dues ex machina god from the machine
Summary
___________The theme surrounding the movie “Ex Machina” is one of manipulation. This movie begins with the manipulation of a brilliant young coder, Caleb, who is conned into thinking he has won a chance “lottery” to spend a week with his boss, Nathan. His boss is a prodigy and creator of the most popular search engine in the world that this movie takes place in. When Caleb arrives at Nathan’s estate, he learns what task he will be entrusted with. He will be completing a “Turing test”. A Turing test is what determines success in artificial intelligence. For a computer to pass as AI, a human must be unable to identify that machine from another human being. This is where the third character enters the movie. Ava is the highly advanced AI robot that Nathan has created for Caleb to Turing test.
Deceit
___________In order to understand the use of architecture in this film, it is important to understand the plot. The architecture manipulates not only the characters in the film, but also how the audience views the film. It does this by highlighting certain events that take place in the film via light, size, décor, organization, etc. As manipulation is the theme of the movie, it makes sense that the space the movie takes place in is just as untrustworthy as the three characters that exist in it for the duration of the movie.
Landscape
___________The movie takes place on an expansive, private estate flanked by mountains. Although it is in the heart of nature, the residence built on the land is fashioned modernly. There are certain characteristics to this building that give an inclination that not only Ava has traces of AI, but so do the walls she lives in. It begins the question; can a building have a mind of its own? Or at the very least, can a building become independent from those that dwell in it? Oftentimes, residences are only given specific characteristics after a family has moved into it. Without the family, the structure is just a shell of what the architecture could become. This is what differentiates manipulative architecture from submissive architecture. Manipulative architecture does not change when humans enter its walls. Instead, the humans are what take on the tone of the architecture.
Alienation
____________Architecture is what fuels the major themes of “Ex Machina”. The architecture is what prompts and intensifies the feelings of isolation and alienation in the movie. The building is never shown in its entirety. And yet, the space appears massive immediately in conjunction with the sprawling land that accompanies it. Inside, there is a huge hallway lined with doors, and the movie jumps from scene to scene in rooms not seen before. Even in one of the last scenes of the movie a completely new space is introduced. The architecture manipulates the viewers into thinking that humans inhabiting the space is secondary. Given that there are only three characters in this film, they are dwarfed by the architecture surrounding them. The characters simply cannot take up the space they are in and they are left to either separate and dwell
on their thoughts or come together and extend the feelings of the house onto each other through acts of manipulation. This ends up tearing the characters apart. Caleb’s emotions cloud his judgement, and he begins to wonder if he too could be AI, going
so far to cut open his own arm to check for mechanics. This kind of behavior strengthens the idea that the characters are taking on the characteristics of the architecture.
Technology
____________To begin to question what is AI and what is not is unsurprising in a house that is as
technologically advanced as the one in “Ex Machina”. It features doors that lock based on a
preprogrammed system, allowing access to only certain people at certain times. Its light features are activated by voice commands, and the rooms are equipped with cameras that feed screens in many rooms of the house, constantly showing the movements of each character. These features parallel the question regarding Ava’s humanity, if something so immersed in technology can become unattached from that that made it.
Lighting
____________The lighting in the building also contributes heavily to the scenes in “Ex Machina”. Ava sees Caleb as her only means of escape and manipulates him sexually and mentally. To gain his trust, she purposefully triggers power outages to cut the camera system and be able to talk to Caleb unobserved. Every time a power outage occurs, the lighting in the film is entirely red. Red is the color of desire, it is the color of violence, and the color associated with the out of bounds. Given such, the sudden color change is a highly intentional detail put forth by the building in the film. It creates a taboo feeling between the interactions of Caleb and Ava. Almost as if the building is toying with them, egging on Ava’s manipulation and the eventual demise of Nathan and Caleb. This is emphasized in the scene where Caleb has been trapped inside the building by Ava and as he repeatedly swings a chair at the unbreakable door, a futile task, all while bathed in the red light. Ava is often seen silhouetted in dark ominous lighting. This emphasized the darkness of her eventual intentions. Only in scenes where there is no mystery, ones where Nathan and Caleb are conversing freely, or even when Ava blatantly kills Nathan, is there clear, bright light. Another nod to the building’s intelligence is the “dance scene”. When Nathan decides to sporadically dance, all he must do is say the word “dance” and the room’s light immediately turns from dark to a disco mix of red and blue.
Art
_____________The one noticeable piece of décor in the residence is an abstract work by Jackson Pollock. Other than this art, there is no character assigned to the décor. There is no association of coziness or warmth. This gives the building a cold feeling of detachment. The painting does well to encapsulate the theme of emotion versus intelligence in the film. Pollock had all the skills of a highly technical painter, yet he chose to express his unconscious mind by painting abstractly. Yet he did this without forgoing all reason, to create something that was appealing, yet uninterpretable. Similarly, Ava is abstract art. She can touch human emotions while concealing her true thoughts.
Director
_____________Manipulation is exhibited behind the scenes of the movie as well. As mentioned before, the audience is hoodwinked by the director's film intentions. The director makes decisions (other than architecture + lighting) based on camera length, camera speed, clothing worn by characters, visibility/clarity of scenes, pace of movie, dialog, and stability of camera that all trick viewers into understanding the film a certain way. These decisions are ones that would make the movie understandable with say, the audio turned off. Examples of such phenomenon are: Ava and Caleb's attire as she leaves the building for good, and the shakiness of the camera as Nate stumbles after being stabbed by Ava. Ava is dressed in all white in a composed, professional dress and heels. On the other hand, Caleb is dressed in grubby black jeans and a long sleeve tee. This is done to have viewers see Ava as a pure figure, deserving of leaving and experiencing the real world, and as Caleb being justly punished for his foolishness. The shakiness of the camera as it follows Nathan down the hall as he dies is meant to pull the viewers into the scene, into Nathan's pain, as well as show how the control of Nathan and Caleb is unraveling for good.
Conclusion
_____________Thankfully for Ava and the overall success of “Ex Machina”, the architecture in the film does a great job of mirroring the main ideas of the picture. The film was never about a test, Caleb or Nathan’s intelligence, or the success of Ava’s AI. It all circled back to manipulation: of Caleb’s “selection”, of Nathan’s alpha male persona, of Caleb’s scheme to help Ava escape, and of Ava’s false friendship and pleas to Caleb. Behind all this is a setting that while mirroring these themes, holds its own as an independent structure with an intelligence of its own.
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