Her (2013) is based on a futuristic premise that sets the stage for an unusual love story between a lonely, nebbish, professional letter-writer, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) and his artificially intelligent computer operating system, Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). In the movie, Spike Jonze, the writer and director, touches upon the larger questions surrounding the human condition and how our desire to be loved and accepted has led us to seek technological substitutes for our most basic emotional needs. Importantly, the movie also comes with an embedded caveat for the future based on our current socio-cultural obsession with technology--if we were to continue our zeitgeist-y love affair with technology and artificial …show more content…
The plot thickens as Theo and Samantha commence an unusual psychosexual relationship and he begins to introduce Samantha as his girlfriend. She (it) ushers in a breath of fresh air into Theo’s life, draws him out of himself and helps him get back to being the optimistic schlemiel he once was. At first, Theo thinks of himself as an outlier to be dating a disembodied operating system, but as he looks around, he finds that he is not alone pursuing a relationship with an OS. Similarly, Amy (Amy Adams), his friend, who has also recently ended her marriage, is getting caught up in a new relationship with an OS left behind by her estranged husband. What follows is a cautionary tale of a love affair between a man and his smartphone. Another element used in the film that adds strength to its characters is the choice of actors. It is hard to imagine anyone other than Joaquin Phoenix playing the poetic melancholic role of Theodore. Joaquin’s clever costume design by Casey Storm, complete with his tragicomic mustache, is used to convey the director’s belief that fashion recycles itself. The choice of Scarlett Johansson over Samantha Morton as the voice of Samantha during post-production was a momentous decision. Scarlett Johansson’s scratchy, girly, seductively human voice creates a cocoon that incubates Theo’s and Samantha’s romance. The visual imagery and brilliant
In Virtual Love, Meghan Daum explores the contrasts between online relationships, and their face-to-face counterparts. Her writing style is blunt and to-the-point, lacking any flowery words or sayings, and containing little of the rhythm or flow that can make essays on the most boring of topics interesting to read. Her essay seems to be written as if to be a story, and yet her “plot” is predictable and uninteresting. Rather than truly explore a thought or concept, it is simply a narration, with a few attempts at wisdom tacked on in the end.
In his 2011 The Chronicle Review article “Programmed for Love” Jeffrey R. Young interviews Professor Sherry Turkle about her experience with what she calls “sociable robots”. Turkle has spent 15 years studying robotics and its social emergence into society. After extensive research and experimenting with the robots, she believes that soon they will be programmed to perform specific tasks that a human would normally do. While this may seem like a positive step forward to some people, Turkle fears the worst. The article states that she finds this concept “demeaning, ‘transgressive,’ and damaging to our collective sense of humanity.” (Young, par. 5). She accredits this to her personal and professional experience with the robots. Turkle and her
In the movie Lila And Eve Lila suffers from a number of disorders. All combined is what makes her schizophrenic. What I would like to know is can or did her major depression trigger Lila 's schizophrenia? If so how does schizophrenia and major depression go hand and hand as well as how does one go about treating both.
The movie ‘Her’ is the story about Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a man who develops a relationship with Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), an intelligent computer operating system personified through a female voice. At the beginning of the film, Theodore is completely inept when it comes to how to make relationship with person, specifically women. However, after he gets to know Samantha, an OS program, a feeling of true love develops inside of Theodore’s mind. Then he realizes how he was fatuous in his past. Throughout the film, the director (Spike Jonze) uses five distinct color schemes to correspond Theodore’s feeling and situation.
When Harry Met Sally is a romantic comedy that breaks out of the norm of the genre with some very real messages about interpersonal communication between both genders and how we handle different situations differently. When Harry met Sally is one of the greatest romantic comedies I’ve watched. Harry and Sally are perfect examples of two people for searching for a companion. In the beginning both are very opposites but in the end Sally and Harry both longed for true love, friendship and security.
In the film ‘Her’, directed by Spike Jonze, the main protagonist,Theodore Twombly conveys the idea of alienation via technology and its possible effects, due to his depression via his divorce and his easy going relationship with an artificial intelligence operating system named Samantha. The idea of alienation and technology and its possible effects on human relationships is conveyed via the quote, “Sometimes I think I have felt everything I'm ever gonna feel. And from here on out, I'm not gonna feel anything new. Just lesser versions of what I've already felt.” Theodore recently experienced is his divorce depression, and therefore becomes vulnerable, anti-social from society and isolated himself, by spending time with the artificial intelligence
The Hollywood movie Pretty Woman (1990) is about a prostitute in Hollywood, marrying an extremely rich businessman, in spite of her mutual distrust and prejudice. The movie contains the basic narrative of the Cinderella tale: through the love and help of a man of a higher social position, a girl of a lower social status moves up to join the man at his level.
I knew then and there that my strong feelings for Ingrid were weakening. Zapp and Roger's Computer Love was playing on the speakers. “Sure I will go with you”, she said. She wrote her number down on the receipt and gave me the eye. I’m glad I was learning to think for myself and it was long
“Catfish” directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman documents an online relationship between Nev Schulman and Abby Pierce, an 8-year-old artist prodigy. As their communications grow Abby’s family becomes involved and Nev talks with Megan, Abby’s sister, over the phone and they develop a relationship. It turns out that Angela, Abby’s mom, is behind all the characters Nev has talked to. She is also the one who painted all the paintings Nev thought Abby had painted. The film raises asks the question, who is actually on the other side of the screen? Whereas in “Connected, but Alone?” by Sherry Turkle explores the advancement in human relationship through technology. She warns that technology can not fulfill a human 's need for interaction. Both the article and the movie come together to show that physical communication is crucial to the well-being of any person; through their explanation of how our mistakes make us vulnerable, our need for truth in relationships, and how our fear of becoming lonely is making us lonely.
Every day millions of telephone calls are made all over the world. In the 1980’s, a teenager would ask their parents for a telephone in their bedroom. Today, more of the American population has telephones than do not. It is a concept that we take for granted and probably always will. In prisons, you get one telephone call. Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” music video starring herself and Beyonc֢é Knowles takes an extreme take on prison life, sexuality, and the importance of that one telephone call. It debuted in 2010 as one of the most controversial music videos of all time and is compared to movies because of the way it was directed and it’s length [9:32 minutes].
He specializes in communicating feelings with words, but he's actually lonely, not just because his wife, Rooney Mara has left him, nor because his bestfriend (played by Amy Adams) is starting to drift away from him, but mainly because he's actually depressed. This is where Scarlet Johansson, playing the role of Samantha, comes in. Samantha is an advance intuitive
Hawkes, Ethan. "Technology takes a toll on relationships." Daily Titan. (2012): n. page. Web. .
“ You cannot talk about genre without talking about gender.” Initially, this would appear to be a simplistic statement. On closer analysis, however, one fact becomes evident. It is the representation of gender which informs the genre of the text. Ismay Barwell , in her essay ‘ Feminist perspectives and narrative points of view’ states that “ Every text is gendered since every act of narration…..involves a process of selection….and the nature of that selection implies certain values” ( p.99). She makes the point that “ The desires, attitudes and interests which guide any choices made must be either male or female”( p.98 ). It is within this frame of reference, that the two texts will be analysed.
Spike Jonze’s recent movie her takes place in a future LA, but not one that you would expect, having most popular visions of the future being dark and dystopian. The streets are clean and the people are happy. Everything is basked in a pastel-like glow, feeling nostalgically retro. Technology is used to their advantage for convenience, but has not overtaken their lives and created a society of anti-social recluses. Jonze’s vision of the future is decidedly positive and a refreshing take on what humanity can do if they make the right choices. Enter Theodore, the protagonist who has separated from his wife in the past year. He is a depressed, hopeful romantic clinging onto the thought that his wife will change her mind and come back to him, evident in his reluctance to sign his divorce papers. While walking down the street one day he notices an advertisement for a new operating system named OS1, touted as being the first artificially intelligent operating system. Throughout the rest of the movie, he grows alongside Samantha (which is what the OS decided to name herself). She begins to find herself and develop wants and needs. In addition to helping him in his work and with de-cluttering his personal life, she begins to evolve into her own person with her own idiosyncrasies. Kurzweil talks heavily on the introduction of artificial
One might call Robert Benton’s direction mechanical, but his cast excels in roles that seem solely written for their personalities. Its supporting cast, including Jane Alexander and JoBeth Williams, provide superb performances. Primarily, I must pay tribute to Dustin Hoffman for his acting. We’re familiar with somewhat unconventional roles, as opposed to his excellently delivered role of a more characteristic man with very human qualities.