Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) was not a blockbuster in the sense of Jaws, E.T or Jurassic Park (the other films covered in this book series) – it did however make a heavy return on its near $100 million budget and received critical praise in the media. The film is the product of several authors: science fiction writer Brian Aldiss on whose short story ‘Supertoys Last All Summer Long’ (1969) the film was based; Stanley Kubrick, whose project it had been initially before passing it over to Spielberg in the wake of Jurassic park, Spielberg made and released the film two years after Kubrick’s death. Over the course of its development the story passed through the hands of several script writers including Aldiss, science fiction writer Ian Watson and author Sara Maitland. Its distinctive production design was the work of the artist Fangorn a.k.a. Chris Baker – who had initial worked with Kubrick on the film’s design (his hundreds of design sketches are archived at the Stanley Kubrick Archive, University of the Arts: London College of Communication).
Despite its long, sustained and often problematic gestation. A.I. Artificial Intelligence, which updates Carlo Colldi’s Pinocchio story, divided fans and critics of both Spielberg AND Kubrick alike who have found it difficult to align or balance its dual authorial voices (and misplaced criticism over its alleged Spielbergian saccharine). Nevertheless, Spielberg’s film begins a new, post millennial chapter, post-Kubrick period for the director and, like E.T, it combines his pre-occupying interest with childhood, with aspects of real horror, trauma tragedy and post millennial anxiety. A.I Artificial Intelligence is also sci-fi fairy tale and such imagery is embedded across the film.
Given the recent rise of Artificial Intelligence in our everyday lives and its prospective impact on contemporary culture, it feels like it is timely to engage critically with this often overlooked and misunderstood film. Furthermore, this book will form a companion edition to The E.T Book which is also calling for papers.
This will be the first in-depth collection of critical and academic thought devoted to A.I. and this call for papers invites abstracts on all aspects of the film but especially on the films Kubrick/Spielberg dynamic. It particularly invites papers which draw on research carried out at the Stanley Kubrick Archive and the Brian Aldiss and Ian Watson Archives at the University of Liverpool.
Topics welcomed will include but are not limited to
- The films evolution and development / production history
- Critical and public reception
- Marketing
- The Kubrick / Spielberg relationship
- The post-Kubrickian in Spielberg’s post 2000 work
- A.I and Pinocchio
- Chris Baker’s production design
- Child stardom and the casting of Haley Joel Osment
- A.I. in the Archives
- Artificial Intelligence and Robots across Spielberg’s work
- E.T and A.I – critical comparisons
- A.I and the (post) millennium
- Conflicting authorial voices in A.I.
- A.I. in post millennial cinema
- A.I, Jewishness and Holocaust Imagery
- Technology and Anxiety
- The nuclear family and parenthood
- Adoption, childhood and lostness
- Simulation and Simulacra
- Motherhood
- The Flesh Farm / Horror in A.I
- Fairytales and the Gothic
- Spatial design and cityspaces
- the Unmade screenplays
- Globalisation and eco-anxiety in A.I
Please return abstracts to Matthew Melia at m.melia@kingston.ac.uk by Feb 1st 2023
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