preview

Robocop

Decent Essays

RoboCop: The Relation Between Politics and the Economy Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 cult classic about futuristic Detroit being overrun by corruption and crime paints a very dim picture of what could be the forthcoming America. On the same side of the coin, what some nations go through on a day to day basis. The other side tells us a lot of political theory especially the interaction between the State, or holders of authority, and the economy. In general the themes speak to capitalist privatization, the monopoly of power, and authoritarianism. Using these as guidelines for our analysis, we can see how RoboCop uses political theory to depict its image of an uncertain and oppressive society. In its time, RoboCop was set in a near future in the American …show more content…

Traditionally, the state (for our sake let us call Detroit a state) always has the monopoly of power. It’s actually a very fundamental characteristic of being a state itself (Neil, 2007). As we see in the movie, the city of Detroit doesn’t own the police force, OCP does through a contract. A state’s ability to exercise its authority is very important to uphold the laws and is an active political tool for both the authorities and the public. When the state no longer has this power it loses its legitimacy and in this case, OCP has free reign to do as it pleases. The chairmen and executives at OCP are not publicly elected and therefore cannot be held politically responsible or answer in a forum for their actions or …show more content…

OCP is advertised everywhere and are the sole provider of a lot of products. RoboCop himself has a cult following due in part to OCP making Murphy visit different groups of people to increase his popularity and likability. The idea of the Delta City being a perfect utopia by being completely state controlled is a very strong message for single party or rule by the few policy. Corruption also plays a part when we learn that Dick Jones is a partner with crime boss Clarence Boddicker who he uses to do dirty jobs and bring in money for personal ventures. All of these characteristics and subplots within the movie play into the authoritarian

Get Access