Her: Does the iPhone Equate to iSolation?
Her, directed and released by Spike Jonze in 2013, is a romantic scientific film, following Theodore Twombly (played by Joaquin Phoenix) as he begins a friendship, ultimately escalating into relationship, with his new operating system (OS), Samantha (voice played by Scarlett Johansen.) Her addresses broader social and technological themes such as intimacy via technology, virtual sex, sex surrogates, friendship, isolation, etc. I feel although Her beautifully documents so many of these powerful themes, the topic of isolation is paramount to address. Throughout the film, the audience witnesses Theodore spend more and more time with his OS, Samantha, and less and less time with his friends. Although, at the moment, Theodore appears to be happy solely interacting with just a voice, as the computer-software system of Samantha makes their relationships feel extremely personalized, I feel he is simply pushing himself further away from the realities of society. Cinematically, the majority of the film, is Theodore exploring the world alone, with just the voice over narrative of Samantha in the background.
To piggyback off this, I also believe, that as Theodore spends more time with Samantha, the harder it is for him to communicate with humans in real time and space. For example, Theodore is extremely quiet and uncomfortable when his female friend attempts to show him her mini-documentary; Theodore cannot maintain a smooth conversation with his blind date without it ending poorly; Theodore has a hard time maintaining eye-contact with his ex-wife when they meet in person, and lastly; Theodore cannot physically be intimate with Samantha’s potential sex surrogate. I feel these issues are important to address today as Theodore’s addiction to his technology, phone, operating system, etc. is not far off from where society stands in relation with their technological gadgets in 2017. In almost all of the shots where Theodore is out in public, the audience views all other civilians interacting on their personalized OS, as well, instead of interacting with one another or even appreciating their surroundings. To me, this resonated a little too much with how much my friends and peers spend on his or her differing screens. I feel, Her, does a phenomenal job at portraying what our futuristic world may look like, in a short amount of time, if we, as humans, do not come to realize the importance of human interaction and lesser our daily amount of time of isolation.
