Short Circuit 2 (1988)
The adventures of America's most electric leading man continue.
Robot Johnny 5 moves to the city to help his friend Ben Jahrvi with his toy manufacturing enterprise, only to be manipulated by criminals who want to use him for their own nefarious purposes.
In Short Circuit 2, consciousness is carried by machines — a plane of “robotic citizenship”. The story fights on E8/E10 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing consciousness, law, identity, technology, exploitation.
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Same subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
They Cloned Tyrone (2023)E4/E9/E11 · rare rung · exploitation, identity
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)E6/E11 · rare rung · exploitation, technology
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)E6/E12 · rare rung · exploitation, technology
Origin: Spirits of the Past (2006)E12/E13 · rare rung · consciousness, technology
The Animatrix (2003)E9/E12 · rare rung · consciousness, identity
The Creator (2023)E9/E12 · rare rung · consciousness, technologyAlso bends a rule of reality
Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.
Wifelike (2022)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)alters at E8 · same rung · rigorous
Mars Express (2023)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Her (2013)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Being John Malkovich (1999)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Ghost in the Shell (1995)alters at E8 · same rung · rigorousAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (2008)consciousness in machines · cybernetic corporate dystopia
I, Robot (2004)consciousness in machines · AI dystopia
Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)consciousness in machines · digital arcade internet
Blade Runner (1982)consciousness in machines · future corporate dystopia
The Electric State (2025)consciousness in machines · drone dystopia
Vice (2015)consciousness in machines · synthetic resortSame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
Ted 2 (2015)consciousness in objects · consciousness, identity
The Happytime Murders (2018)consciousness in objects · exploitation, identity
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000)consciousness carried elsewhere · exploitation, identity
The Man with Two Brains (1983)consciousness carried elsewhere · consciousness, identity
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)consciousness in animals · exploitation, identity
Spinning Man (2018)consciousness in aliens · consciousness, exploitation
