# Columbia pictures needs to make up its stupid mind about Chappie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817 "2015-02-16T15:34:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/21 "2015-02-20T18:11:38Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > It’s possible to cut and score a trailer to suggest a _completely_ different experience. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmkVWuP_sO0), for instance, is a trailer for a romantic comedy called _The Shining_. > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Oh, you mean that [horror movie about the ice witch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eD2UpdhbwA)? Heh – these fake trailers are cute, but here’s a real one: Spielberg’s _Always_ morphed from an [action/comedy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSL30W9DeU8) to a more [general romance.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El19vLqML1s) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/22 "2015-02-27T02:04:50Z")
I can’t decide which is more dumb. Naming a robot Chappie, or naming a movie about robots Chappie. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/23 "2015-03-13T11:34:02Z")
Should we have a new Thread now that the movie’s out? Or should we keep posting in this one. I saw it and loved it. > [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > I may still see it just because I’m curious to see how Die Antwoord come off in the movie. They’re awesome!!! My introduction to Die Antwoord came from Stiller and Meara if you can believe that! They had a web series a few years ago- their old schtick from way back in the old days played for the internet age. They were brilliant, hadn’t missed a beat from when they were in their prime. Anyway, each week’s episode was about some new thing that all of the internet was buzzing about. Then, one episode was all about Die Antwoord …for some reason. All of the internet certainly was not buzzing about Die Antwoord at the time- none of the internet directed at U.S. audiences anyway. But Stiller and Meara did a whole episode about them (Anne liked them, Jerry wasn’t so sure). And that’s how I first found out about them. > [@Trancephalic](#): > > Cute family robot saving the world The cute robot part of the story was, for me anyway, the darker part of the story than the evil robots were. It’s established that the AI has to start off as a mental infant and then learn just as a human would (it will learn much more quickly, but it still has to start off as a child). The repeated emotional trauma that Chappie experiences in early “childhood” scars him terribly. It’s heartbreaking to watch the effects of violence and, particularly, the effects of being lied to by those he trusted. Then the loss of loved ones. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/24 "2015-03-15T04:51:48Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I’ll be interested in seeing how _Chappie_ is any different from _A.I._ Maybe it’s _A.I. Meets Bicentennial Man_. _Short Circuit_ meets _Robocop_. The big bad even invokes ED-209! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/25 "2015-03-15T04:57:40Z")
Bah! Should be “evokes”, too late to change it again. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/26 "2015-03-15T05:34:17Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > … Given that the mascot of the gum (also called Chappie) was [a chipmunk\* in a barbershop outfit\*\*](http://www.biltong2u.co.uk/image/cache/data/cat7/chappiesassorted-500x500.jpg) down to the straw boater, I’d say no, manliness is not associated with it … “Chappie” James was a pilot instructor of the Tuskeegee Airmen, flew combat in Korea, and eventually became the first ever African American 4 star general. I’d say that’s some degree of manliness. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/27 "2015-03-15T06:10:38Z")
As soon as I saw the rabbit ears on Chappie in a promotional poster, I couldn’t help but think of [Briareos Hecatonchires](http://www.total-manga.com/images/Personnage/FR-7-3580-B/briareos-hecatonchires.png) from Appleseed - a manga to rival any Tom Clancy novel. After seeing the first preview, I was hoping for a live-action “Wall-E”. After seeing the second preview, I was not hoping for another “District 9”. I usually wait for movies to come out on DVD, so we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/28 "2015-03-15T06:18:19Z")
So _Chappie_ **isn’t** a sequel to _Real Steel_? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/29 "2015-03-15T20:23:33Z")
I saw this movie last weekend. I watched for some hint of a connection between the name Chappie in the film and, as mentioned above, the South African slang referring to chewing gum. I didn’t see any connection there. (In the movie, when a character is introduced to the title character, she describes him as a happy chappy, and dubs him Chappie as a result. I was wondering to myself what might happen after the events in the film’s end. Anyone else seen it and care to discuss it? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/30 "2015-03-15T22:26:16Z")
Without any major spoilers. Is this a robot war movie or not? The previews on this movie are so confusing. I might go see a robot grows up story. Grows up to fight a brutal war? I’ll pass. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/31 "2015-03-15T23:05:11Z")
No, it’s not a “robot war” movie. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/32 "2015-03-15T23:21:39Z")
Thanks. All the crap about saving humanity had me worried. I hate misleading promos. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/33 "2015-03-15T23:51:54Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > It’s not the first time; I’ve seen multiple trailers for movies before selling the movie differently. . . . There’s a company–used to be in a building at Hollywood and La Brea, I think–where they pay people not much more than minimum wage to do random survey calls across the country, in which they ask things like this: “What would you expect to see in a movie that has so-and-so starring as a such-and-such, where this-and-that happens…” and “How likely would you go see that movie?” That company then turns that data over to marketing firms working on how to characterize trailers and billboards. (If you live in Rochester, NY, or Cedar Rapids, IA, you have a good chance of being called by them.) The idea isn’t to provide an accurate representation of the movie so much as to give the potential viewer an easy way to “fill in the blanks” on their own, so that there are as few objections possible to seeing it later on when they’re with friends who know they want to see a movie, but haven’t decided which one. They do the same with posters–even more so. Movie posters provide as little explicit indication of a film’s narrative as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817/34 "2015-03-16T01:25:44Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Without any major spoilers. Is this a robot war movie or not? The previews on this movie are so confusing. > > I might go see a robot grows up story. Grows up to fight a brutal war? I’ll pass. Picture baby Robocop growing up to take on a bigger ED-209. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/columbia-pictures-needs-to-make-up-its-stupid-mind-about-chappie/712817.md?page=1)