I just finished the CityPages article, well, barely finished it... It's not anything I haven't read before, and when I saw the date, then I understood why. But like Tony, I too thought the same when I first saw it. Not only did I think that they were aliens, but my expectations had led me up a completely different path... but after reading a few posts from fellow AICNers, this is what i came up with:
"DocP, concerning an earlier point you made, I completely agree that one crucial theme explored in the movie (AI) is HOW to create a robot with a soul, that acts and feels like a human, that can grow attachments in a self-reflexive manner, fully conscious of its self. That's what the movie starts out with, a speech by the 'father' of David, and how this whole project is a reaction to the death of his own son, the real David. And then at the end of this scene we see the company logo, which is obviously an allusion to the robots in the end (don't forget the scene towards the end of the movie when David after talking to his 'maker' wanders around his lab and looks through a mask of his mecha self and looks ominously at that prophetic logo, and a bit later on jumps off the ledge into the water while sitting right next to the statue, but lands his plunge right next to another statue, this time underwater: kind of like the Hermetic doctrine “Whatever is below is similar to that which is above. Through this the marvels of the work of one thing are procured and perfected.”, see ‘The Emerald Tablet” on Wikipedia for more info.) who are in a sense, his children, since he, like God, made them to love him, and that in turn could be described as egotistical, and probably also a subtle critique of the notion of God as most people experience 'it', while at the same time leaving open the possibility of an even more transcendent Being as responsible for our existence and our false Gods.
This would imply the introduction of a 'demiurge' to the cosmological hierarchy depicted by Spielberg and Kubrick. This is reflected by our incapacity to see beyond our own selves and our identities, which is manifested by our drive to "find out who created us", which is also what the Mechas (which sounds a lot like 'mecca': "A goal to which adherents of a religious faith or practice fervently aspire" according to
http://dictionary.reference.com) are busy trying to do at the end of the movie when they find David, a name that could be alluding to the biblical King, who "... was vouchsafed by God in the Bible that the Israelite and Jewish monarchies would be guaranteed to come from his Davidic line forever. Judaism believes that the Jewish Messiah will be a direct descendant of King David, and Christianity traces the lineage of Jesus back to him.", [Wikipedia] something which fits very much with his 'maker' telling him how his own son was 'one of a kind', but that mecha David is 'the first of many' (eventually it is the future Mechas that assert that he is indeed "unique and special", which makes the humans, and his maker, representatives of the Jewish perspective on Jesus, and the future Mechas the Christian contingent, since they link their evolution much more directly to David and his search for love, describing him as “the enduring memory of the human race”).
The role of Gigolo Joe is also crucial, and I think that it is clearly a messianic or at least prophetic role that he discharges, probably a combination of different historically important prophets [in the West] (Moses, Hermes Trismegistus, Zoroaster, Jesus Christ, etc.): he predicts the 'Apocalypse', says who will survive and why, walks on water, preaches love (although he confuses it, or maybe deliberately links it, with sex), and even sacrifices himself in order to help David.
And yet, 2000 years later, despite the use of technology in helping kick-start a whole new phase in "our" evolution (humans/orgas and mechas, which is a similar theme [technology, external intervention, and evolution of consciousness] of Kubrick's 2001, while AI itself came out in 2001), the future Mechas would nevertheless find themselves in a similar existential crisis, in their case their search for the essence of human 'spirit', that is nonetheless clearly lacking in the beginning of the movie (isn’t it ironic?), and fits in with the whole drive by every generation/species to find out about who created them, though the movie seems to describe a cyclical process which cannot be understood or 'unveiled' by relying on reason and misplaced faiths/beliefs (like finding out the 'original source', or “prisca theologia”), but it is only by pursuing our goals (the trials and tribulations that David is willing to go through, and the range of emotions these instill in him, in order to become a real boy and win the love of his mommy) that we manifest our 'uniqueness', 'spirit', 'humanity', etc.
Even Joe is caught up in this journey, though he ends up warning David of the lack of love that humans demonstrate to their kind, even his mommy, which is why they "are suffering for the mistakes they made because when the end comes all that will be left is us", a prophetic statement that could be seen in the context of Moses' prophecy concerning the Hebrews and the fate of the Egyptians, though I'd like to add the fact that Moses is relevant also as a proponent of monotheism which is a shared framework of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all of which revere Moses as a prophet (which is probably why the role of Gigolo Joe as a Christ-like figure is harder to clarify, but which makes sense in the contentious position of Jesus in the context of these faiths).
In fact, the nature of David is probably imbued with even more deeper levels of symbolism, such as the fact that some "theories surrounding [the biblical King] David, suggest that he was originally considered a god, but at the point at which the Israelites became monotheistic, was converted into being a human, with human background added. Often this is said to be the unknown god "Dood", which is one of the alternative readings for "DWD", if it doesn't represent the name "David" (Hebrew did not usually write or indicate vowels, and the letter waw can, unhelpfully, mean both "v", "oo", and "ua")... It has been suggested that "Dood" may be a corruption of "Thoth" (which is also written Tut, the "o" is long, and the "h" indicates aspiration rather than being part of "th"), since "d" and "t" were almost indistinguishable in egyptian. Thoth himself was a moon god, and the significance of David's son Solomon would have, according to this connection, been down to his attribution as a sun god (his wives and so forth representing the stars, planets, etc.). The standard twinning of day and night, sun and moon, requiring that there be a tale associated with Solomon of magnitude equal to that of David."
The name of "Thoth" is I think relevant because this links us with the very important character of 'Hermes Trismegistus' - the prophet tied to Hermetic esoteric and exoteric knowledge, and who used to be associated with the revelations of Moses and Plato, among others, and who was variously seen (during the Hermetic revival during the Renaissance, and which influenced greatly the evolution of modern science as opposed to its mediaeval and classical practice and the natural and magical philosophy during its most critical point of transition, but which still goes on, primarily in debates between 'real' science and pseudo-scientific or New Age doctrines or views) as being a contemporary of Moses, coming after Moses but before Plato, or even predating Moses, and teaching the principles which will help us transcend the material basis of our existence (ascension).
The main reason why I think this link is not only relevant but also correct, is that important scene when one of the advanced Mecha talks with David about their envy for the human spirit and their drive to find the meaning of existence, which is obviously the basis behind every religion. Still, there is a huge bright moon easily visible through the circular window directly above them, something that I believe alludes to this relation not only because Thoth (David) was a moon God, but because the alien describes something which completely shatters the idea that these creatures are any better than the humans and mechas they descended from... they are in fact doing exactly same thing, and for the same reasons, as what their human progenitors did: they are creating artificial life in order to understand the meaning of life and existence in general (in the end of this exchange, the moon quickly disappears and daybreak – the Sun initiating the start of a new day, makes its entry).
Though humans did this by creating Mechas and artificial intelligence, the advanced Mechas are doing this by tapping into the fabric of space-time and transposing 'memories' into a body, even if only temporarily, of the 'original' humans who've long passed away (humans as the "key to the meaning of existence", which is why they started this 'project', while David represents “the enduring memory of the human race”). Not very encouraging: David will more likely be deified after being ‘discovered’, maybe as a saviour of some kind, like Jesus. And don't forget that even after 2000 years, the effect of climate change (a problem already clearly visible during the movie, and which reflects the impending doom of humans, not only physically, but also emotionally and spiritually, which is what AI as a movie is warning us about) has continued unabated, practically transforming the whole planet into one giant tomb/museum, not the best setting for a forward-looking 'species'.
Still, that's probably what the makers were trying to get at, in that we are still trapped in the past, and continue making the same mistakes over and over again, continuously misunderstanding what we're looking for and who we really are deep down inside. This movie, and 2001 A Space Odyssey, should be seen, for this reason, side by side. I just hope it helps more people "open their eyes" (or "Eyes Wide Shut"?), or at least not rely on false Gods/beliefs/hopes/doctrines in order to sleep better (like David does in the end, though he deserved it because he fulfilled his goal, and was also aware that his mom wasn’t real). [Actually, it is hard to view these films, particularly those of Kubrick, and not see the associations with Masonic rituals, which also rely on syncretic links with ancient Egyptian 'wisdom', which is what EWS discusses, and in a way so did Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby"...)]
And one more thing concerning prophets: Zoroaster comes up in Richard Strauss’ theme “Also sprach Zarathustra [Zoroaster]” which figures prominently in Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey [as Zoroaster figures prominently in much Occult, esoteric, and Hermetic/Hermeticist writings]. Everything I’ve mentioned can be seen to some extent in The Matrix Trilogy, which suffers similarly to one respect with AI (and which ties in with what DocPazuzu and Fatal Discharge mentioned): the emotional aspect was tackled intellectually: the themes, and depiction, of what makes ‘emotions’ human is very hard for a lay person (human) to engage with if he/she is not engaged with emotionally, that is, cares or identifies with the characters. This represents a hermeutic problem that the makers have not fully realized, in my opinion. Ok, now I really should stop writing…"
Sorry Tony for all the reading... but how important is work, really, when you compare it to 'THE GENIUS OF KUBRICK"TM?
[this is my opinion, ofcourse, but in no way should this be confused with trying to be 'deep'... Remember, all that I've mentioned is stuff that Kubrick was most surely aware of... e.g. :
In Victor Ziegler's house there is a statue of Psyche and Cupid, which is based on a tale that shows up in Lucius Apuleius' novel, The Golden Ass, written in the second century CE (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupid_and_Psyche). This is what Frances Yates had to say on the subject: "Apuleius of Madaura is a striking example of one of those men, highly educated in the general culture of the Graeco-Roman world who, weary of the stale teachings of the schools, sought for salvation in the occult, and particularly in the Egyptian type of the occult. Born circa A.D. 123, Apuleius was educated at Carthage and at Athens and later travelled to Egypt where he became involved in a lawsuit in which he was accused of magic. He is famous for his wonderful novel, popularly known as 'The Golden Ass' the hero of which is transformed by witches into an ass, and after many sufferings in his animal form, is transformed back into human shape after an ecstatic vision of the goddess Isis, which comes to him on a lonely seashore whither he has wandered in despair. Eventually he becomes a priest of Isis in an Egyptian temple." This is an obvious reference to the use of occult/Hermetic/esoteric rituals by certain secret societies.
You may not agree... that's ok. But closing your eyes is a bit premature.. IMVHO]
by Keepcoolbutcare on Tue Aug 02, 2005 9:15 am 
