I'm Here Analysis

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Im Here A short film analysis.
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Genre of the film
I found that Im Here the short film produced
by Spike Jonze, is a hybrid of the Sci-fi and
Romance genres, evident through the presentation
of the two central characters, both robots,
surviving in the human world. As the film
progresses, audiences see both Sheldon and
Francesca develop human-like connections and
emotions, especially between one another with
frequent scenes such as the introduction of music
to Sheldon, creating a romantic bond. The Sci-fi
element of the film is clearly reflected in the
robotic characters the strongest scene to
present the Sci-fi genre in my opinion was the
final scene, the ultimate resolution of the
narrative, where Sheldon sacrificed his entire
being to save Francesca this scene was most
reflective of Sci-fi as we see via editing, the
distortion that Sheldon sees as his robotic body
is dismantled.
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Representation
Im Here portrays to an audience a world
similar to our own reality in one of the
earliest scenes Sheldon is faced in a dispute
between an old woman and unknown to him then,
Francesca. In this scene there is evidence of a
divide in society is shown humans are allowed
to drive but robots are not. This connotes a
world of inequality and injustice between the two
species presented in the on-screen world these
two representations of social issues can be
strongly applied and recognised in this world of
our own with issues such as sexuality and race
for example.
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Is It A Happy World?
No. Spike Jonze has captivated a world where
happiness on both sides of the spectrum are
unfair. Humans of this world portrayed appear to
have the overall ruling, freedom and general
opportunity to those robots who like Sheldon,
live very mediocre lifestyles an inconvenience
almost to the human race. For example in the
scene of the gig, when Francescas arm is
destroyed, no one person seems to display signs
of concern or support however Sheldon does. When
presented with this scene after the early dispute
scene, it proves that whilst humans see the
robots as having no purpose to give, Sheldon is
able to give Francesca the happiness that she
needs in a world where they have to make the best
out of what they have. Also, in another scene
shown, between Francesca and Sheldon discussing
dreams, Sheldon at that point appeared to have no
ability of feeling however his care and affection
towards Francesca shows this progression.
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Evidence of Prejudice
Prejudice is exhibited in Im Here amongst the
robot and human characters. Referring back to an
earlier opening scene of the dispute between
person and robot, the woman has no reason to
treat Francesca and Sheldon any different from
herself or any other person however she continues
to segregate and discriminate their beings from
any human privileges due to their noticeable
difference. This put into perspective in our
reality falls on the same level of discrimination
and segregation between races.
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Sheldon
The character of Sheldon presents an emotional
depth to the film. Without Sheldons continuous
progression, the romantic element to the film
would potentially be lost or at least not as
impacting. At the beginning of Im Here,
Sheldon isnt an interesting character, he lacks
the emotional aspect that audiences tend to
relate to and warm to in film however, this
lacking aspect develops and builds throughout the
films progression and Sheldon ultimately creates
the most impact on audiences from each character
and scenario presented. Both to himself and to
audiences, he seems to have nothing to give that
is beneficial to the world and leads a very
mediocre lifestyle, a librarian, living alone in
a big city of vast opportunity. Upon the meeting
of Francesca, Sheldons character has found his
opportunity for a new lease on life and love. She
offers him the companionship he has gone without
before. Sheldon is incapable at the beginning of
the narrative to have any human-like emotional
quality to him, he is a blank canvas with no
connections of purpose this changes through his
relationship with Francesca where he says he is
now able to dream, feeling a strong affection for
her character, sacrificing his being to keep her
well. As a character, Sheldon warms an audiences
heart through his personal development he is
the ideal character and holds the strongest
amount of good qualities that no one human
appears to.
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Francesca
The character of Francesca is Sheldons love
interest and opportunity to better himself and
his life. At first, to me Francesca seemed to be
a positive light on Sheldons life, she was able
to help him develop human feelings and
connections, she gave him a break from the
loneliness he lead. As Im Here continued
Francesca became a clumsy character but still
remaining as a happy light to the film, when I
first saw her initial incident of losing her arm,
Sheldon jumped to offer her help, sacrificing his
arm for her Francesca appeared comforted and her
affections for Sheldon grew. A few scenes later,
Francesca has a second incident outside of
Sheldons apartment where her leg has been
dismantled, in an order to help her once more
Sheldon realises the only thing that can make her
better is to sacrifice his own leg to which she
protests but once he admits to her shes allowed
him to dream, she agrees to take his leg as she
believes that it is what he wants at this point
I was slightly annoyed at her for not continuing
to protest however respect her initial
disagreement towards his offer and believe her
affections and respect towards him grew more
after this incident. Francesca has her final
incident towards the end of the narrative where,
for a reason unexplained, she has been taken to
hospital for the loss of her core Sheldon again
sacrifices not just a small fraction of himself,
but his entire being so that she can continue on
in her life. As she sees this she seems startled
but does not hesitate to offer anything in return
I feel that despite the scenes of care and
affection that she does show towards Sheldon in
between incidents, she knows that Sheldon would
give up everything for her and I believe she
begins to take advantage of this.
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Love, Friendship Loyalty
Im Here presents these three themes in an
impacting way. To me, it seemed that Spike Jonze
wanted to show the creation of a bond between two
people and the blossom of that connection
through the characters of Sheldon and Francesca,
audiences are shown that having feeling and
compassion can be the best thing to offer to the
world, in this case a seemingly negative world,
despite it seeming such an irrelevant and small
gesture. Sheldon ultimately sacrifices his
ability of life to make sure she is well again
a bold gesture to make however is done nothing
less than out of love. A few messages that I
managed to apply to Im Here was that
similarly to Sheldon, you can give everything
that you have to someone and still end up with
nothing.
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How would you summarise the narrative?
Im Here follows the narrative of main
character Sheldon who adapts his average life and
welcomes a new sense of life, and love. Sheldon
opens the narrative as some what of a recluse
until numerous encounters with another robot,
Francesca, occur turning in to a relationship
Sheldons first meaningful connection. As the
narrative progresses, incidents suggest to
audiences that the human race and that of the
robots do not combine well, something that
possibly has made Sheldon a hidden character of
society I think this because after Francesca has
several accidents due to clumsiness, Sheldon
doesnt seem to be fully unaware of showing
comfort and compassion towards her. Overall the
narrative to me was a message of complete
devotion to your happiness Francesca gave
Sheldon so much life and love, allowing him to
excel to his best and I feel that Sheldon
sacrificing himself was almost thanking her for
this opportunity. In terms of a short film,
Im Here, the production does tend to follow
the conventions of a short film such as limited
characters, low budget and a simple storyline to
follow. Im Here conveys to these conventions
having two main characters, a very easy storyline
to follow (it is quite repetitive with
Francescas injuries) and Jonze uses the scenery
around him to create the settings for the film,
conforming to the low budget aspect. There is one
convention of a short film that Im Here does
not conform to and that is length. The length of
short films usually falls between 3 20 minutes
and no longer however, Im Here goes against
this lasting just over 30 minutes but this does
not affect the attention of a short film audience
and in fact works well in creating a clearly
constructed narrative. The ending of Im Here
made me feel quite moved and I think this was
because it has become so unusual to see such a
caring character as Sheldon in reality, never
mind feature length and short films. The ending
presented the two main characters as being even
closer and having a stronger emotional connection
with one another despite Sheldon being massively
incapable of doing regular things now.
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The audience for Im Here?
Im Here was first premiered at the 2010
Sundance Festival so the films audience was
quite open in terms of having to appeal to a
mixture of people some of these being film
students, other directors and producers, YouTube
creators and general film fans. With this film,
and many other short films, the audience can
often be more invested in the content and
structure of the films rather than the genre as
usually, short films appeal to a mixed audience
with them being hybrids (usually).
Where Is It Most Likely To Be Shown?
Im Here is most likely to be shown at a film
festival it was shown at the 2010 Sundance Film
Festival to its first audience and was
successfully received.
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Why Was It Sponsored By Absolut Vodka?
I think that Im Here was sponsored by Absolut
Vodka because Spike Jonze is quite a well known
and successful director, Absolut Vodka is also a
big company so by being associated together, the
sales of Absolut Vodka possibly may have risen
and this benefits the films reaction bringing
more of an investment in.