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Apr 9, 2015 · "Ex Machina," the directorial debut by novelist and screenwriter Alex Garland (" 28 Days Later ," "Sunshine"), is a rare and welcome exception to that norm. It starts out as an ominous thriller about a young programmer ( Domhnall Gleeson) orbiting a charismatic Dr. Frankenstein-type ( Oscar Isaac) and slowly learning that the scientist's zeal to create artificial intelligence has a troubling ...
by Alex Garland. Buy Study Guide. Ex Machina (Film) Essay Questions. 1. Describe Nathan, as well as Caleb's perception of him, particularly as it evolves over the course of the film. Nathan is the entitled, brusque, and self-involved CEO of the technology company for which Caleb works.
Ex Machina (Film) study guide contains a biography of director Alex Garland, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
- Being Human
- The Film’S Final Sequence
- Mary’s Room
- Ex Machina and Surveillance Culture
- Ai and Ambiguity
- The Anti-Climax
So, how smart is Nathan? Sure he’s a programmer god – literally – but in contrast to Caleb he’s brutishly masculine and a booze-addled philistine. This is largely an act: yet one more illusion of the man cave. For one thing, Nathan’s game goes beyond the Turing Testdevised to determine if machines can pass as human. Caleb assumes he’s to interrogat...
The film ends with a series of twists, each one pulling the rug on the one before. Caleb discovers maid Kyoko is a machine. She’s an earlier prototype of Ava, which is why she can’t speak. Nathan formats each obsolete model, destroying its thoughts and memories (Ava faces this same threat in the future). During a power cut, Caleb tells Ava he’s goi...
Caleb explains the ‘Mary’s Room’ thought experiment to Ava to illustrate the difference between human and computer thinking. For all its superior knowledge, the machine lives in a black-and-white world. It’s only when it experiences an emotional response to data – such asunderstanding what the colour blue feels like– that it surpasses the limits of...
Ex Machina is set in a high-tech research facility that’s also a remote, isolated bubble. Caleb arrives by helicopter. The rest of the world is only contactable through remote tech … and Caleb doesn’t even have phone rights. In story terms these are standard thriller components, along with Nathan’s incredible wealth. Yet despite the isolation, surv...
It’s interesting that Nathan creates a machine that resembles a woman – though not unexpected given how he makes use of Kyoko, Ava and the rest. It also speaks to the tension that underpins our real-world dilemma with AI, from losing our jobs to losing our lives. A female, subservient and less powerful AI model neutralises some of this unease. Natu...
Despite the film’s twists upon twists, Ex Machina ends with an anti-climax. How so? Well, Ava is made to be sexy. Both she and Caleb give off all the usual signals of attraction, and towards the end of the movie, the fem bots appear in greater states of undress (or completely naked). This is visual foreplay– and the usual resolution in cinema, if n...
Ex Machina (2014) - a thorough analysis that I wrote for school...hope you enjoy :) Alex Garland’s award winning film, Ex Machina, immerses its audience into its neo-science fictional narrative. Through Prince’s True Lies, he extensively explains the multifaceted ways in which films have transitioned from the likes of classical film theory ...
Apr 24, 2015 · While Ex Machina may allure with almost distracting special effects, it captivates with its questions about the human consciousness and sexuality; about freedom of thought and the loss of...
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Oct 9, 2020 · An Examination of Themes of Consciousness and Humanity in Ex Machina. Image published on October 9, 2020 | 3 Responses. “ Ex Machina ” is Writer Alex Garland’s ( “ 28 Days Later ”, “ Sunshine ”) directorial debut film. A novelist and screenwriter who can weave an engrossing tale, Garland was nominated and won an impressive list of ...
