The main change to the plot concerns Andrew's relationship with Portia Chancey, Little Miss' granddaughter. A romantic relationship between Andrew and any human never occurred. While Andrew sought to gain recognition as a human, it was out of his own desire of freedom. Yet in the movie, Andrew seeks recognition and to become fully human in order to marry Portia. Because the focus is on the relationship, the pace seems to be slower in the movie than in the book, where the focus is on Andrew's quests to gain rights. The screenwriters of the movie highly romanticize the plot, ignoring the story's main question of philosophy and replacing it with a shallower, yet highly emotional storyline. But more on that later...
Point of View
The point of view of the film remains largely unchanged in comparison to the short story. The film remains in third person, much like Asimov's story. However, the audience is given much more access to other characters' emotions, as opposed to Asimov's style of providing only Andrew's thoughts and feelings. In doing so, the screenwriters tell Andrew's story through the third person omniscient point of view. This occurs because the audience is able to observe other characters' reactions to situations themselves, as opposed to being limited to whatever Asimov chooses to allow them to observe. While this causes the reader to understand other characters better, it simultaneously causes him to lose some understanding of Andrew's initial inability to understand emotions.
Characterization
Overall, the styles of describing characters remains largely the same between the short story and the film. However, there do occur a few changes in actual characters. The most obvious character who is changed is Andrew, the protagonist. Andrew seems to be a much more emotional person/robot initially in the film than he is in the book. While Andrew in the story quickly grasps the ideas of freedom and human rights, he initially struggles with emotions. Yet while Andrew in the movie also deals with his own struggles with emotions, he seems to display natural emotions much earlier, such as when Andrew repairs the Victrola record player and listens to opera music within a few weeks of his "birth." Andrew's character is clearly made to seem more human from the start in order to gain the audience's sympathy. The character of Little Miss is also changed. While there is no indication of any possible romantic friction between Andrew and Little Miss in Asimov's short story, in the film, it is clear that Little Miss possesses strong romantic feelings toward Andrew, both before and even after her marriage. This is used to indicate Andrew's eventual relationship and marriage to Little Miss' granddaughter Portia.
Setting
The main difference between the settings of Asimov's story and the film lies within the specificity of each writer in dating events. Asimov is unclear on the timeline of his story; while it is obvious that the story is supposed to occur at some point in the future, Asimov is deliberate in never naming a specific time period. He does not seek to predict when such technology will become available; he only seeks to establish that such a situation could logically occur within the future. The screenwriters, however, see no problem with designating a specific time period, mainly because the audience does not particularly mind if a science fiction film is set to take place in a time period much too early for such technology to exist. For this reason, Andrew's story takes place in the early 21st century. As Andrew is dying, the Chairwoman of the Galactic Council mentions that Andrew was activated in 2005; thus, Andrew's life occurred from 2005 to 2205. Because the movie's purpose is not present some deep philosophy, the screenwriters have no problem in qualifying and dating the story's events. This ultimately leads to...
Theme
In truth, the short story and the movie have two very different focuses and, therefore, two very different themes. The theme of Asimov's story, as I discussed in my last blog post, mainly concerns the question of what makes a creature truly human. The story also discusses human rights and freedom. In the film version, however, these two themes are barely touched upon; the theme of the definition of humanity is especially neglected. Instead, the screenwriters pander to the Hollywood industry, cop out, and alter the theme to reflect on love. The movie is devoted almost solely to Andrew's attempts to discover the definition of love and to ascertain love. While this is still a very noble theme, it simply seems too hackneyed in the Hollywood scene. The screenwriters could have created a different kind of film, and important film that tackled a deep, philosophical question; instead, they backed down, dumbed down the story's theme, and changed the plot to fit the new theme. While the film is still exceptionally funny, quirky, and heartwarming, it simply is not on the same level as Asimov's original story.
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