In the short films Be Right Back, A man, Ash, passed away suddenly leaving a wife,Martha, behind with a baby on the way. In the search for closure things took things in the wrong way when an old friends, Sarah, gave Martha an alternative. At this point there are only 3 things that seems like logical decision she took but once looking through it with a different perspective it makes it creepy. The first decision is what drove her to replace ash with a machine that was his replica. The decision to invite him into her house and the affects that it had. Lastly the decision to keep the replica. The dilemma in all of this is the uncanny valley effect that makes this case complicated and creepy.
Sarah introduced Martha into the techno Ash. Martha was looking for closure but then she found out she had a baby on the way. This unfortunately drove her to find something familiar, someone to lean into, she turn into Techno Ash. The thing with technology is that in small amount and well control is good and quite helpful, but like anything else excess is bad. The Techno Ash did not help her heal just assimilated the role of Ash. If this technology would help people heal and let go of the love one then is understandable but it did it. This Technology is like a fake smile, one that is just so force that once applied is almost cynical, and to be honest creepy. Techno Ash is not creepy because he is a robot but because it tried to resemble something that he is not, he is not the essence of Ash or has all of his memories, It might have an algorithm that acts like Ash but is not.
No one can blame Martha for trying and like anything in life there is not a place where we can see the future, so guesses are all we have . Martha liked the company enough to ignore her family, to keep secrets and to not admit what was happening. If something is unhealthy this are the typical sign that it is but that was not the problem.The problem happen when she realized how unrealistic Techno Ash was,so similar to the real thing yet not quite yet.This drove her to the point of shouting and telling Techno Ash to jump of a hill. If this is not the definition of unhealthy, I do not know what is. But the thing that blows most people from this generation was the decision to keep him. She did not seek closure but instead she keeped him in the attic and let her kid interact with him. She did not mourn her lost and let ash close . She kept Techno Ash close but no so close that it might intercede in her daily life. The fact that the kid interacts with a replica is creepy because she could be mixing the lines of what her dad is and what Techno Ash is, they are not the same. Once they are gone Techno Ash will stay behind, forgotten,without a purpose.
2 comments:
First off, It's interesting how you refer to Ash2 as techno Ash, first time I see anyone refer to him as that. Second, I agree on how you connected technology to a fake smile. You never know what is underneath unless you are told. No one would know he was a robot in passing unless they knew the story,and therefor he could pass as human. Kinda like a smile can pass as happiness but inside only the person knows.
Viridiana, I like how you had a good understanding of the film by your comprehensiveness of it. In your statement, you noted how bringing Ash back to life was bad because Ash 2 didn't help in Martha forgetting about him especially since they both were expecting a baby. I, on the contrary, believe the real reason for bringing Ash back to life was so that she could remember him. She was happy to see him, they managed to catch up on lost times, and they even made love; to illiterate. I do agree with you on the fact that there could've been a real Ash underneath the Ash 2. He showed signs of conflicting personalities by his human and technological likeness. Therefore, telling Ash 2 to jump from a hill was fitting because I too believe that we could jump to the next extreme. Although, hiding him away won't do her much good.
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