I listen to NPR because I'm a big dork and I occasionally hear something that is completely out of my usual circle of reading/listening/etc. Today the folks at NPR were talking with someone (I got in the car too late to hear who) who was intricately involved in the animation for this summer's animation blockbuster hit, Wall-E.;)
Image: Clockwork by johnnybotts at FlickrThe thing that they said that interested me was when a caller phoned in a response to the question "What is your favorite animated character?" This lady liked Donald Duck because "he was more human," she thought than other animated characters.The interesting response came next. The animator started talking about how robots (like Wall-E) were different characters than "organic characters" like Donald Duck. The difference came in terms that reminded me all too much of the implications of the 1st Article of the Apostle's Creed (namely, that we are creatures of a higher level creator - God). This animation authority said, "A robotic character always has to have a purpose for being created." An "organic" character can be understood as to have been created by biological happenstance, but a robotic character has always been created by a "higher being". I think that reflects interestingly on the way that we see our own existence on this earth. We generally go about our lives believing that we have been created by biological happenstance and that we either have no meaning, or that we supply the meaning to our lives. We shudder to think that we have been created for purpose...after all, that would mean that we were nothing but robots, or at least that is the cultural implication.This "robotic" understanding of the tension between our status as created beings and our status as people free in Christ could prove as a list of interesting metaphors for human life, i.e.:+ Some robots defy their created purpose (I have heard that this is part of the story of Wall-E). In humans, defying created purpose is called "sin", and doesn't create a cute little free robot - but a monster robot which has imperfection at its core. An appropriately bleak picture of created things defying their purpose may be seen in films like I, Robot (which, by the way, is not based in anyway on the short story of the same name by Isaac Asimov) or even the Terminator movies.+ Some robots that don't defy their created purpose run the risk of looking like dweebs. C3-PO from the Star Wars series is not exactly a robot that I would like my life to be modeled after. If I was created as C3-PO, I would likely want to defy my created purpose. That is when looking at our "design specs" is important, we have been created for a purpose, AND we have been created in the image of our creator. We need not worry being dweeby C3-PO's because our God created us with His image of strength, power, and let's face it - coolness.+ There are not many images of "free" robots. The closest I could think of would be robots such as those depicted in the "Transformers" series. These robots have been seemingly created for a purpose, and there are heroic robots which fulfill their purpose as well as defiant/rebellious robots which always end up destroying things (as much as they seem to be "building" empire). For those who remember the series "the Go-Bots", this motif is presented in a slightly starker fashion. Freedom is something that is granted to Christians via God's truth, which is found in Christ and only accessible through His work. All of this may prove more interesting as you think of some of your favorite robots and what/who they were like. Consider the following questions:+ What were some of your favorite robots from literature, tv, and film?+ Did they act in a way that made them seem more "created for a purpose" or a way that made them seem more like they were "finding their own purpose"?+ How does the absence or presence of a clear purpose affect how "free" they appear to be?and...+ The story line for a "Christian robot" story would seemingly have to address the questions - What was the original purpose that the creator of the robot had in mind? How did that original purpose as well as the initial freedom get lost? Are most robots today still free and just without purpose, or are they not free and without purpose?