I chose to write my blog post on the short film “Be Right Back.” The film was an extremely interesting story that was both thought and emotion provoking. The scenarios presented were both fanatical yet rang with a possibility of truth. It is easy to see how this could happen in real life. As a matter of fact, in my opinion, as a society we have already made steps into making this a reality.
As a people, we are exposed to Artificial Intelligence everyday through modern technology. The most obvious example of this is our phones. In the film, that was the first mode of communication Martha had with “Ash.” All of us with iPhones are familiar with Siri, the robot inside of our phones. Just as in the film, we have given all of our information, both public and private, to this robot. Companies such as Google are able to determine our habits and personalities from this information as well as our searches. Our whole human identity is exposed and is accessible more than we can possibly imagine. So what's to say that our identity couldn't be uploaded into a body of some sorts resulting in our duplication?
When Ash died, Martha was in a state of vulnerability which allowed for her to become attached to the fake Ash. There are two main reactions to the death of a close friend. First, just as many of us would have, Martha became very secluded and private. She wasn't seeking company and was separated from people. Then, she sought the company of another person. At the request of her friend Sarah, she starts talking to “Ash.” Her emotional instability caused her to develop an unhealthy relationship with the Artificial Intelligence. Today, there are apps and services that allow for people to communicate and have real conversations with fake human. Oftentimes, people are willing to pay for this false companionship which can lead to those people being preyed upon. In essence, that's what certain social media sites/apps are. We are connected to and communicate with people who we oftentimes don't even know. People can masquerade as anyone they wish behind the anonymity of a screen.
As Martha becomes more attached to “Ash”, she grows increasingly both comfortable and reliant on the robot. That is evident by the moment of distraught she goes through when she dropped her phone after her ultrasound. Oftentimes people grow overly attached to their possessions and technology. This leaves us vulnerable and leaves us “socially retarded.” When Martha gets the “Ash” body that's where things start to take a turn. People oftentimes are unable to realize once a situation has gone too far. She is lulled in by “Ash’s” realism. When they engage in coitus she is perhaps even more satisfied by the robot's performance more so than Ash was. This is perhaps relatable to the satisfaction women receive through the use of vibrators and sex toys during masturbation. Martha is in sense attaching human emotions to an object. She thinks she loves the robot but she is in fact in love with the idea of the robot and what the robot represents. But you can't blame her. Or can you? Her reactions and emotions to the situation are understandable and relatable.
As she spends more time with “Ash”, the subtle nuances are becoming more and more noticeable. She is becoming more and more emotional. Whether this is from the pregnancy or her deteriorating emotional state is unclear. What is clear however is that this robot is not her Ash. She attempts to get the robot to kill himself but she eventually takes sympathy of it and allows it to stay in the attack. Perhaps she kept it around for her daughter's sake. At least now, her daughter has some sense of who her father was and what he was like. It is evident that she is still disturbed by the fake ash. This is similar to an episode of the tv show “The Boondocks”, in which one of the main characters developed a relationship with Siri and attempted to get married with his phone. In the end the robot was unable to offer the same comfort and presence of an actual human. Although it was a cartoon the underlying realistic message is still evident.
While it may seem that Martha was a hopeless emotional wreck who was irrational and incapable of making decisions one must put oneself in her shoes. If presented with the same situation and same circumstances could you 100% say you would act in complete opposite of what she did? It is hard to imagine due to the difference in resources available but the concept isn't completely foreign. This film is a good example of both the benefits, limits, and dangers of technology and should be appreciated for its believability, it's thought provoking nature, and its ability to evoke emotions.
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