History WhatMeasureIsANonHuman / Film

** And in the ''StarWars'' videogame ''{{Knights of the Old Republic}}'', "Destroy Droid" is considered to be a ''light side'' power.

* The company the protagonist works for in ''{{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.

** For a kid-friendly ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids but not really]]) take, see the book and film ''{{The Mouse and His Child}}'', which gets downright philosophical about it.

* Fairly blatantly played in the BMovie titled ''{{Attack of the the Eye Creatures}}''. No, that extra 'the' in there is not an accident. The hero and his NeutralFemale girlfriend actually have to prove that they didn't run over a person while driving dangerously, but a ''thing'', so that's okay. Nobody wonders if the the Eye Creatures have families at home.
* In the movie adaptation of ''{{Lost in Space}}'', treacherous backstabber Dr. Smith is kept alive, despite having sold them out and tried to have everyone killed, is allowed to live because he's human (though he likes to brag that he saved their daughter's life, the fact that he endangered it in the first place is ignored by everyone). When he becomes a mutant half-human hybrid, the family have far less qualms killing him, or [[spoiler: injuring him so his mutant alien spider spawn will eat him]]. They admit the only reason they wouldn't kill him was because he's human.

* Explored ''hardcore'' in ''{{District 9}}''. In theory, the aliens are legal residents of South Africa, with all the standard rights to life, liberty and property that that entails. In ''practice'', they're confined to an uninhabitable trash-heap, exploited as sub-minimum wage labor, forced to subsist off of offal and cat food, left to fend for themselves against crime syndicates that the police have no interest in dealing with, and are generally treated little better than animals. When an "unlicensed" nest of alien eggs is discovered by the military, they proceed to "abort" the unborn aliens. ''With a flamethrower.''

* Inverted in ''{{The 13th 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.

* 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 ''[[Film/{{Thor}} Thor]]'''s credit, the answer is that it is pretty high. [[spoiler: Part of Thor's CharacterDevelopment 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".]]

* More info on the ''Day of the Dead'' example mentioned above. In the original ''Day of The Dead'', there's "Bub", Doctor Logan's star pupil. He becomes a zombie, but he actually knows how to control his hunger and can carry out basic human actions. Also, he is visibly anguished when Logan is killed.
** Of course the point of that was Zombies ''slowly'' regain their former selves, so by the time of ''Land of the Dead'', Zombies for the most part are peaceful and only attack the human city because [[KarmicDeath some assholes were killing them for fun]]. They clearly ignore the thousands of humans living in slums.
* In both the first and the second ''StarWars'' trilogies, droids are established as having hopes, fears, desires, and even moments of insight or creativity. Nevertheless, because they are not organic, no one feels any qualms about slaughtering vast numbers of them in the prequel trilogy (although the Trade Federation droids may not have been sentient, a line of thought which occurs rapidly upon viewing of their ineffective tactics).

*** Notably the audio commentary for ''AttackOfTheClones'' had a joke about how they ruled out putting R4-P17 in the arena with Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padme because it would have gotten then an NC-17.
** Worst of all is one of the last scenes in ''Revenge of the Sith''. What would have been a major plot hole is filled in by casually erasing [=C-3PO=]'s memory -- '''including his memory of his nominal father who built him''' -- and the scene is treated as a joke. Mind,[=C-3PO=] probably couldn't be trusted to keep a secret to save his "life".
*** It was actually more of a necessity, to prevent people from knowing the droid's history. Would you want to have any confidence in something that was once the property of a Dark Lord of the Sith?
*** The treatment of R2-D2 may make this all kinds of a subversion - while the chatty human-like droid is mindwiped, his non-humanoid sidekick is not. [[ExpandedUniverse He ends up keeping his history a secret from Luke and Leia for ''thirty-six years'', for "their protection".]]
*** The {{novelization}} has several sections from Threepio's POV which show that he genuinely ''does not understand'' the circumstances. His programming, at this point, just isn't that advanced. And when told at the end that he'll be serving the man who adopted her daughter, he's delighted and says he can't wait to tell Leia all about her parents. She'll be so proud! This being ''after'' he listened to Padme getting strangled. Bail Organa, listening to this, then orders the memory wipe.

*** Which creates the [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implication]] that droids are basically sentient but brainwashed slaves.

*** Not to mention that nobody except a few select people can understand what Artoo is saying.

*** Of course, the EU features an incident in which a childcare droid's brain is downloaded into a new body, indicating that droids sometimes get this kind of treatment because they can be rebuilt. How big a problem is this? ''[[ChaoticEvil HK-47]]'' manages to pull it off at one point.

** The Battle Droids of the prequel trilogy are treated as totally nonhuman, and their "deaths" at the hands of the heroes are even played for laughs. But they still react in a very lifelike way, even acting scared when someone comes at them brandishing a lightsaber!

*** 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]]. Some fans have suggested that this was the Emperor's idea of a practical joke, but in-universe I guarantee no one said that to the assassin droid's face.

* Johnny 5 in the ''Film/ShortCircuit'' 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. Of course, 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 [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism more realistic]] approach.
** The bigwigs at Pixar admit that Johnny 5 served as inspiration for the character of Wall-E; not to mention, how many years Wall-E spent alone on an abandoned Earth to develop a personality (with NO brain wipes!).

* This trope, and all its myriad mutations, basically forms the entire plot of the film ''AIArtificialIntelligence''. 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.

* In the movie adaptation of ''{{Lost in Space}}'', treacherous backstabber Dr. Smith is kept alive, despite having sold them out and tried to have everyone killed, is allowed to live because he's human (though he likes to brag that he saved their daughter's life, the fact that he endangered it in the first place is ignored by everyone). When he becomes a mutant half-human hybrid, the family have far less qualms killing him, or [[spoiler: injuring him so his mutant alien spider spawn will eat him]]. They pretty much admit the only reason they wouldn't kill him was because he's human.

* Utilised in ''[[TwentyEightDaysLater 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 literally 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 ''Film/IRobot'', 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. Hell, even ''Sonny himself'' doesn't seem bothered by brutally destroying his own kin. It's only after the BigBad 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.

** Note that 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.

** This is especially evident (and even 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]]. [[TearJerker 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".

* Utilised in ''[[TwentyEightDaysLater 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 literally 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.
** Well in all fairness the Infected aren't really alive, are they? All they do it kill so it's a clear case of "Us or them".
*** They are alive, just [[AxeCrazy blood crazy]].

* Fairly blatantly played in the BMovie titled ''{{Attack of the the Eye Creatures}}''. No, I did not accidentally add an extra 'the'. They did. The hero and his NeutralFemale girlfriend actually have to prove that they didn't run over a person while driving dangerously, but a ''thing'', so that's okay. Nobody wonders if the the Eye Creatures have families at home.

* In the silent movie ''Film/TheGolem'', 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, [[NonMaliciousMonster 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.

* More info on the ''Day of the Dead'' example mentioned above. In the original ''Day of The Dead'', there's "Bub", Doctor Logan's star pupil. He becomes a zombie, but he actually knows how to control his hunger and can carry out basic human actions. Also, he is visibly anguished when Logan is killed. [[YourMileageMayVary This editor thought]] he was the most sympathetic character in the film.

* This trope, and all its myriad mutations, basically forms the entire plot of the film ''[=~A.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.

* The film titled ''[=~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. Hell, even ''Sonny himself'' doesn't seem bothered by brutally destroying his own kin. It's only after the BigBad 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.

* ArthurCClarke's novels and their film adaptations ''[=~2001: A Space Odyssey~=]'' and ''[=~2010: The Year We Make Contact~=]'' explore this subject with H.A.L. 9000, the [[AIIsACrapshoot AI]] MasterComputer 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 [[LogicBomb 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 TearJerker.

* The company the protagonist works for in ''{{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 [[spoiler:finding out teh truth]].

** In ''A New Hope'', when the bartender of the Mos Eisley cantina says "We don't serve droids here.", TheBook has Luke decide that it's not the time to fight for "droid rights" before telling C-3PO and R2-D2 to stay outside. This suggests that good guys ''do'' care about droid rights, but the issue is never followed up on (at least not in that book, I haven't read them all).

* Johnny 5 in the ''ShortCircuit'' 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. Of course, 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 [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism more realistic]] approach.

** A chunk of the Empire's cultural backbone is its doctrine conforming to [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Human_High_Culture Human High Culture]], holding to the belief that humans were inherently superior to others. Healthy male humans, at that. The [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/NhM NhM category]], standing for Non-huMan, was applied to various degrees to droids, [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Imperial_non-Humans aliens, near-humans, cyborgs]], and [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Imperial_women women]]. Some from each category except the droids, if they were devoted and forceful enough, rose to power anyway, but it was an uphill battle, and in several cases was only possible at all because they [[FemaleSuccessIsFamily hitched their careers to those of male human officers]].

* In the silent movie ''TheGolem'', 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, [[NonMaliciousMonster 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.

* Uncomfortably invoked by the "boarding the Arks" scene in ''[[{{ptitlek4mkmm79}} 2012]]''. Let's see, based on the onscreen action, they've saved about 1,000 humans... and two giraffes. And ''no'' [[ThatPoorPlant plants]]. Good [[HomestarRunner jarb]]. (Yeah, yeah, we know it's an obvious Noah's Ark parallel, but...)

* In a rare example of What Measure Is A Non-Living Object, the male and female leads in ''NationalTreasure'' both opt to risk the latter's DisneyVillainDeath rather than [[FriendOrIdolDecision 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 a rare example of What Measure Is A Non-Living Object, the male and female leads in ''NationalTreasure'' both opt to risk the latter's DisneyVillainDeath rather than 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''.

* ''AndYouThoughtYourParentsWereWeird'' plays with this. The villain knows that the robot Newman has been [[HauntedTechnology 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.

* To the film ''[[Film/{{Thor}} Thor]]'''s credit, the answer is that it is pretty high. [[spoiler: Part of Thor's CharacterDevelopment 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".]]

* To the film ''[[Film/{{Thor}} Thor]]'s credit, the answer is that it is pretty high. [[spoiler: Part of Thor's CharacterDevelopment 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".]]

* 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!

*** Notably the audio commentary for ''AttackOfTheClones'' had a joke how they ruled out putting R4-P17 in the arena with Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padme because it would have gotten then an NC-17.

*** Notably the audio commentary for AttackOfTheClones had a joke how they ruled out putting R4-P17 in the arena with Anakin, Obi-Wan and Padme because it would have gotten then an NC-17.

*** Their brains were not in their skulls, but they were remote controlled from the Droid Control Ship in the orbit, so their program survived the body being gleefully chopped to pieces. Until young Anakin murdered them all.