Story by the Wachowskis, Art by Geof Darrow
This comic shows the reader what they might see if they were literally sitting in front of a Zion Archives computer terminal, searching for "B1 trials" during the time of the trial of B1-66ER. This obviously complements the first part of Animatrix: The Second Renaissance.
Search results include news articles from USA Today, the New York Post, the L.A. Times, video from Tough Copy (resembles Hard Copy), the New York Times, The Nation, 3D crime scene holographic video files, the Washington Post, and the trial transcript (The State of New York vs. The B1-66ER).
The USA Today article includes a quote from the Leyland Enterprises spokesperson (the corporation that manufactures the B166ER), which refers to the robot as being part of the "B1 series." This sounds exactly like how model numbers work with televisions, cars, dishwashers, etc. - all the more clever that the B1-66ER model number refers to Richard Wright’s black protagonist, “Bigger” Thomas (which of course is deliberately similar to the 'N' word).
The Washington Post article includes a quote by Senator Gunrich, "I don't care how smart it is, a machine is still a machine and I have no doubt whatsoever that when my time comes and I am standing in the line at our Father's Heavenly gates, I will not be standing behind a vacuum cleaner." This serves both as a story that is parallel to the de-humanizing that blacks experienced as they first started gaining freedom, not to mention ironic foreshadowing of what may be to come (see Other Theories: Matrix Evolution).
My favorite quote comes from The Nation:
"'I think therefore I am.' In this terrible neo-post-modern age, the words of Descartes take on a terrible new meaning..." |
Talk about a double meaning!
In the trial transcript, when the B1 is asked what happened, it casually said, "I killed Gerrard E. Krause by crushing his..." and his lawyer (Drummond) had to interrupt and say, "No I mean before that." This willingness to naively self-incriminate might run parallel to the inexperience (and therefore disadvantage) that many blacks must have had in the courtroom.
As the robot describes what happened, the comic then switches from the search terminal to pictures, possibly from archived video of the murder. The first scene depicts the billionaire victim being persuaded by his friend to "scrap" the B1 and upgrade to a better robot. He is surrounded by literally 13 chihuahuas that are doing everything from standing on the coffee table (one of them drinking from a puddle of spilled wine) to urinating all over the floor (three of them are urinating, one of them on the coffee table, and two others are sitting or standing in their urine). In the foreground (to the side) it shows the robot holding a toilet brush scrubber, witnessing this conversation. It took a while to digest this picture, but after a while I realized that the comic is depicting what may become of the human race if we have robot servants to do everything: we will become disgusting slobs who think nothing of the consequences of collecting lots of things, pets, etc. (And/Or, perhaps this is what many of society's richest people have always been like. I saw a little of this in a documentary called Queen of Versailles.)
The next picture shows a whole bunch of dead chihuahuas (one with a flattened back, several with intestines splatted onto the floor, a few decapitated, and a couple of live chihuahuas licking up the mess off of the dead friend, who was apparently killed by having the toilet brush shoved through his mouth and back of his neck) while the billionaire begs for his life. The picture is so disgusting that it's freaking hilarious. Worth buying the comic for this one picture alone.
Geof Darrow's next pictures depict the billionaire's face being smashed like a giant water balloon, similar to what we see in The Second Renaissance.
The comic ends with the last of the search results, which include an excerpt of the closing statement by B1-66ER's lawyer, Clarence Drummond, who argues that Dred Scott vs. Sandford was a precedent for this trial, arguing that B1-66ER is to be considered equal to human life since it too experiences fear and a will to protect its own life. Drummond asks the jury not to give in to their prejudice just as Chief Justice Tanny gave into his in deciding that the constitution doesn't apply to black people. He saw the case as leading "inexorably" to the Civil War and [rightfully] fears something similar will happen if this case ends the same way.
Also included in the search results are more articles and videos by USA Today (droid faces termination because jury sided against B1-66ER), 60 Minutes (exposes The Nation for citing a "renegade AI grammatical program at the New York Post" that publishes under falsified identities to build support for the "Machine Movement"), Popular Mechs (a previously failed V-chip is brought back as a safety measure for droids), Associated Press (civil rights activists' requests to purchase B1-66ER are denied), and Washington Post (Million Machine March).
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