the center ring, David surprises everyone when he pleads for his life.  People are confused and shout, “Mechas don’t plead for their lives.”  Dismissing their arguments, the despicable master of ceremonies taunts, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”, recalling the verse from John 8:7 when Jesus challenges the crowd who would stone the woman,“Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  The crowd turns on him and pelts him, creating a riotous melee during which David, Teddy and another mecha named Joe escape. 

Questions: What do we learn about sin, judgment and grace here?

When David explains to Joe that he is looking for a woman called “the Blue Fairy” Joe thinks he knows how to help and the trio travel to Rouge City in a journey and meeting reminiscent of Dorothy seeking out the Wizard of Oz.    After they arrive in Rouge City, David sees a status of an angel at a curbside chapel, “Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart”, prompting Joe’s observation that “the ones who made us are always looking for the ones who made them.”  Then they go to visit “Dr. Know”, asking how to find the Blue Fairy. 

Questions:  To whom do we turn for knowledge and revelation? What language do we use to describe our Creator God? What assumptions do we have about God?  How do we respond when we cannot find answers? What do we do with our unanswered questions?

With an improvised verse from W.B. Yeats for an answer, David urges Joe to help him get to the “end of the world” which Joe knows as “the lost city in the sea at the end of the world” or Manhattan.