Reality Regarding Robocop

The violence in Robocop was not realistic. The violence was conducted in a mock sort of way. This might be my interpretation because they did not have the special effects that we have today to make the violence sequences realistic. However, I believe that it was the director's choice to make the violence cheesy. 
Honestly, the violence and gore and me laughing. It was just so ridiculous. There was a moment I was "horrified". One of the gang members was engulfed by toxic waste. His skin began to melt. I was not horrified because this was realistic, only because it was a bit gross. 
This movie was in no way realistic. The setting is in an alternate Detroit that has robot capabilities. It is an alternate reality. I always found myself looking in on the characters and their conflicts from the outside. Never able to connect. There is a direct relationship to the violence that the character receives and gives out. The audience is detached, and therefore, can take it lightly.
This can be compared to Pan's Labyrinth. This film is arguably way more unrealistic than Robocop. However, it was real to me. I felt this emotional connection to the story, and more importantly to Ofelia. When the Captain showed disdain or even hinted at violence toward Ofelia, I felt anger toward the man. The violence was perfect in serving its purpose as an emotional trigger. The violence made that film all the more real.
The audience is also removed from the story because the character is 99% robot. He has mental programming to defend people from bad guys even if it means enacting violence toward that person. In this instance there is no moral objections from the audience. Seeing a robot killing someone is completely difference from seeing another human being killing someone. 
It is easy to support the protagonist when he is killing the bad guys because they deserve to be punished after what they did to him. So the audience is more likely to get behind the protagonist's actions. However, if he decided to shoot a random person in the face this would no longer be the case. 
Robocop is certainly a unique film, but artistic? Art is subjective. In my eyes Robocop is not artistic. However, this does not mean that I was not entertained by it, even if it was in a superficial way. Robocop is definitely an entertaining movie. The violence was hilarious, and was probably the only aspect of the film that could have been considered art.