Film critic Allison de Fren examines some of the complex issues raised in the 2015 Ex Machina. Her voiceover alone makes it worth it, but the insights about how women are depicted helped me get over some of my discomfort with the film’s themes.
Via her description:
The British science-fiction thriller Ex Machina (2015) has inspired mixed reactions from both critics and audiences. While some praise its tautly-rendered exploration of artificial intelligence, others critique its stereotypical representations of fembots. This video essay examines why some walk away from the film thinking about the Turing test (a gauge for determining whether a machine exhibits intelligence equivalent to that of a human) and others the Bechdel test (a touchstone for determining male bias in a film), making it perhaps, above all, a Rorschach test for our times.
Bonus videos: She also has a great series on The Stepford Wives:
A while back she did an interesting documentary called The Mechanical Bride, exploring the same themes throughout film history. Here’s the NSFW trailer:
• Ex Machina: Questioning the Human Machine (Vimeo / Allison de Fren)