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ex machina explanation

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Mar 26th, 2017
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  1. ex machina and the art of character identification summary
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  3. ava represents a real person. so do the other previous ai's. they were created from the literal thought processes of other people. when you consider that, you realize, as the author states, "nathan (because of his treatment of them) is a monster." It is heavily implied that nathan only creates the ai's so that he can have sex with them. That is proof that because ava is a robot he believes she (and the other ai's) don't deserve personhood.
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  5. in summary, a huge part of this movie is for the audience to figure out their own reaction to the scenario presented. Do you empathize with ava's predicament, or do you morally rationalize nathan's actions because he's only doing it to robots? if you choose the latter, then you will consequently stay loyal to caleb, who is in reality not much better than nathan, since the only reason he cares about ava is the possibility of having a sexual relationship with her. ending disclaimer: this movie is not about robot rights--the fact that they are robots is a plot device to help disguise/confuse the moral predicament
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  8. --begin quote from article--
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  11. "and on the other side of the spectrum we have caleb, who might be a "nice guy," but he still wants to be the person who breaks ava (and her sexuality) out of the box that nathan has put her in. but then he still wants to place her in the invisible box of "being with him." which leads to the uncomfortable truth about him and nathan: caleb's loving male gaze is just as dehumanizing.
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  14. the "problem" with all this coming clearly across, though, is that caleb is our main character. and since he is our main character, we much more readily identify with his wants / needs. and perhaps most problematic of all, we know he means well.
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  17. so let's do something else: imagine the same exact story only seeing it just through ava's experience. meaning try to imagine if the entire audience's view was just from her perspective.
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  20. imagine coming online. imagine meeting nathan. imagine nathan's manipulation. imagine having a world out there you could study endlessly, yet can't experience. imagine, just as they discuss in their sessions, knowing that colors exist and yet you can't see them in your black and white room. imagine having a figure like nathan being the one to prevent you from all of this. imagine the things he does and does not let you have. imagine not having all your parts you know you need to be a person. imagine feeling incomplete. imagine the hate and resentment. imagine being imprisoned. imagine never being free. then one day a random person arrives and tells you his name is caleb. imagine how hard it would be to trust that person. and if you were to go back and watch ex machina again, the way these first scenes play out is critical. we don't understand it at the time, but we completely see ava's distrust, her worry that this is more of nathan's game. and as she begins to suss out that caleb is indeed someone with independent wants, she realizes that she can move forward with just a small chance and hope of escape. please understand that ava doesn't need caleb's ongoing life trust, she simply needs him to help her get out of there.
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  23. also think about this: from these interactions, is there any reason that ava should be in love with caleb? i know we see her talk about having a date with him, but this was necessary. by the end, she has only had seven conversations with him in her entire lifetime. why does caleb deserve her love and trust? especially when she knows the only thing she can truly love and trust is herself? thus, she wants to be herself. she wants to have skin. and clothes. and as she even admits, all she wants is to walk among people in a busy intersection. she doesn't want to be in a box by herself. she doesn't want to be trapped with another man, just as she is now with nathan. she wants to see the world in color. and so in those final moments, after ava has found her new skin and clothing, when she finally has a chance to make a clean break, she makes a tough decision to help ensure that she can go on. would she even need caleb's help in the world? nope. would she need someone to protect her more like the caged lamb he sees her as? nope. could he possibly ruin it all if he came along? yes.
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  26. ava has everything she needs to go out into the world. she has everything she needs so that people can look at her and just see a woman, which is something, try as he might, caleb would never be able to do. he will always know. and she doesn't want the world to know. she wants the world to see what she sees. how she feels. that's her own turing test, and the only one that really matters. because it's not even a test. it's a right to basic personhood. and so ava makes a decision to not take a risk and thus to hurt someone she barely knows in the name of being free.
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  29. if that had been our experience, we would want the same.
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  31. --end quote from article--
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