· culture
From Comic Relief to Existential Threat: The Evolution of Robot Tropes in 80s/90s Movies
How did on-screen robots go from comic sidekicks to morally ambiguous killers? This essay traces that shift across 1980s–90s films - from Short Circuit’s wide-eyed Number 5 to the Terminator’s cold inevitability - and shows how those changing tropes mirror our anxieties and aspirations about technology.