[Muted B-roll: A muted scene from RoboCop (1987). In a dirty alleyway, the titular RoboCop confronts two men who are forcibly restraining a woman in a skirt. One man is using the woman as a human shield. RoboCop takes a gun from his person and a first-person shot shows RoboCop’s camera view of a moving green target. Text at the top of the screen reads “targeting,” and text at the bottom reads “directive 2: protect the innocent.” The target’s bullseye settles between the woman’s legs. Robocop fires his weapon, expertly shooting the man behind the woman in the groin. This scene will henceforth be referred to as the “D-shooting scene.”] 

[Music: smooth jazz] 

NARRATOR: I’ve seen the movie RoboCop approximately one billion times, but my older sister never had, so earlier this year I forced her to watch it with me. It was all going well until the scene where RoboCop prevents a sexual assault occurs. You know, the one where RoboCop shoots the guy though the woman’s leg and says – 

ROBOCOP [scene momentarily unmuted]: Your move, creep. 

CREEP: [screaming] 

NARRATOR: Awesome scene, right? Well, my sister didn’t think so. 

[Still image: Against a blank white background, 2 extremely simple stick figures are standing on either side of a cartoon television, on which there is a picture of RoboCop. Text at the bottom of the screen reads “dramatic reenactment.” The first stick figure has a speech bubble which contains the following words.] 

NARRATOR: RoboCop kind of sexist, she said. They use this woman as an object. We only ever see her suffering and pain and we never see her again. The film overall is almost an ode to masculinity. 

[Still image: The first stick figure no longer has a speech bubble. The second stick figure now does have a speech bubble, which contains ellipses.] 

NARRATOR: She’s right, of course. RoboCop can certainly be interpreted as sexist. And many people do interpret him like this. Don’t believe me? Check out some memes. 

[Still image: A meme that shows a woman fellating a tube underneath a picture of Robocop with his mouth open. The text of the meme reads, “RoboCop Highway Patrol Edition Will Be Setting Up Roadblocks This Holiday Season, In Hopes Of Catching Intoxicated Drivers. RoboCop’s State-of-Art Breathalyzer Is Attached To His Crotch Area.” The meme is acredited to “realnews.com.” Henceforth referred to as “RoboCop Breathalyzer meme.”] 

NARRATOR: In this one, RoboCop uses his position of power to assault intoxicated women.

[Still image: An image of the original RoboCop from 1987 and the Robocop from the 2014 remake. Text on the image reads “This is Robocop and this is gay.”] 

NARRATOR: In this one, RoboCop is positioned as the opposite of “gay,” here equated to “bad.” 

[Still image: A photo of a rowboat on a body of water. RoboCop has been photoshopped into the boat. The bottom of the image states “Rowboatcop: The future of water-based law enforcement.” The top states “Part man, part boat, all cop.”] 

NARRATOR: And in this one – 

[Music cuts out] 

NARRATOR: Oh. Well, I guess this one’s okay. 

[Still image: The stick figure scene, as before, with the second stick figure’s speech bubble still containing only ellipses.] 

[Music: smooth jazz] 

NARRATOR: Overall, it sucks to see these online meme-makers turn RoboCop into an anti-feminist, ultra-masculine icon. However, I’m glad my sister said this and that I found these memes, for a few reasons. 

[Still image: The second stick figure’s speech bubble now says “thank you for saying that actually because I couldn’t think of a topic for my analytical debate paper.”] 

NARRATOR: One, what my sister said inspired the analytical debate paper that I wrote for this class. And two, it gives me the opportunity to make my final a video essay about – 

[Moving image: A crudely edited image of RoboCop from the chest-up surrounded by feminist iconography. Over his head is a banner reading “Fight like a girl.” To the left is a pink circle containing the phrase “The future is female.” Directly underneath is pink text reading “#Girlboss.” To the right is the symbol for female, a pink symbol of a circle above a cross, with the part of the cross intersecting with the circle shaped like a fist. Directly underneath is an image of Rosie the Riveter, a woman in a red bandana flexing her bicep. The image slowly zooms out from his face, à la Ken Burns, to reveal the scene in its entirety. Henceforth referred to as “Feminist RoboCop edit.”] 

[Music: Katy Perry’s “Roar”] 

NARRATOR: Four reasons why RoboCop is actually a feminist. I don’t want RoboCop and his film to belong to the misogynist meme-makers of the world. I want him to belong to feminists like me. So, I’m adopting a feminist critical stance and I’m looking for ways that this text empowers

women and opposes the patriarchy. I hope this proves that, with rhetorical criticism, feminists can steal images and interpret and re-interpret them to advance own their messages instead of messages of the oppressor. 

[Still image: White text, in quotation marks and against a black background, that reads “Four Reasons Why RoboCop is Actually a Feminist” à la It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia title cards.] 

[Music: The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia theme music – a group of string instruments play a short, upbeat melody] 

[Still image: The previous text is replaced, in the same font/style, with “Reason One: No Dead Wife Trope.”] 

[Music: smooth jazz] 

NARRATOR: Reason one: RoboCop subverts the “dead wife” trope. We’re used to seeing dead wives in media, from – 

[Muted B-roll: A scene from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). A pale, brunette woman lies deceased in a hovering, futuristic coffin, surrounded by flowers.] 

NARRATOR: Darth Vader’s wife, to – 

[Muted B-roll: A scene from Inception (2010). A woman in a black dress falls from a tall hotel window offscreen to the busy street below. We briefly see Don Cobb’s stricken, distressed face as he witnesses the incident.] 

NARRATOR: Don Cobb’s wife, to – 

[Muted B-roll: A scene from Up (2009). Animated. An old man kisses an old woman on the forehead as she lies in a hospital bed in a softly-lit room.] 

NARRATOR: Carl’s wife, to – 

[Muted B-roll: A scene from Finding Nemo (2003). Animated. Two orange clownfish in the ocean, swimming above a pink anemone. The clownfish in the foreground has a concerned look on her face.] 

NARRATOR: To Marlin’s wife. 

[Moving image: A rectangular gravestone. Engraved on it are the words “RIP wives everywhere. Survived by their husbands who will either avenge their deaths or grow emotionally from this experience.” The image slowly grows closer.]

[Music: A group of bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace”] 

NARRATOR: As though the only use that women can bring to the story is by dying. RoboCop’s wife lives, showing that even if a main character’s wife is not the central focus of the narrative, the writers don’t need to kill her to move the story along. 

[Still image: White text, in quotation marks and against a black background, that reads “Reason Two: Anne Lewis.”] 

[Music: Smooth jazz] 

NARRATOR: Reason Two. RoboCop’s partner, Anne Lewis. 

[Muted B-roll: A montage of clips of Anne Lewis, a blonde, short-haired woman. Her in militarized police gear, her firing a gun at a gun range, her in RoboCop’s camera view, her investigating a crime scene, her firing a large weapon while lying prone in a puddle of mud; her weapon hits its target and explodes a small building.] 

NARRATOR: She’s smart, she’s versatile, she’s kind, she’s tough, and she’s also not a love interest. There is no romantic tension between RoboCop and Anne. She’s just his partner. It defeats the common media trope that women are either dead or love interests. 

[Still image: White text, in quotation marks and against a black background, that reads “Reason Three: This Scene.”] 

NARRATOR: Reason three: this scene. 

[Muted B-roll: D-shooting scene.] 

NARRATOR: When RoboCop shoots the woman’s attackers in the d- 

[Still image: Old-fashioned black-and-white image of geometric shapes, evoking film reels. Text in the center reads “Please stand by.”] 

[Sound FX: Extended error beep] 

[Muted B-roll: D-shooting scene, with extended footage of the woman shakily embracing an impassive RoboCop once she is freed.] 

[Music: smooth jazz] 

NARRATOR: When RoboCop shoots this woman’s attackers in the groin region, it offers a firm stance on the patriarchy. RoboCop is our film’s hero, and by doing this, he defends this woman

from patriarchal violence. He suggests to the viewers that suppressing patriarchal violence is an important aspect of heroism. 

[Still image: White text, in quotation marks and against a black background, that reads “Reason Four: Dialogue in this scene.”] 

NARRATOR: Reason number four: Dialogue from this scene. The dialogue I’m talking about is this. 

[Video: Picking up from when we last saw the muted B-roll, the woman is gratefully embracing RoboCop, who stares down at her. A clearly seen billboard in the background reads “Delta City: The future has a silver lining.”] 

ROBOCOP [scene momentarily unmuted]: Madam, you have suffered an emotional shock. I will notify a rape crisis center. 

[Music: smooth jazz] 

[Muted B-roll: A montage of various scenes from RoboCop. RoboCop withstanding being shot multiple times by an assailant in a gas station, eventually destroying the assailant’s weapon by easily bending and warping its barrel; RoboCop driving around Delta City in his cruiser, including POV shots of the road; the beginning of the D-shooting scene.] 

NARRATOR: The scene could have ended without this dialogue. By including it, however, the film directly addresses the fact that what happened to this woman was a traumatic event that she will not easily recover from. When our hero RoboCop locates resources for her, he shows that fighting the patriarchy isn’t just stopping acts of obvious oppression when they happen. It’s also helping women navigate the complex emotional repercussions of life under the patriarchy. I just really love this scene, you guys. Also, fun fact, if you google this scene, this comes up. 

[Music cuts out] 

[Video: An online eBay store being screen-recorded on a computer, with a stationary cursor in the center of the screen. The item for sale on the left side of the screen is a black t-shirt that says “Remember when Robocop shot that dude in the dick” in white text. This item is titled “Remember When Robocop Shot That Dude In The Dick Funny 80’s T Shirt.” The cursor slowly starts moving across the webpage, first clicking “Classic” from the “Product Style” dropdown options, and then choosing “Large” from the “Size” dropdown options. The mouse then selects a blue button labeled “Add to cart.” 

[Sound FX: mouse click] 

[Video: A white loading screen appears over the online store with a blue progress pinwheel labeled “Adding to your cart.”]

[Moving image: An image, shot from a high vantage point, of the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C. Dozens of attendees are visible, and most are wearing bright pink knit hats. A central red sign has the symbol for female, a black symbol of a circle above a cross, with the part of the cross intersecting with the circle shaped like a fist. A red sign in the background reads “The future is still female.” The image slowly zooms in to reveal a crudely edited RoboCop in the crowd.] 

[Music: inspiring, rousing, patriotic strings] 

NARRATOR: I hope this video shows that pro-feminist messages are everywhere if you have the tools to look for them. Even icons of masculinity like RoboCop can be stolen from potential misogynists and interpreted and re-interpreted to fit feminist messages, so go out and seize those icons. Use them as you see fit. 

[Still image: Terminator, a silver robot whose face is half covered with the skin of a chiseled human man, from the 1984 movie Terminator.] 

NARRATOR: Is Terminator a feminist? 

[Still image: Indiana Jones, a middle-aged, sweaty man in a khaki unbuttoned shirt and a fedora, from the Indiana Jones movies.] 

NARRATOR: What about Indiana Jones? 

[Still image: John Wick, a tall, black-haired man in a dirty white shirt and jeans, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge by foot, from the movie John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017).] 

NARRATOR: John Wick? 

[Still image: A screenshot of the title page of a term paper written in APA format. The title listed at the top is “Implicit and Explicit Subversions of Toxic Masculinity and Gender Expectations in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.” Other information below includes the student author’s name (crudely covered with a red marker tool, with the words “my name” typed in comic sans next to the blot), the department (listed as the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, with the school’s name crudely covered with a red marker tool, the words “my school” typed in comic sans next to the blot), the course number (listed as WGS 210: Gender and Sexuality in American Pop Culture), and the professor’s name (crudely covered with a red marker tool, with the words “my professor” typed next to it in comic sans next to the blot), as well as the date (December 9, 2021).] 

NARRATOR: About that last one, I actually wrote a term paper for a different class about why John Wick is a feminist. It’s possible, guys!

[Moving image: Feminist RoboCop edit, slowly zooming out to reveal more of the image, as before.] 

NARRATOR: This isn’t to say that anti-feminist or oppressive interpretations of these texts don’t exist. This is to say that these images don’t have to belong to the oppressor. So, steal them if you’d like. 

[Still image: a “Virgin vs. Chad”-styled internet meme. On the left is, as labeled at the top, “The Virgin Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).” The “Virgin” character is a crudely drawn figure in white New Balance shoes, blue denim, and a slouchy gray sweater. His head is the Marvel logo. Around him are listed attributes of the MCU, including: “over-sexualizes all the women, billionaire hero (oxymoron), women side characters suck and are boring, military propaganda,” and “dead wife trope (gwen stacy) (spoiler alert)”. On the right is, as labeled at the top, “The Chad RoboCop Cinematic Universe (RCCU). The crudely drawn “Chad” character has muscular arms held at an odd angle and is wearing a sleeveless pink shirt that reads “OUCH!” His rear end appears to be backwards at the waist and facing the viewer. He is in lime green pants and funky neon yellow boots. His head has been edited to be RoboCop’s head. Around him are listed attributes of the RCCU, including “no dead wife trope, robocop is not a billionaire (has no money) (is robot), women characters are awesome, does not sexualize anne lewis, disproves of corporate consolidation of police,” and “robocop shoots a guy in the.” In the last example, after the word “the,” the top of the letters d, i, c, and k can be seen, barely poking up offscreen.] 

NARRATOR: Make your own memes that point out how RoboCop can be seen as a feminist icon – it’s not as hard as you think. It’s fun, too, but it also does some important work: 

[Still image: A crudely edited scene. On the left, 3 speech bubbles are poking out from offscreen and onto the white background. The first reads, “haha! this guy thinks that robocop is a predatory misogynist!” The one underneath reads, “everyone knows robocop is a feminist icon!” The final speech bubble reads, “what a loser!” On the left, a stock photo of a distressed businessman with his head in his hands is next to the RoboCop Breathalyzer meme. He has a speech bubble that reads “i am so embarrassed.”] 

NARRATOR: It makes anti-feminist RoboCop memes look wrong and dumb, which takes away their power in favor of a more inclusive message. 

[Moving image: Feminist RoboCop edit. The camera zooms in to RoboCop’s chest until it fills the screen, focusing on a new element of the image, a pink badge he has pinned to his armor. It reads, “I’m a feminist. What’s your superpower?”] 

NARRATOR: Ultimately, this work proves feminism is everywhere and pop culture icons from the past don’t have to be used to stifle feminist progress. In fact, I believe they might be used for the exact opposite.

[Still image: White text, in quotation marks and against a black background, that reads “Like and Subscribe,” à la It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia title cards. Below, in small text, are the words “For image and audio credit, see document linked in description.”

The document can be found at this link.