dreamsyntax

I was sad to hear of the passing of Mrs Lee Kuan Yew yesterday. She was a great woman, and one can’t help but feel like her death must be related to how MM Lee has been hospitalised lately after his fall and so he can’t be at her side either. Very sad.

As a result of her tragic passing, Mediacorp suddenly chose to substitute today’s prime time movie ‘I AM LEGEND’ (starring Will Smith) with ‘I, ROBOT’ (also starring Will Smith), with a short message stating that I, ROBOT would be replacing I AM LEGEND as a “mark of respect” for the late Mrs Lee. I don’t quite think they mentioned it quite enough though, since the twitterverse was full of disappointed cries of “WHY IS ‘I AM LEGEND’ NOT SHOWING TONIGHT?”

How is ‘I, ROBOT’ supposed to represent “a mark of respect” on the occasion of the death of Mrs Lee Kuan Yew?

I haven’t watched I AM LEGEND so i can’t quite comment on the potential clash in interests or incompatibility of screening ‘I AM LEGEND’ next to the news feature of Mrs Lee Kuan Yew’s memorial on the News.

However, I have now watched ‘I, ROBOT’, so i CAN comment on that. And i have a new theory, which does not involve Will Smith in it!

The film begins with the death of a respectable, prominent founding figure, following which the son of this figure must unravel the mystery and save the world from a new generation of robots. The new generation of robots is being controlled by a central computer (ghost in the machine) which thinks that mankind isn’t doing enough to make the world right and that by taking over the robots will be able to run the country better. But of course “sonny” and friends save the day and defeat the faceless “new generation” of robots, restoring order and peace to the city.

A quick glossing-over of the main plot points, but does this plot sound familiar to you?

The story begins with the death of a respectable, prominent founding figure, Mrs Lee Kuan Yew. The passing of Mrs Lee Kuan Yew is not as devastating as if it were MM Lee himself, but no man can live forever, and this reminds us that MM Lee will also pass one day. Following which, new generations of young singaporeans will be left to run Singapore on their own, of which views may be widely opposing, and then it’ll be left to good old “sonny” to restore order and peace to the city.

Look at this absolutely beatific, epiphanic closing shot that the film ends on. Look at it. There is a small black line on the horizon – that’s Sonny the robot, overlooking the masses of other robots. The ending obviously insinuates that he is now the new leader of robots. I took this on my tv, so you know this is the real deal. Right after this last scene, it segued into the memorials for Mrs Lee Kuan Yew on the news.

I wonder, do they reserve certain films for certain public occasions or occurrences? Like how they always screen lots of war and martial arts films on all the channels prior to the National Day Parade, so that you segue from all these epic China war films into the majestic parade segment and marching of the troops in the National Day Parade?

In the words of the V.I.K.I robot: “My logic is undeniable.”

This post also probably goes to show that if I had to, I can invent a reason to explain anything. And that I’m really bored today. Nothing like lots of work to inspire irrelevant writing! Maybe I should write science fiction…