|
In the clip under consideration, we see a literal collision between two would-be heroes, Robocop and the rival robotic police droid, Ed. In this nail-biting, hair-raising , pulse-evating encounter, things look rather bleak for our protagonist, Robocop. Ed, though swift neither of foot nor intellect, possesses superior firepower, and he blasts his way down a hallway, closely pursuing the frantic Robocop. The two machines duck through a stairway door-- and something marvelous and unexpected happens. Robocop, like Odysseus, is polutropos a man of many ways, turns, bents. Just as Proteus at 4.444 of the Odyssey can adapt to any shape and any situation (a micro-narrative of great importance to the macronarrative of the epic as a whole), so too can Odysseus mimic beggars, princes, boxers, and sailors, as the situation demands. Odysseus' uncanny unability to lie, bluff or blast his way through any situation lies at the heart of the poem: the question then becomes, "can this man of many turns find a re-turn to his origin?" Or to put it another way: if a man is too Protean, does he lose his identity? But it is precisely this ability to adapt that lies at the heart of Odysseus' character-- he's a paradox, for he embodies every hero and also "oudeis"-- no one at all. Ed, alas, does not possess this ability to change as situations warrant. He confronts a new and formidable architectural challenge, those of stairs. For Robocop, stairs are simplicity itself, but for Ed, the stairs constitute a grave challenge to its powers of adaptation. Slowly, it feels its way around the topmost step, electronic toes quivering and outstretched. After several moments of indecision (and several concerned glances from Robocop), Ed throws his fate to the wind, and entrusts his weight and his balance to the descent. Most dire disaster ensues. Alexander Parker notes that Ed's frustrated gestures as it struggles to get up (like a flipped-over turtle) resemble the warp-spasm that Pris experiences in her final moments of life in Bladerunner. No amount of energy or determination allows Ed to get up: the ability to be polutropos is inbred in the constitution of Odysseus.
|
|
