Robots in Popular Culture: Transforming Art and Entertainment

Popular culture has long embraced clockwork men, automata and robots in literature, film, art and entertainment. Robots first appeared in the theater production of R.U.R. (Rossums Universal Robots) by Karel Capek, 1921. Marius, Radius and Primus were biological assemblies empowered with movement.

The idea of beings not born but created captured the imagination of many. The feared and reviled Frankenstein brought to life by Mary Shelly in 1818, or the heroic Steam Man of the Prairies written by Edward Ellis in 1865, they stirred the emotions of their readers.

Robots came in to the Twentieth Century with Tik-Tok from the Oz books by Frank Baum. No question that it was Isaac Asimov who gave us the modern idea of robots that persists today. The Three Laws of Robotics introduced in his book, I, Robot was meant to make artificial life safe and benign. Asimov knew that was an empty dream, even for his own stories. Another Tik-Tok, evil and cunning came to life in 1983, courtesy of John Sladek.

Robots were at the vanguard of the genre of written science fiction. The New Millennium promises to bring us more stories of these clockwork beings.

Movies and TV were the opportunity to create visions of robots. The lovely Maschinenmensch Maria from Metropolis enthralled moviegoers in 1926. Suddenly robots could be beautiful and intriguing. Gort is a tall seamless silver menace and there are the creepy voiced, tin can Dahleks. Friends to humanity are towering gentle giants like Robby. C3PO is a reluctant hero and Kryten a bumbling comedian. Marvin is the paranoid android, while RoboCop is brave to the extreme. Battlebots are the gladiators that fight and die in an arena. They all exhibit manÕs wide range of motivations and emotions.

1932, Robotoy by Buddy L is the first robot toy hit the shelves. Robots of all shapes and sizes came after. Pressed tin clockwork toys came from America, Japan and Italy. In the 1980s Transformers toys were an instant success and spawned a TV series. Go-Bots tried to replace them on toy store shelves and on TV. Robotic animals as pets, humanoid robot companions, and robot construction kits fill the need for something to create and care for.

Art is not immune to the charms of mechanical beings. Artists like Michael Whelan and Karl Egenberger create provocative and charming images of robots. Robots painted by Soriyama prove to us that metal can be sexy. Clayton Bailey pieces together metal trash to make life-sized robot sculptures with a healthy dose of humor. Metal in the shape of heavy jaws, jagged teeth and fingers made from bullets compose Christian RistowÕs creations.

In art, literature and entertainment robots mirror the mores, emotions, motivations and desires of humanity. From Frankenstein to the Transformers and beyond they will be a part of our Popular Culture.