The Love Between A Boy And His Robot

Tonight's marathon is all about the friendship between a young man and his robot. We follow several different story arcs with this scenario playing out such as a young boy befriending a giant robot, a boy befriending a plus-sized inflatable robot named Baymax, a young Jedi Knight named Luke Skywalker who befriends is father whose now a robot and attempts to turn him from the dark side back to the side of good, and finally a young boy named John Connor who befriends a machine called The Terminator and teaches him about what it means to be human during his mission to protect young john from another killing machine called the T-1000. These story arcs of boy befriending machine all combine to form an evening full of pure excitement, spectacle, and heartfelt emotion when the friendship between these characters and their machine counterparts are tested. We have on our menu for this evening:

Big Hero 6 2014, The Iron Giant 1999, Return of the Jedi 1983, and Terminator 2 Judgment Day 1991
                                                           

We begin the lineup this evening with the film The Iron Giant. Featuring the voice talents of Harry Conick Jr, Vin Diesel and Jennifer Aniston, the film centers around a boy who makes friends with an innocent giant robot that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy.This is a great intro to a full blown marathon of story arcs involving a boy befriending a machine. The second film in the lineup builds on the theme of boy befriending machine with Big Hero 6. Winner of best animated film, this film centers around a special bond that develops between a plus-sized inflatable robot named Baymax, and a prodigy Hiro Hamada, who teams up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes. There are many parallels between this film and Terminator 2 Judgment Day in terms of a boy befriending a hero and teaching him how to be human. The third movie in the marathon deals with a young boy whose grown up to become a jedi and attempts to save his father from the dark side. He may be the most human of all the machines but like Obi Wan said in the film, he is more machine than man. Return of the Jedi, the final installment in the original Star Wars trilogy takes place after the events of Empire Strikes Back. After Luke Skywalker rescues Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba The Hutt, the rebels attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while at the sametime Luke struggles to turn his father Darth Vader back to the good side of the force. Although generally considered the weakest installment of the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi packs an emotional punch giving the series an emotional finale centered around Vaders redemption. It's essentially the perfect buildup to the final film of the evening titled Terminator 2 Judgment Day. This film centers around a cyborg sent back through time called The Terminator whose mission is to protect John Connor, the savior of the human race. During his mission to protect the son of Sarah Connor from the T-1000, a liquid metal machine, the Terminator and John form a unique friendship that allows the machine to observe and learn about what it means to really be human. The emotional climax of this movie is the perfect ending to this marathon and brings home the story arc of all four films together. T2 is not just one of the greatest action movies and sequels ever made, it's a remarkable human drama.

So what are these films ultimately trying to say? The Iron Giant says that government inspectors are scarier and more intimidating than alien robots. The message of the film says that killing is bad and robots are harmless like humans until their forced into a defensive position. Big Hero 6 says to use your brain for good and have compassion. Return of the Jedi says that it's not too late to think about what is right and turn back to the good side. Everyone can be redeemed. And finally, Terminator 2 Judgment Day says that the future is not set, and that there is no fate but what we make for ourselves. If a machine like The Terminator can learn about the value of human life then the rest of us can too.

Our heroes for this evening: