Editing RoboCop (section)

== Thematic analysis ==
{{anchor|Theatrical analysis|analysis|cinematic analysis}}

=== Corporate power ===
[[File:President Ronald Reagan addresses the nation from the Oval Office on tax reduction legislation.jpg|thumb|alt=A photograph of President Ronald Reagan presenting tax-reduction legislation|President [[Ronald Reagan]] addressing the nation in 1981 on tax reduction. ''RoboCop'' satirizes Reagan's political policies espousing limited regulation, trickle-down economics and a pro-business agenda.]]
A central theme in ''RoboCop'' is the power of corporations. Those depicted in the film are corrupt and greedy, privatizing public services and gentrifying Detroit.<ref name="UproxxRetro"/><ref name="SyFyThemes"/> A self-described [[hippie]] who grew up during the [[Watergate scandal]] and the [[Vietnam War]], Miner was critical of Ronald Reagan's pro-business policies and believed that Detroit was destroyed by American corporations.<ref name="EsquireOral"/><ref name="UproxxRetro"/><ref name="IndieWire10Things"/> The Detroit presented in the film is described as beset by rape, crime and "Reaganomics gone awry", where [[gentrification]] and unfettered capitalism result in corporations waging war as the police become a profit-driven entity.<ref name="IndieWire10Things"/><ref name="WaPoReviewKempley"/><ref name="ChicagoReaderReview"/> Miner said that out-of-control crime was a particularly Republican or right-wing fear, but ''RoboCop'' puts the blame for drugs and crime on advancing technology and the privatization of public services such as hospitals, prisons and the police.<ref name="UproxxRetro"/> Although criticism of Reagan-era policies was in the script, Verhoeven did not understand urban politics such as the [[Private prison|privatization of prisons]].<ref name="SFX"/><ref name="LATimesVerhnMakesGood"/> Weller said that the [[trickle-down economics]] espoused by Reagan was "bullshit" and did not work fast enough for those in need.<ref name="SFX"/>

Michael Robertson described the Media Breaks throughout the film as direct criticisms of [[Neoliberalism|neoliberal]] Reagan policies. Robertson focused on OCP's claim that it has private ownership of RoboCop, despite making use of Murphy's corpse. The Old Man was based on Reagan, and the corporation's policies emphasize greed and profit over individual rights. The police are deliberately underfunded, and the creation of RoboCop aims to replace them with a more efficient force. Jones admits that it does not matter if ED-209 works, because they have contracts to provide spare parts for years. He plots with Boddicker to corrupt workers brought in to build Delta City with drugs and prostitution.{{sfn|Robertson|2008|pp=219–220}} Davison believed that the film is politically [[Liberalism|liberal]], but the violence makes it "[[fascism]] for liberals".<ref name="IndieWire10Things"/> It takes a pro-labor stance; the police chief, believing in the essential nature of his service, refuses to strike but the underfunded, understaffed and under-assault police eventually walk out. OCP sees the strike as an opportunity to develop more robots.<ref name="VulureThemes"/>

=== Humanity and death ===
[[File:The Resurrection by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1881.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=A painting of the resurrection of Christ by Heinrich Bloch|''The Resurrection'' by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1881. Murphy's transformation into RoboCop is analogous to the [[Crucifixion of Jesus|crucifixion]] and [[resurrection of Jesus]].]]
Another central theme is the question of what humanity is, and how much of Murphy is left in RoboCop.<ref name="WaPoReviewKempley"/><ref name="RogerEbertReview"/> Neumeier wanted to leave audiences asking "what's left" of Murphy, and described the character's journey as coping with his transformation.{{sfn|Bates|1987a|p=23}} As an officer, Murphy works for a corporation that insists it owns individuals based on waivers and can do what it wants with Murphy's remains. He does the right thing, however, and fights against the demands of his corporate masters.<ref name="EsquireOral"/> Despite his inhuman appearance, RoboCop has a soul, experiences real human fears, and has a core consciousness that makes him more than a machine.<ref name="IndieWire10Things"/> Brooks Landon says that Murphy is dead, however; although he remembers Murphy's life, RoboCop is not (and can never be) Murphy and regain enough of his humanity to rejoin his family.{{sfn|Landon|1987|p=20}} Dale Bradley writes that RoboCop is a machine who mistakenly thinks it is Murphy because of its composite parts, and only believes it has a human spirit within.{{sfn|Bradley|2008|p=16}} An alternative view is that RoboCop's personality is a new construct, informed partially by fragments of Murphy's personality.{{sfn|Bradley|2008|p=17}} [[Slavoj Žižek]] describes Murphy as a man between life and death, who is deceased and simultaneously reanimated with mechanical parts. As he regains his humanity, he transforms from being programmed by others to his former state as a being of desire. Žižek calls this return of the living dead a fundamental human fantasy, a desire to avoid death and take revenge against the living.{{sfn|Žižek|1992|p=22}}

Murphy's death is prolonged and violent, so the audience can see RoboCop as imbued with the humanity taken from him by Boddicker's gang and OCP.<ref name="LATimesVerhnMakesGood"/> Verhoeven considered it important to acknowledge the inherent darkness of humanity to avoid inevitable mutual destruction. He was affected by his childhood experiences during [[World War II]] and the inhuman actions he witnessed. Verhoeven believed that the concept of an immaculate hero died after the war, and subsequent heroes had a dark side they had to overcome.<ref name="LATimesVerhnMakesGood"/> Describing the difference between making films in Europe and America, Verhoeven said that a European ''RoboCop'' would explore the spiritual and psychological problems of RoboCop's condition; the American version focuses on revenge.<ref name="LATimesVerhnMakesGood"/> He incorporated Christian mythology into the film; Murphy's brutal death is analogous to the crucifixion of Jesus before his resurrection as RoboCop, an American Jesus who [[Jesus walking on water|walks on water]] at the steel mill and wields a handgun.<ref name="EsquireOral"/><ref name="IndieWire10Things"/> Verhoeven said that he did not believe in the [[resurrection of Jesus]], but "[he] can see the value of that idea, the purity of that idea. So from an artistic point of view, it's absolutely true".<ref name="EsquireOral"/><ref name="IndieWire10Things"/> The scene of RoboCop returning to Murphy's home is compared to finding the [[Garden of Eden]] or a similar paradise.<ref name="DallasHistory"/><ref name="EsquireOral"/>

Brooks Landon describes the film as typical of the [[cyberpunk]] genre because it does not treat RoboCop as better or worse than average humans (just different), and asks the audience to consider him a new life form.<ref name="LATimesVerhnMakesGood"/>{{sfn|Landon|1987|p=20}} The film does not treat this technological advance as necessarily negative, just an inevitable result of a progression that will change one's life and one's understanding of what it means to be human.{{sfn|Landon|1987|p=20}} The RoboCop character embodies the struggle of humanity to embrace technology.<ref name="TheDissolveNeumeier"/> The central cast do not have romantic interests or overt sexual desires. Paul Sammon described the scene of RoboCop shooting bottles of baby food as symbolic of the relationship he and Lewis can never have.<ref name="UproxxRetro"/>{{sfn|Sammon|1987|p=39}} Taylor agreed, but believed that the confrontation between Morton and Jones in the OCP bathroom was sexualized.<ref name="IndieWire10Things"/>
{{Clear}}

=== Masculinity and authority ===
Vince Mancini describes the 1980s as a period in which cinematic heroes were unambiguously good, as depicted in films that promoted suburban living, materialism and unambiguous villains such as ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' (1981) and ''[[Back to the Future]]'' (1985).<ref name="UproxxRetro"/> Some films of the decade send the message that authority is good and trustworthy, but ''RoboCop'' demonstrates that those in authority are flawed and Detroit has been carved up by greed, capitalism and cheap foreign labor.<ref name="UproxxRetro"/> Weller described RoboCop as an evolution of strait-laced 1940s heroes such as [[Gary Cooper]] and [[Jimmy Stewart]], who lived honorably; modern audiences now cheer a maimed police officer taking brutal revenge.<ref name="LATimesVerhnMakesGood"/>

Susan Jeffords considers ''RoboCop'' among the many "hard body" films of the decade that portray perfect, strong, masculine physiques who must protect the "soft bodies": the ineffectual and the weak. RoboCop portrays strength by eliminating crime and redeeming the city through violence. Bullets ricochet harmlessly off his armor; attempts to attack his crotch (a typical weak point) only hurt the attacker, demonstrating the uncompromising strength and masculinity needed to eliminate crime.<ref name="GuericaMag"/> According to [[Darian Leader]], the addition of something unnatural to a biological body is required to be truly masculine. RoboCop's body incorporates technology, a symbolic addition that makes him more than an average man.{{sfn|Leader|1996|pp=27—29}}