One thing all of my friends know about me is that I am a huge Disney fan. Being Asian American I was especially drawn to Big Hero 6, so before the movie came out I tried to find out everything I could about the film’s creation. One thing that stood out to me was that the directors felt that, in the West, there is a general fear of technology and apprehension about what it might lead to. This contrasts very much with Japan, where technology is generally seen as good and helpful. This was one consideration the creators had when they were designing Baymax, who followed the Japanese model by being a healthcare provider and generally adorable robot (mostly).

I bring this up because 2001 really cemented this idea. HAL seems sentimental at times, but he murders several helpless people to protect himself. In other popular films like I, Robot; The Matrix and Terminator, robots or technology in general are also shown in a negative light. And yet in Japan (if you watch anime at all), robots like Astroboy and the mechas in Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion and similar shows are generally seen as heroic, helpful, and able to work together with humans.

What does this different in culture mean? I don’t know enough about the history to guess at why it may exist, but there are certainly effects of it we can see today. There is the (perhaps stereotypical) idea of Japan as being a technological leader in the world, and this may in fact stem from their positive association with technology (or robophilia, as my Japanese 121 professor would’ve called it). But the US is also a technological powerhouse and American people seem to be warming up more and more to the idea of robots and technological assistants (as suggested by applications like Siri and Cortana, newer films like Wall-E and Her, and robots increasingly appearing in warehouses and hospitals). It seems like the US’s perspective is shifting to be more like Japan’s, and we are entering a new era when technology will make more and more rapid advancements. I for one am pretty optimistic about what it might bring.