Robot Dreams
Sooooo...Robot Dreams... Let's talk about it! I've been fixating over this movie since before it officially released in my native country of the United States of America. Actually, I'm just now coming off of this obsessive high that I've been riding in regards to this film, which is why I decided it's safe for me to post about it now. I've refrained from mentioning this film online and engaging in discussions and online circles about it up until now because otherwise, I would've been annoyingly posting about this micro-fixation of mine more aggressively and frequently (I didn't want to subject my friends, followers and mutuals to that). I'm a little more calm about it now, I promise.
Anyway, how exactly did I hear about this 'foreign' film before it even released here in the States? You can thank Twitter for that! I never really enjoyed posting myself on social media, much. Instead, What I DID enjoy utilizing social media for (at least in cases like twitter) is to partake in fandoms. In particular film, animation, digital art and character creation/appreciation fandoms. Since I frequent these types of online spaces, I tend to always be clued in on the newest, most revered (if only for a short while) animation piece or project at any given time. This time, it happened to be Robot Dreams. Based on my Twitter feed, it seemed many people were enjoying it.
I had to see it. The only problem at the time, however, was that it had yet to release in my country. I simply COULD NOT wait for its American release to watch it. It would have eaten away at me, seeing my Twitter feed full of people geeking out over this new-fangled film that I couldn't enjoy for myself. Not to mention the potential for unwarranted movie spoilers, online. Here's a useful phrase for situations like this: Where there's a will there's a way. And sure as hell I found a way. Through grit and determination, I was able to come across the film in its entirety, online. In terrific quality as well! And so, I partook in watching it as soon as the weekend rolled around. I was INSTANTLY hooked and captivated.
Something interesting that this film does is utilizing non-verbal communication to tell its story. That's right! throughout this entire film, not a single line of dialog is spoken, bar from a single exclamation of "Hey!" when hailing a taxi. Thoughts and emotions are communicated entirely through understanding glances, body language, noise, silence and most importantly: music. This iconic song in particular. This decision makes it so that this lovely film can be enjoyed by any one person, regardless of age or nationality. Human emotions and stories transcend man-made languages.
We all understand emotions like love, anger, confusion, and story-telling structures and concept Like plot devices. These are all a part of the human experience. The lack of speech makes this film a charming watch, particularly in the film's beginning. It also makes the character's more identifiable with the audience, more "amorphous", you could say. We can't draw conclusions or make assumptions about them based on anything other than what we, the audience, can see visually: their actions.
This is an aspect of the film I thoroughly enjoyed. It gave the film a cozier more, intimate feeling that is lacking in most modern-day movie releases, at least as far as American releases are concerned. We get to know the characters through passively observing their actions and reactions; the same way we get to know people in the real world. Modern-day American films seem to prioritize action, thrill, cheap laughs and gaudy effects as opposed to harvesting a more natural and high quality sense of ambience, feeling and mood. They lack the beauty behind simplicity. American films also tend to treat the audience like they're stupid and need everything spelled out for them. They don't trust the audience to observe and deduce, which results in unnecessary dialog. There is none of that nonsense here. The film is nice, beautifully simple, clean and vibrant. It's nice to see a country do it right for a change. It's refreashing.
However, it wasn't simply the lack of spoken dialog which captivated me. The characters where exceptionally charming, each in their own right. In terms of visual aesthetic, their shapes and colors are rudimentary yet appealing. This in hand with their individual demeanors makes them all delightfully endearing and quite the watch. I fell in love with nearly each major character as soon as they were introduced. I particularly developed a strong liking towards Dog, sympathizing with his loneliness and desire for connection and companionship. Also, he's a bit dorky. A bit of a loser, actually. And man, do I love my losers.
Moving on from the "movie critique" portion of this blog and wading more into "fandom" and "terminally online" territory, the movie is just hopelessly gay. I'm not sure this is something that people outside of the Robot Dreams fandom will understand, even if they watch the film. This is one of those "Those who get it, get it. Those who don't, don't" situations. "#iykyk". A large portion of the Robot Dreams fandom (yes, the film is so good that it already amassed a small, but active fandom before it even released in the U.S.) is admittedly queer (at the very least queer-accepting) or neurodivergent, if not both. This, coupled with the fact that the characters are so easily identifiable with people in part to them being animals (and animals that don't talk at that,) makes it so that It's easier for the viewer to place themselves in the character's shoes and relate to them.
As a viewer whose presented with such co-optable, adaptable, and likable characters, you sort of assign aspects of yourself to the character you see on screen. You try and relate to them in some form. You feel some sort of connection to them. "kinning" being an extreme version of this phenomenon. With a large portion of the Animation creation, appreciation and discussion spaces online being queer, it's no surprise that people read queerness into the subtext and create these sort of head-cannons and interpretations. Yes, even about a fictional cartoon dog and his friend (companion?) robot.
It doesn't help that the movie makes the gender of these two main characters ambiguous and the relationship, although canonically a friendship, can be read as being romantic. Especially with the catalyst for why Dog even buys Robot in the first place being the fact that he felt lonely after seeing his neighbors in the apartment across from his (a lovey-dovey couple) enjoying one another's company, laughing and watching television, together. In another instance, after Robot sees a couple holding hands while out in public with Dog, Robot mimics this behavior and attempts to hold Dog's hand. They hold hands at other points in the film after this instance.
Not to mention the montage of them together, which features Dog taking Robot to get their photos taken in a photo-booth, a popular romance trope. To an American audience, holding hands and participating in frivolous activities such as photo-booths and sharing ice cream on a board-walk is seen as being indicative of typical couple behavior. This sort of contextualization by reading into the subtext is what leads those who look for it to presume that the two seemingly male (again, their genders are made ambiguous) characters are a couple.
To the online fandom, myself included, Robot Dreams is written to be interpreted as hopelessly, tragically, endearingly queer in the simplest, most subtle way possible so as to not be overtly queer, nor strictly straight. Actually, it's so expertly produced that it's written to be interpreted as an exploration of either a romantic or platonic companionship on top of the queer subtext which can be picked up or ignored. The canon friendship interpretation of the narrative is equally as beautiful as well, might I add.
Overall, Robot Dreams is a lovely film. Well... Pleasant, but for a fleeting moment. Without spoiling too much, things don't remain stalled on this honey-moon phase forever in the film, much like in the real world (after all, what's a story without conflict?), which might be an explanation as to why the fandom clings onto the queer interpretations of the film to feel a sense of... Happiness and fulfillment in regards to this film and it's characters. Or maybe the word I'm looking for is closure? Again, #iykyk.
The ending of this movie explores an important part of life, and growing as an individual. I'll spare the details and invite y'all to find out for yourselves what exactly that may be through watching it. admittedly, I did not enjoy the ending to this film, but it's a real and difficult part of maturing and a surprising thing to tackle in a children's film. American children's media always have happy endings. Satisfying conclusions. Predictable conclusions. American audiences just aren't used to the kind of writing that's seen in children's media from abroad. There's a slight air of maturity to them. They treat their target demographic of children audience with a slightly higher sense of dignity and respect. A stark contrast to American media targeted towards children. As an American, this movie's ending threw me in for a loop. Seeing the ending credits pop-up on the screen left me confused, taken aback and feeling a bit betrayed. "This can't be it. There has to be more. This can't be the way things end", I thought.
Some days later, I saw a tweet on Twitter from a mother who was thanking an artist for drawing an alternative ending because the canon movie ending had upset their child, and this drawing (the mother hoped) would alleviate the child's mood. The ending left many people online, it seems, grappling with emotion as a result of an unexpected, dissatisfying conclusion. Despite the movie's ending having somewhat of a disappointing outcome (for me personally), this ending being a deviation from the expected narrative was strangely satisfying in its own right. For a children's film, this movie was rather well executed and an emotionally intelligent watch. Robot Dreams is...Important. Well, at least to me it is :P
To close off this blog post, I'll leave y'all with this GIF of Dog eating a microwave dinner alone in his dingy New York apartment like a loser, whilst his neighbors on the other side of the street cuddle together and watch television in their contrasting, brightly lit apartment.
