A Moral Question: Gender and (Re)production in A.I. Artificial Intelligence 20 Years Later

Originally to be helmed by Stanley Kubrick before the baton was passed over to Steven Spielberg, A.I. Artificial Intelligence is emblazoned with visual motifs indicative of both filmmakers' catalogs. Though Kubrick died two years before the film's release, the distinct essence of both filmmakers is palpable due to Spielberg's script closely following the original treatment from Kubrick's fledgling work on the project in the '70s. Though many critics have unduly attributed certain aspects of A.I.'s contrasting tone of surreal, uncanny darkness and whimsical adventure to the wrong directors, the exploration of these two realms and the moral dilemmas they pose on a futuristic, dystopian level are never more tangible than when delving into the construction of gender. Against public misconception, Spielberg remains faithfully fixated on the sinister ethical conundrums presented in A.I., unsettling audiences with the implications of this far-off 2141 society outsourcing human emotions to machines. During the opening sequence of the film, an otherwise supplementary character simply credited as "female colleague" (April Grace) raises an uncomfortable philosophical question.