Home Cartoon movies How the animated film’s robots can be an allegory for the trans experience

How the animated film’s robots can be an allegory for the trans experience

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A Blue Sky Studios production, robots is an oft-forgotten animation masterpiece. However, many have speculated that the film may have a deeper meaning regarding and explaining the trans experience. robots was released in 2005, and at the time, the transgender community was not as prominent or accepted in the media as it is today. So, if the film was to be an allegory of the trans experience and ostensibly aimed at children and young adults, it would have to be more subtle in the film. Fans of the film have been spreading this theory widely in recent years, almost hoping to make it correct.

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However, even though robots is not an allegory of the trans experience, it is a great film about friendship and economic disparities. The film shows how different economic classes are punished for not being able to afford the next big technological innovation, whether it’s a new phone or new parts. robots is still able to find its place in modern media, whether it shows the trans experience through animation or not.

What is robots On?

robots revolves around Rodney Copperbottom, a young robot from a small town who dreams of becoming an inventor. When his parents need the money, Rodney moves to Robot City to try to sell an invention to his hero, Bigweld. However, instead of finding Bigweld when Rodney arrives in Robot City, he finds Phineas T. Ratchet who, on a tangent with his mother, is trying to pull all the poor robots that need parts off the streets.


Phineas sells upgrades that cost an arm and a leg (literally) and those who can’t afford the upgrades are swept off the streets. Phineas’ goal is to “overtake” the robots by no longer selling their parts and thus making them become walking pieces of junk. As Rodney tries to find Bigweld, he makes friends who also need his hero’s help. Eventually, Rodney meets Cappy, a colleague of Phineas who disagrees with his plan. Rodney and Cappy find Bigweld and convince him to return to his company in order to save Robot City. Once Bigweld returns, Rodney and his crew of “overwhelmed” robots fight with Phineas and his mother to the death (meltdown) and win. Bigweld then returns to run his company and names Rodney as his eventual successor.

Related: Explained: Is Zootopia a Good Allegory for Racism?

East robots an allegory for the trans experience?


Robot threatening another robot
20th century fox

As moviegoers know, many animated movies marketed for kids tend to have a deeper meaning for them. robots in particular is supposed to be an allegory of the trans experience. In film, gender is not as important a construct as it is in our daily lives. In robots, robots are able to “change gender” as they change rooms. Mechanical parts are not particularly gendered, but for people looking, specific parts can indicate specific genders.

Near the end of the film, Fender (voiced by the late Robin Williams) has his legs removed in the Chop Shop. He quickly finds another pair of legs that appear to be female. While at the time it seemed like a joke, the legs seemed to be very comfortable for Fender. He soon performs his own rendition of Britney Spears in a very confident and comfortable manner. Fender seems very comfortable in his new female body. Like robots came out in 2005, the gender comedy was high profile and laughable. However, looking at the film through today’s lens, it’s very possible that robots is an allegory of the trans experience, specifically how one can feel more comfortable in a body they weren’t originally in. Jack/Judith Halberstam states this in the book The Queer Art of Failure (pp. 45-46), writing:


As a parody of social construction, this children’s film imagines embodiment as an assembly of parts and considers some as optional, others as interchangeable; indeed, later in the film, the little robot boy wears some of his sister’s clothes.

Related: Best LGBTQ+ Movies of the 2010s

Or do people read too much in a children’s movie?


Three robots celebrating
20th century fox

While robots could certainly be an allegory of the transgender experience, it could also be a common case of apophenia (or reading meaning into something that doesn’t justify it). While the robots in the film are technically not gender-conforming (and appear to choose genders), is this a depiction of the trans experience or just a plot or an oversight? Theories about this movie regarding the trans experience abound, but there are plenty of people who disagree.

Since gender themes in the film can very easily fade into the background, it’s entirely possible that viewers will overlook them; the film is simply entertaining, delicious and funny, whatever the exegesis. Fender is a prominent character in the film, but his gender change can be seen as a joke instead of an empowering moment for the character. Many fans of the film are people who have watched robots like a kid 17 years ago and look at it through a nostalgic lens. Given this, these viewers may be more likely to read gender subtext in film, especially if it is ideologically familiar to them – people insert their viewpoints into everything they watch or read; Wherever you go, there you are.

In the end, whether or not the true meaning of the film is to explain the transgender experience may never be fully known; ultimately, how important is intentionality in art? Does the mere fact that the creator hears a certain meaning mean that any different interpretation is invalid and unimportant? Nevertheless, regardless of whether it is an allegory or not, robots is a great movie.


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