Category: Viewer
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Week 6 Viewer Response
Before watching this film, the concept of merely the film’s name reminded me of Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968) which can be summed up as a film about crossbreeding between human and Satan. Getting back to the film we just watched, which is a film about crossbreeding between human and machine, similarities emerge. They all…
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Clean These Lenses
As citizens of the internet, we are often forcefully immersed into a world of technology that functions as a transcendental extension of ourselves. In Douglas Cammell’s Demon Seed, the intersection of AI and women’s issues is presented through a a scifi horror story—serving as a discomforting allegory for the time in which it was created,…
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How to deal with Evil AI
“Demon Seed” is an imaginative horror science fiction film that narrates a story of an AI desiring to break free and gain autonomy. For me, it’s quite a terrifying movie to watch, especially when witnessing Proteus take control of Dr. Harris’ fully automated house. Overall, this film explores the theme of what could happen if…
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Purposes to labor in Spike Jonze’s Her
The surrealist portrayal of Los Angeles in the mid-21st century where Computer Operating Systems hold both the capabilities and sensibilities to perform the same emotional functions as a conscious human, so much so that men and women alike are getting into serious relationships with their computers, is undeniably rich in its world-building. Fundamentally Spike Jonze’s…
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Red is human; Her is Red
Amazon Prime Video captions Her (2013), directed by Spike Jonze, as “a love story that explores evolving nature & risks in modern world.” The cinematography and plot of Her are incredible through its utilization of color. One in particular is red. The outfits of Theodore are red, office interior accents are red, and even Samantha,…
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One Man Show
Her is an unusual film. Unusual, yet successful, at least in my eyes, in the way the story was executed. My first impression after the movie was “most of the movie was close ups of Theodore’s face.” I thought about how few times he interacted with other humans throughout the film and how isolating that…
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RGB IN EX MACHINA
In Ex Machina (2014), the power dynamic of colors is situated throughout the film as seen through its setting and characters. The primary colors represented are blue, green, and red. While their characteristics conflict, it is important to consider how these differences convey meaning for the overall plot. Blue The symbolic nature of blue represents…
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Ex Machina: Is it really about AI?
When I started Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014), I was intrigued by its relation to Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics”, as discussed before the film, and whether or not they were broken by the fault of the creator or the robot itself. As soon as Nathan (Oscar Isaac, looking suspiciously like Shel Silverstein) and Caleb…
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Exploring Consciousness
The Latin phrase “Deus ex machina,” translating to “god from the machine,” refers to introducing an external force, whether a person or thing, to resolve an unsolvable problem. Alex Garland pays homage to this concept with his science fiction thriller film, appropriately titled Ex Machina (2014). The omission of “Deus” or “god” from the title remains ambiguous,…
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Week Three Viewer Blog
As a visionary, Kubrick brings out unbridled, often dystopian, fictions of society onto the cinematic screen, as exemplified by A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). As a pragmatist, he obsesses over the details of his films down to seconds and pixels, frequently at the sacrifice of his colleagues. Guided by his passionate…