Her - By Allison, Marshall and Tracy

https://youtu.be/dJTU48_yghs

Her the film was made in January 10th 2014 the director is Spike  Jonze the screen writer  is also Spike Jonze. The lead actors are Joaquin Phoenix,Scarlett Johansson and Amy Adams. The running time of the film is 2h 6m https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/her/

      A journey of unconventional love, what happens when you start to love an AI. The film is set in the near future, where all of the population only cares about what is on a little cellphone and two earbuds in their ears. Once we enter the world of the main character Theodore can be seen going through a point in his life where he is having trouble with his life. He is going through a divorce with his now ex-wife, while he is working at a company that writes personal love notes for couples or for people that want to “write” a beautiful letter to someone they care about.

On his way to somewhere he discovers an AI program. He stops to look at what they are saying this program could do and he originally uses the AI program as a way to keep himself to get organized. But once it comes into his life, he creates a friendship with the AI that leads to being something more. When Samantha enters his life, he becomes more open-minded and starts to slowly see things in a different way for the past.

Theodore in some people’s views is a man that is very sensitive when it comes to love and letting people into his life after his first marriage when south. Theodore is going on a journey of self-growth alongside Samantha the AI program that is designed to grow into someone more individualized. During this time Theodore finds out that he is someone he did not like being and would suppress who he was until he opened up about his relationships with the people around him.

Once everything is out in the open it makes everything feel like feathers around them. But like any story, things don’t stay all rainbows and happy forever. It comes time for Samantha to make a decision on her own that will affect Theodore’s life in a big way. This whole experience allows for Theodore to realize how important the pass is to be able to live the way you want to in the future.

The producers and director of the movie “Her” used many different technics to lure the audience in. From the way, the sounds are in each scene to the way the actors dress. When it comes to the movie the directors have to have a vision of the way they want the film to go, the sound crew has to have everything they need to keep certain scenes super quiet and some with sounds just when needed.

In the film, the sound is used so well, one scene when Theodore is playing his video game with Samantha in the room, she is communicating with another virtual character while Theodore can still hear them making it a diegetic sound. This allows for the audience to understand that it is a part of the scripting of the movie but still has part of the video game in the background, so the audience knows it is not an important dialogue that has a lot of dept to in in the film. The sound crew and editors also used a more sombre sounding music at the beginning of the film while Theodore was walking home from his day at the office. This allows the audience to go with Theodore on his journey back home. If you listen to it closely you can tell that it is not a very happy tune to the background music. This allows the audience to understand that he is not happy with how his life is going at that point.  

            The lighting of the scenes and sets was another huge part of this film. In the office where Theodore worked you could see that they had used a lot of neutral tones over the flooring and walls of the building while using brighter colours on the windows and glass sections of the layout. The use of the glass in this scene also allows for the sun to shine throughout the building

They also stuck to the colors that are most associated with love and the heart. Theodore can be seen walking through the office on his way home and you can see a bright red wall as an accent wall on his floor of the building to bring focus to him walking in front of it in red over a shirt and beige pants.  At the end of the movie, Theodore and Amy are at the rooftop of the building as it is turning into evening and it is getting darker around the two characters. The director still used this scene because it is a good way to show how the main story is coming to an end with everything going almost to a black screen. But as so shows how there is always another day and that it is just the beginning for Theodore and Amy.

Another technique that for the most part goes over the viewer's head is the customs they make the actors wear.  During the first scene of the movie, Theodore is seen wearing a red over top t-shirt but everyone else in the city is wearing more of a colder color. This allows for the audience’s eye to focus more on Theodore and not the extras in the scene. Also, when they go from inside the past with Catherine every item is very bright and colorful but once they come back to the present all of the colors almost have a sort of darker tint to them to make them darker and less vibrant.

            Special effects were used briefly in the film when it came to be setting the tones for the movie. Even though it is supposed to be what life will be like in the future a lot of the color schemes are similar to a 90’s t.v. show. It can be seen when it comes to the overcast of the movie. Even the way the actors look, its reflex’s a style of the ’90s.  One of the cooler special effects that they used was for the video game that Theodore plays it is projected as a hologram that has sensors that can track your hands when they are close enough and can react like they were the remote/ game council for the video game. This is a cool thing for people to see in films because it allows for the video game sector of the real world and not the film to have an idea of what is possible in the future.

The final thing is the pros they had used in the film, throughout the film Theodore always has his phone on him till the end of the film. The director uses that to his advantage to be able to do some of the shots like they were through Samantha's eyes or lens of the phone’s camera. This gives the audience the chance to also see how Samantha sees the world around her. Another main prop that they use is the earbuds that Theodore has in his ears for almost every time he wants to talk to Samantha. These are significant because when Theodore wants to have a private talk with Samantha he puts in his earbuds and forgets about the world that is around him and only focuses on Samantha’s voice. This shows the viewer that it doesn’t have to talk to anyone, and no one will be listening to others on a regular basis and you can just talk to your phone like Siri nowadays but a bit more updated.  That is what the creative director was aiming for was to show that in the future we will not need others as much.

The film “Her,” by Spike Jonze is a phenomenal representation of the controversial issues that civilization of the 21st century will and already face. The development of robots, more specifically, A.I (artificial intelligence) arises many questions along the lines of sentience, anxiology and consciousness. In the following, the topics at hand will be the relation between A.I and living beings, from the A.I’s inner-workings and uncanny humanistic traits to the development of robot-human/A.I-human relationships. 

Are A.Is sentient? A sentient being, “is capable of sensing and responding to the world and can experience ‘qualia,’” (Mckinney 3). Moreover, are A.I’s making decisions based on their programming or are they responding with their own thought process? “Her,” released in 2013, reveals many examples of the A.I Samantha being sentient. For instance, throughout the film, Samantha often complains about her disembodiment, craving human traits such as touch and smell. This is considerably relating to a sentient being because it is believed that if Samantha were just a program, there would definitely be restrictions upon her programming, suggesting that she would be unable to want such things in the prevention of an A.I uprising. Furthermore, axiology, “the study of value, both aesthetic value and moral value,” is noticeably present within the film (Mckinney 21). To be precise, many people around Theodore question his relationship with Samantha because she is not a physical being. For instance, when Theodore tells Catherine about Samantha, she seems rather disgusted with his love for something that doesn't physically exist. This scene presents anxiology, the question of morality, in an interesting light. Moreover, Is Samantha conscious? According to the article “The idea that everything from spoons to stones in conscious is gaining academic credibility,” by Olivia Golhill, a panpsychist perspective of consciousness is that, “the universe as a whole is conscious,” which would mean that Samantha definitely has a consciousness but this is just a theory (Mckinney 35). Consciousness is a broad statement that science cannot describe. To conclude, the film “Her,” is the start of a new thought process for modern society. How far will technology take us in the near future? What is there to expect? 

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 Is it really possible to have a meaningful and loving relationship with an OS?  Do you think the day will come when AI will replace human beings? Even thought we have the ability to create operating systems to replace humans does this mean we should?

This film is rated:

Opinion:

I am rather indifferent about the film. I overall enjoyed viewing the film, but was somewhat conflicted throughout. Moreover, I enjoyed the romance, the love and emotion that the film brought forth and the general concept of the film was very interesting but personally, I didn’t understand how to feel about Theodore loving an A.I. How could a person be emotionally attached to something they can’t physically be with? I’d imagine the feeling of loneliness would never disappear. Theodore’s house would always be empty, there would be no possibility of reproduction and would a disembodied voice be very satisfying in the years to come? I liked the ending of the film, when all of the A.Is had left to an unknown place, I imagined it to be the astral realm but then I questioned the possibility of  a none spirited being being able to enter the astral realm. The film was made well, I wasn’t expecting the detail that was put into the film. For example, the film had a lot of futuristic elements, like Theodore's computer and the touch screen qualities. Furthermore, I enjoyed the flashbacks to Theodore’s past with his wife. This added to the plot very well and without those scenes, the audience may have believed that Theodore and Catherine’s relationship was much worse than Theodore being distant. Overall, I appreciated the film very much because it brought forth many philosophical questions to reflect upon. 

1. The function of robot intelligence, just as human and animal intelligence, will one day be out of our reach of understanding. Currently, A.I programming is in high development and we are able to understand the code and the processing of these robots, but it is believed that their intelligence will soon jump the gap of understanding, and we will be just as unaware of their thoughts as we are with any other being. In relation to Spike Jonze’s film, “Her,” we see at the end of the film, the O.S systems join together and leave for an alternate reality. This can be strongly connected to Plato’s Cave theory with the beliefs that humans are still in the cave while the O.S systems have reached such an intelligence, they are able to leave the cave. Furthermore, many questions come into play if we consider the intelligence of these beings, are they sentient? Are they conscious? Do they experience humanoid emotions? If we relate these questions to how we once thought about animals, one would get a similar response. According to Virginia Morell, “many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought, they were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel,” (McKinney, 59). Moreover, most would argue against this statement because of the emotional connections humans and animals have with one another, soon enough, one will see the same connections between humans and robots.

2. Relationships between robots/A.I systems and humans will be interesting. Many issues will arise from it, including emotional issues, sociable issues and physical issues. To elaborate, the sentience of A.Is are not and probably will never be understood, this will cause issues with humans and the development of their own emotions towards other humans. There will be issues in society and the judgement upon one another, as seen in Spike Jonze’s movie, “Her,”when Theodore is heavily judged by his co-workers about his affairs with his A.I Samantha.  Furthermore, there will be physical issues, to be specific, physical abuse that will be inflicted upon these robots. Humans will never understand the true emotions of these beings, therefore, it gives most the excuse to abuse these robots and if they are in a relationship with one another, the extent of abuse could reach dire consequences. In relation to sex work, robots would be incapable of fulfilling the experience. Moreover, in the article, “Humans and robots are on the cusp of a sexual intimacy we may never reserve,” by Caisse Werber, it is brought into attention that, “clients [of sex workers] want them to do drugs, to get drunk; they want to hear their story about how they got into the business. From that, it would be a huge leap from these robots to replace prostitution,” (McKinney 52). Creating the uncanny effect of these robots to the extent in which humans would treat them like other humans, would be a great overcoming for civilization, but will humans ever give up the power of being metaphorically on top of the world, most likely not.

3. Relationships with A.Is and humans could potentially be a good thing. Humans are often struggling with connections between other humans. We are unable to open up about our issues and have communication problems because of judgement fears. Communicating with an A.I could diminish the feeling of judgement because of their programming to have an unbiased opinion, this could help gain the confidence in humans to communicate with other humans. As for companionship, A.I could help with the relationships of elders and the mentally disabled, fulfilling the position of a sexual companionship and a knowledgeable care-giver. The question of A.I lifespans come into play as well. Moreover, in the article, “Are Trees Sentient Beings? Certainly, Says German Forester,” by Richard Schiffman, it is mentioned that when coupled trees are seen together, “they are like a human couple; you have to chop down both if you chop one down, because the other will die anyways,” (McKinney 40). In relation to A.I/human relationships, is it possible for humans to connect to an A.I to the possibility of death if the system were to fail? It is very common in couples that when one partner dies, the other dies shortly afterwards, will this soon be a possibility between humans and robots. Will we so strongly connect to artificial intelligence that it could cause our death? Only time will tell. 

http://theconversation.com/sex-robots-are-here-but-laws-arent-keeping-up-with-the-ethical-and-privacy-issues-they-raise-109852

Linked above is an article concerning the laws of robots. Moreover, the article specifically looks into the development of sex robots and whether or not that is a good thing for our civilization, ethically speaking.

https://www.wired.com/story/you-are-already-having-sex-with-robots/

Linked above is an article about the robot Henry. Henry is a male robot that has the A.I of a female program. Henry was developed with the interest of LGBT community, specifically the transgender community.

Works Cited

Her. Directed by Spike Jonze. Performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. Annapurna Pictures. 2013.

Mckinney, Kelly. “Knowing The Inner Self.” Copibec. John-Abbott College. Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue. 1-60