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What Measure Is a Non-Human?/Film (view source)

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*** Which creates the [[Unfortunate Implications|unfortunate implication]] that droids are sentient but brainwashed slaves.
*** Again, it was explained that this needed to be done, to keep the personalities form "bleeding" into the ship the astromechs were in, to prevent "compatibility" issues between the maintenance hardware, other droids, and humans. Luke's X-wing could only be used by him, and Artoo needed to be there any time maintenance was done, because the ship would only work and communicate with the Luke/Artoo pair.
*** And apparently to prevent sensitive information from getting leaked in the event the droid fell into the wrong hands, as mentioned in [[Star Wars: theThe Clone Wars]].
** And in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' videogame ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', "Destroy Droid" is considered to be a ''light side'' power.
*** This seems to be the main viewpoint on droids pre-Luke's time. R2-D2 is one of the few droids who is treated as an equal (ie ''never'' had a memory wipe). Obi-wan treats all droids as a dime a dozen. In those words.
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*** A shining example of this discrimination is in the [[X Wing Series]] novel ''The Krytos Trap''. Ysanne Isard had a [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|virus tailored]] to infect nonhumans, and only nonhumans, and kill them in horrible ways. She released it on Imperial Center and let the New Republic fight for and claim it so that it could spread. It could be cured using a large amount of bacta; the thought was that the New Republic would bankrupt itself and the nonhuman population, seeing that humans were unaffected and held some of the bacta back for combat injuries, would work at odds. Isard casually told one of her subordinates that it might be prudent to hold some members of the most useful species in quarantine to be used as breeding stock to repopulate their worlds. The subordinate was horrified - he held with Human High Culture, but he didn't think of nonhumans as grain to be poisoned and set out for vermin, with some pristine kernels held back for planting season. Isard was a bit of an extreme case.
*** There actually was one case of a droid rising to high rank in the Empire: [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/4-8C Grand Moff 4-8C].
** And then there's the Tusken Raiders; Anakin returns to Tatooine and meets his stepdad, who opines that they are mere beasts that stand and walk like humans, implicitly justifying their eventual slaughter by Anakin. (Although Anakin's troubled mind after the fact, combined with the oddly human character of the droids and the concept of clone armies, suggest that Lucas intended to [[Playing Withwith a Trope|blur the lines.]])
** This is related to [[No Endor Holocaust]]. As brought up in the movie ''Clerks,'' the second Death Star was still under construction, and all those construction workers got blown up along with the Death Star. George Lucas, in his commentary for ''Attack of the Clones,'' mentions that he figures the Geonosians were probably the ones building it and that it's okay for them to be blown up along with it, because they're "just large termites." They're still sentients, George!
* Johnny 5 in the ''[[Short Circuit (Film)|Short Circuit]]'' movies subverts this trope to a degree; although he is a thinking, feeling machine, he's hard-pressed to convince anyone else of the "thinking, feeling" part, and is often treated in a way that would be considered abuse if performed on a person, as a result. Once he ''does'' convince someone of his sentience, they react to any harm that befalls him with appropriate shock and horror. The producers have specifically stated that they wanted to avoid the standard "treat 'em as if they're human" response most robot movies portray, and use the movies to look at it from a [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|more realistic]] approach.
** The bigwigs at Pixar admit that Johnny 5 served as inspiration for the character of Wall-E; and how many years Wall-E spent alone on an abandoned Earth to develop a personality (with NO brain wipes!).
* The company the protagonist works for in ''[[Moon (Film)|Moon]]'' has no moral qualms about {{spoiler|incinerating clones after they've fulfilled their 3-year contract}} and has done it several times. The general public is not so forgiving after finding out the truth.
** {{spoiler|It can be justified as the lifespan of a single clone, once activated, is roughly three years. The clones tend to fall apart and start vomiting up their own insides by the end of it. You could argue that incinerating them painlessly while they fall asleep thinking they are going home is the most humane way of dealing with the situation}}
* This trope, and all its myriad mutations, forms the plot of ''[[AIA.I.: Artificial Intelligence]]''. The plotline and characters of AI were inspired by a series of short stories/novellas written about 20 years ago by Brian Aldiss. Stanley Kubrick's script was particularly focused on the first story, "Supertoys Last All Summer Long." Some critics later theorized that one reason the film didn't do so well in its initial run was ''because'' the audience disliked having these issues addressed so directly. Like "Blade Runner", it has since developed a cult audience.
** Likewise ''[[Blade Runner]]'', though this earlier film was much more subtle in its approach.
** For a kid-friendly ([[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|but not really]]) take, see the book and film ''[[The Mouse and His Child]]'', which gets downright philosophical about it.
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** Christopher is easily the most compassionate, humane and kind character in the film, to both humans ''and'' aliens. Christopher is ''one of the aliens.''
** Contrast with Wikus, the film's protagonist who ''orders'' the flamethrower's use on the alien nest. It was a ballsy move to take a character that started out displaying [[Complete Monster|far less humanity]] than the aliens and make him sympathetic in the end.
* Utilised in ''[[Twenty Eight Days Later|28 Days Later]]''. When Frank, a loveable survivor and middle-aged single father, becomes infected, Jim and Selena hesitate for a split second -- he's obviously becoming affected by the Rage as they watch, but his daughter is looking on and Frank was the makeshift team's father figure. The left-over soldiers from West's unit who have been watching them, however, drop their cover and just shoot him already. Charming. Back at the base, Infected soldiers are more of a threat, though the men have almost certainly known them for longer -- Lieutenant Mailer is clearly someone they knew in 'life' and they feel no qualms about keeping him on a chain in the yard and watching him starve.
* The film titled ''[[I, Robot (Filmfilm)|I Robot]]'', though only loosely based on Asimov's works (or Eando Binder for that matter), also deals with this issue. Sonny is practically identical to the rest of the robots he is based on, but because he was built with the ability to ignore the Three Laws of Robotics and therefore act more human, he is seen with much more sympathy by the characters. However, they have no qualms about mowing down countless robots in order to save the day. Even ''Sonny himself'' doesn't seem bothered by brutally destroying his own kin. It's only after the [[Big Bad]] is defeated that Sonny genuinely begins to worry about them. Although considering the fact that they were trying to kill them, and that only destructive force would suffice, it might be considered justified.
** Kind of a case of being infected by [[The Virus]]: As long as [[Master Computer|VIKI]] controlled them, they were an endless army of [[Mooks]].
** Even if Sonny ''had'' been operating under the Three Laws, he still wouldn't have hesitated to fight other robots to save humans. Technically, Law # 3 only requires them to preserve ''themselves'' from harm, not one another, which is why the obsolete robots attacked VIKI's Mooks in the storage lot instead of just obstructed their passage.
*** Even if Law # 3 did require them to preserve their kin, it's still overridden by Law # 1.
* Played with in ''[[Return of the Killer Tomatoes]]'' with Tara and FT, tomatoes turned to the side of good, if only the humans could learn to love them! But, to many, the only good tomato is a squashed tomato...
* Inverted in ''[[The 13 th13th Warrior]]'', wherein the protagonist learns that the barbaric antagonists are humans wearing bearskins rather then demonic trolls, and is ''more'' willing to kill them as he is distraught that human beings could commit such violence and barbarism.
* Seemingly subverted in George Miller's ''[[Happy Feet]]'', though Your Mileage May Vary, depending on your interpretation.
* [[Arthur C. Clarke (Creator)]]'s novels and their film adaptations ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' and ''[[Two Thousand Ten2010: theThe Year We Make Contact]]'' explore this subject with H.A.L. 9000, the [[AI Is a Crapshoot|AI]] [[Master Computer]] of the USS ''Discovery''. In ''2001'', HAL goes insane and murders the crew, before being disconnected by the final surviving astronaut, Dave Bowman. The reason for this is not fully revealed until ''2010'' -- he was given [[Logic Bomb|irreconcilably conflicting orders]]. After he's restored to full functioning, however, it suddenly becomes necessary for the astronauts to leave Jupiter immediately or be killed. The climactic conflict arises over whether it's acceptable to ask HAL to risk his own destruction to save the humans aboard the ''Leonov''. The majority of the crew is for lying to him and disconnecting him if he fails to comply, but Dr. Chandra, HAL's creator, feels that he will make the proper decision if told the whole truth. {{spoiler|Chandra turns out to be correct.}} Their final farewell is a [[Tear Jerker]].
{{quote| '''Curnow:''' So it's him or us? I vote us. All opposed? [...] The ayes have it.}}
* Uncomfortably invoked by the "boarding the Arks" scene in ''[[Two Thousand Twelve (Film)2012|Two Thousand Twelve]]''. Let's see, based on the onscreen action, they've saved about 1,000 humans... and two giraffes. And ''no'' [[That Poor Plant|plants]]. Good [[Homestar Runner|jarb]]. (Yeah, yeah, we know it's an obvious Noah's Ark parallel, but...)
* [[Godzilla]] himself invokes this trope quite often. On the one hand, there are those who wish to destroy him simply because he's a giant monster (also, there is that tiny problem of him smashing major cities.). On the other, there are those who wish to keep him alive so they can study him. And that's not even including all the times he's saved Japan from even ''worse'' monsters.
** This is especially evident (and inverted) in ''Tokyo: S.O.S.'' in which Kiryu (AKA "Mechagodzilla 3") {{spoiler|sacrifices himself by sending both himself and Godzilla deep into a nearby ocean trench in order to save Japan after realizing that human beings deserve to live}}. [[Tear Jerker|Especially poignant]] considering Kiryu {{spoiler|Is the original 1954 Godzilla}}. Likewise, the human characters no longer see Kiryu as a monster, or even a simple weapon, but as a hero that, in his own way, became "human".
* Invoked in ''[[Robo CopRoboCop]]''. After Murphy's "death" but before his cyborg body is complete, there is a scene where a surgeon informs an OCP executive that she was able to save Murphy's arm. He complains that leaving more human tissue than necessary risks making [[Robo CopRoboCop]] a legal human being with rights, and orders her to amputate the arm to prevent this.
* What measure a non-simian? Subverted in the ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' films where humans are worth far less than Apes. In ''Battle for the Planet of the Apes'' they even have a chant: [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape]]! Ape shall never kill ape!
* To the film ''[[Thor (Filmfilm)|Thor]]'''s credit, the answer is that it is pretty high. {{spoiler|Part of Thor's [[Character Development]] was that he realized that Jotun aren't just a mindless race that he can just stroll in and kill for his entertainment. Near the end of the film, he pleads with Loki to stop his genocidal plan. Ironically, Loki (who had found out he himself was a Frost Giant) calls them "a race of monsters".}}
* ''[[And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird]]'' plays with this. The villain knows that the robot Newman has been [[Haunted Technology|possessed]] by human intelligence Matt, and yet dismantles him. Matt's family regards this with appropriate horror. On the other hand, Matt's son hitting him in an argument isn't treated seriously at all.
* In a rare example of What Measure Is A Non-Living Object, the male and female leads in ''[[National Treasure]]'' both opt to risk the latter's [[Disney Villain Death]] rather than [["Friend or Idol?" Decision|allow an item they're carrying to fall into a pit and be lost forever]]. Justified because they're both die-hard historians, and it's the freakin' ''Declaration of Independence''.
* In the silent movie ''[[The Golem (Film)|The Golem]]'', the Rabbi -- who is essentially a good character -- has no qualms about turning his creation the [[Golem]] on and off according to his convenience, and eventually prepares to destroy him when the latter has fulfilled his purpose. The Golem, [[Non-Malicious Monster|who is not malicious in itself]], more and more takes offense at the way the humans treat him. His resulting rebellion leads up to the climax of the movie.
* In ''Starchaser: The Legend of Orin'', if you are a robot, '''RUN'''. You have a 90% chance of being killed, regardless of how much personality or plot importance you have. If you're a fembot, you're the character who gets kidnapped, mind raped, sold into slavery, and killed. This movie seriously hates robots.
 
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