Daniel J. Kramer
Son of a Robot
Anezka Sebek & Barbara Morris
DOMAINS AND PRECEDENTS
Log Line:
When a mad scientist spreading conformity through the suburb of Dallas, Texas,
discovers he had a terminal illness, he builds a robotic family to look after his only son. 6
years after the death of his father, the boy‟s robotic parents malfunction and free him
from his oppressive surroundings.
The take away is to support individuality and creativity instead of medicating children
who do not conform to societies‟ norms.
I am studying alienation in the suburbs of America because I want to find out the affect
mass conformity has on children who are do not fit into society‟s norms. I want to
understand where this alienation stems from and what is the best way to raise children to
be happy and productive adults.
I am writing about the alienation and overmedication of children in the suburbs because I
want to show you the way to raise children is not to medicate them jus because they are
different.
My domains include overmedication and alienation in the American suburbs.
I have conducted primary research by interviewing people who grew up overmedicated
and alienated. When I find people who fit this description, I ask them why there were
alienated and how being overmedicated as children affected them. I am at the beginning
stages of this research, but have already met a few people who were overmedicated and
alienated as children. These are stories that no one has told and are compelling and
disturbing.
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I am using my experience of growing up in the suburbs of Dallas as primary research for
the backdrop of my thesis. There are not any films, books or music that came from that
time and depicted that world. The best way to study this world is to look at pop culture in
the early „80s in Texas. Most of world revolved around the Dallas Cowboys.
My secondary research comes from movies, music and books. Alienation is a popular
topic in all these forms of media; however the overmedication of children is not.
My domains connect directly to my thesis as I am creating a short animated film about
alienation and overmedication in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas.
The theme of prescription overmedication has not been explored much in cinema.
“Requiem For A Dream” explores this briefly, but also deal with recreational
overmedication i.e. drug addiction. This is not the path I am heading down. King of the
Hill explores overmedication in the episode “Peggy‟s Turtle Song”. Bobby is
misdiagnosed with ADD after he is disruptive in class. Bobby is medicated and finds
himself interested in things that he would usually find boring. By the end of the episode,
Hank realizes that Bobby does not have ADD and the medication is bad for him.
My research for overmedication will primarily come from interviewing individuals who
grew up being fed medication like candy.
Alienation is not a new concept. In fact, it has been around since the mid 19th century.
When Karl Marx wrote his Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 he
developed the theory of alienation. This was not a modern use of the term as seen in the
later half of the 20th century when individuals felt as though they did not belong in
mainstream society.
Alienation was original used in reference to the separation of things that naturally belong
together, or to put antagonism between things that are properly in harmony. Marx saw
the divide between capitalism and socialism and saw how these to theories would create
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societies different and alien to the other. It seemed that this term was only referring to
economic division, but what if the term actually became alienated from its original
meaning?
In the early 20th century, the comic and cartoon industry began and protagonists were
often alienated from the world around them. Although the characters never came out and
said “I feel alienated”, like they would later on, they did not fit into the world around
them. From Betty Boop in the opening sequence to “Minnie the Moocher” to the birth of
Superman, we began to see characters that left or ran away from their homes in order to
find a better world. In Betty‟s case, her parents do not understand her. She runs away in
hopes of finding a better life. She run into a cave, but is chased out by a ghostly Cab
Calloway. We do not know if her home life is any better on her return. Superman has a
deeper story of alienation. His home planet was destroyed and was raised by a human
family. His alienation stems from actually being an alien on earth.
Cinema was also emerging at this time and the theme of alienation was beginning to find
its way into cinema. Charlie Chaplin was one of the pioneers in comedic alienation in
cinema. In his first film as the Tramp, “Kid Auto Races at Venice he looks like
everyone else at the races, but doe not behave in a manner that is socially acceptable. He
alienates himself from the spectators, filmmakers and motorists as he continually disrupts
their race.
By the 1950‟s themes of alienation began creeping into films as the concept of the
teenager began to emerge in pop culture. The protagonist, Jim, in 1955‟s “Rebel With
Out A Cause” feels a sense of alienation when he moves with his family to Los Angeles.
This is more to do with Jim being the new kid in a close and tight knit community. By
the end of the film, he is no longer alienated from his parents or peers. Although the
ending is happy, the beginning set a trend for the alienated youth in films.
Bellow I have listed a few films that reflect a strong theme of alienation that have been
influential in writing the story of Son of a Robot.
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Welcome to the Dollhouse – Dawn is alienated from her suburban family, peers
and school because she doesn‟t like her life.
Billy Elliot – Billy is alienated from his working class miner family because he
wants to be a dancer.
Harold and Maude – Harold is alienated from his conformist high society mother
because he doesn‟t want to follow her rules.
Fight Club – Ed Norton is alienated from the world around him because he feels
lost in a world of conformity.
Beetlejuice – Lydia is alienated from her suburban family because she loves the
strange and unusual while Adam and Barbara are alienated from the world of the
living because they are dead.
My Life in Pink – Ludovic is alienated form his suburban family, peers and
school because he wants to be a girl
The Adams Family – The family is alienated from the world because they are
different.
Special – Les becomes alienated from society because he thinks he has super
powers after taking antidepressant medication.
The Brother From Another Planet – Joe is alienated from his surroundings
because he is from another planet. In Harlem, he is accepted, but when he
ventures further south into Manhattan, he is alienated because he is black.
Music is another avenue for alienation in the media and has been a major influence on the
story I am telling and the development of each character. From the Talking Heads and
the Flaming Lips to Marilyn Manson and Radiohead, the theme of alienation runs
rampant through the lyrics of these artists that lives just outside the mainstream.
As well as music and movies, books such as “Where the Wild Things Are”, “Harry
Potter” and “Catcher in the Rye” depict alienated children. There are thousands of books
that deal with this topic, but the realm of comics is where alienation and the narrative
story really mesh together. As I mentioned earlier, Superman and Betty Boop were great
examples of alienation in comics. In fact almost every comic, except Archie, deals with
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alienation is some shape or form. From American Splendor to the X-men, the
protagonists are never the popular or pretty people. They are the ones who live outside
the mainstream world. They don‟t subscribe to the masses and because of it,they are
alienated from the world around them.
As I was developing Ben, I used Wolverine as a template. Themes of alienation, chaos,
rebellion, conformity are prevalent tones to these comics, but what sets Wolverine apart
from his other mutant friends is a forgotten past.
My thesis, “Son of a Robot” adds to the conversation on alienation in the suburbs by
adding overmedication and robots into the mix. These elements have all been used to
explore the suburbs, but no animated film has combined all three elements.
I have not found any conference that deal with alienation or the overmedication of
children.
KEY TERMS
Alienation
Conformity
Conservative
Oppression
Freedom
Individuality
Bourgeois Society
Middle class
Rebellion
Zeitgeist
Theory of Alienation
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