Caradog James, Dir., The Machine (2013)

The Machine (2013), Caradog James, Dir.

Brief Synopsis:

The Machine (2013), directed by Caradog James, stars Caity Lotz, Toby Stephens, Sam Hazledine, and Pooneh Hajimohammadi. Set in the not-too-distant future, the film mostly follows the work of Vincent (Toby Stephens) -- a brilliant computer scientist -- on a military research facility. On the brink of war with China, UK defense budgets are directed at developing increasingly autonomous machines to deploy in hostile area to gain military superiority.

Plot Summary: (Spoilers)

Vincent and his UK research staff has already been able to restore brain function to soldiers with severe brain trauma through implants. Even with the implants, these soldiers are too weak and unstable. He has already developed complex and functional prosthetics, but the missing piece to is an artificial brain that can support and coordinate a robotic body. To make things even more complicated, Vincent's only daughter suffers from a rare disease that degrades her cognitive functions until an untimely death. Vincent wants to develop this AI technology in order to essentially copy his daughter digitally to save her. All the while, Vincent is conducting interviews to find another scientist who has come close to developing artificial intelligence software that can pass the Turing Test. A gifted researcher named Ava presents her project. Vincent hires Ava to work with him. Ava is ultimately assassinated by Thomson -- the facility's supervisor. Because of Ava's contributions, however, Vincent is able to finally design a competent AI brain. They construct a full AI body. Vincent styles her skin, face, voice, etc to look like Ava. As Ava is 'alive' for several days, she learns much about the facility, Vincent, Thomson, etc. Thomson tries to manipulate Ava to use her as a weapon, whereas Vincent emphasizes her true consciousness and humanity. Ava sides with Vincent and together they overthrow the Thomson and his security and escape to a coastal location with a digital copy of Vincent's daughter's mind.

Themes:

Gendering, War Games, and the Masculine Gaze

There are a lot of nuanced statements throughout the movie from the contrast between Ava -- a female-gendered robot -- and the male soldiers who have been partially enhanced by cognitive implants. Ava is not hypersexualized, however. Instead, Thomson wants to make her more 'neutral' and machine-like, whereas Vincent and Ava herself enjoy and seek out Ava's humanity which in part comes through the expression of stereotypical feminine qualities and actions well beyond her physical anatomy/construction. The entire purpose of Ava's development is to give the United States an advantage in espionage and warfare with China. This differentiates Ava's development process and meaning substantially from other female AI in movies like Her and Ex Machina. In those films, the female AI machines were created to serve as companions for men. In The Machine, Ava is created to be a war machine. 

I believe that the main problem that The Machine explores in gender roles is ownership… this ornamentation of the female body as something that can be created or destroyed. In The Machine, the two main male characters are Vincent, Ava’s creator, and Thomson, Vincent’s supervisor and the director of the military research facility. Thomson is just flat out evil. He has people assassinated, singlehandedly trains Ava how to kill people, and orders her lobotomized once she displays consciousness and personal agency. Vincent, however, seems to have a more symbiotic relationship with Ava. He doesn’t take advantage of her physically, and he readily helps her escape the lab. With that said, there are several scenes that reinforce this idea of Ava being emotionally codependent on Vincent. [include some clips] Even in her most ‘empowered’ state, she is still a shadow of a functioning person and relies on Vincent totally to help her navigate the world. Ava is reduced to a helpless damsel in distress. So, although Vincent isn’t overtly cruel or abusive towards Ava, their relationship is inherently sexist as the balance of true power -- that of reasoning and problem solving -- is so disproportionately tipped in Vincent’s favor.

Moreover, Ava's appearance is totally informed by the masculine gaze -- presenting Ava as an object of male pleasure. James’ Ava is designed to look identical to Vincent’s dead assistant whom he had fallen in love with -- she's created physically and functionally to visually please and perform to satisfy her male creators. 

Love

Throughout the movie, the power of love to transcend all else is greatly emphasized. We see this in the love Vincent has for his daughter, the love Vincent had for human Ava, and the love that robot Ava has for Vincent. 

Source: 

The Machine (2013), Caradog James, Dir.