Ex-Machina Reflection
As we entered the Cyborg lecture, I was never particularly interested in artificial intelligence. We have had lectures and discussions about the topic, but I have never been too concerned about the concept. I think it is amazing that human evolution has reached a level where we are now able to create machines with far more intelligent capacities than our own brain can handle. I am not the type of person that has difficulty distinguishing man from machine, or vice versa. However, Alex Garland created such a beautifully complex character that I had trouble distinguishing Ava from a human and a machine. I always saw her as a person, never really fully able to grasp the concept of her technical make up. The lines were purposely blurred between (wo)man and machine.
There were times in the film when Ava's machine like characteristics overshadowed her human like ones. Usually Ava's linguistics resembled that of a regular person, making it difficult to imagine her as a full on machine. There was only one instant when I fully was able to separate Ava from a human. This one time when Caleb asked Ava a question about a particular subject, she gave ended up giving a very long robotic search engine answer. In contrast, other times through out the film Ava had a very complex personality, as her creator intended. Her sexuality, empathy, and mannerism all mirrored those of a human. There was a moment in particular that touched me: when Ava surprises Caleb with a demonstration of how she looks like with clothes on. Clothes are how humans express their bodies, without them they would be naked. In a way, Ava was naked, but it doesn't make anyone uncomfortable because she is a machine. When she puts on the dress and the socks, she is suddenly humanized. However, her neck is left exposed, reminding us of what she really is.
They say that you pick up more details from a movie the second time you watch it, and this was my second time watching it. I like to say that you pick up three times as much detail after the second time AND after taking Eric Solomon's Digital Media and Culture class.
