RoboCop and Violence

     In Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop, there seems to be both types of violence we talked about in class: realistic and “fun”.  There are a few instances in this film where there is realistic violence. The first instance I thought to be realistic and kind of uncomfortable was in the beginning, when the first law enforcement robot appears and kills an innocent man in the office, during the demonstration. The second instance is when the main character, Murphy, is annihilated by Boddicker and his gang. In contrast, there are many instances of “fun” violence. I consider it “fun” violence, because RoboCop is defeating criminals and getting revenge on the people who killed him. There is a difference in the “fun” violence, because I find myself rooting for him to be violent towards criminals and the people who caused his death. An example of this “fun” violence is when RoboCop starts remembering his death at the gas station, before attempting to arrest one of the gang members that killed him. Robocop shoots his motorcycle, and the guy goes flying and crashing. I did not feel the least bit uncomfortable watching a bad guy go down. Another instance is when Robocop shoots the executive in charge, Dick Jones, at the very end of the film. Again I felt satisfaction seeing one of the antagonists die.  As for the question of whether RoboCop is an artistic and unique film, or just a crowd pleaser, I think it is a little of both. I think that some of the violence in this film could be considered artistic because most of it represents justice and Murphy’s revenge on his killers for an injustice that was dealt to him.