“From John Henry to John Connor, man is typically on the opposite side of machine. But, what if man and machine could not just live in harmony but actually love one another?”
“Wha… Are you asking me?”
“No, I”m asking Siri,” Eric said. “Siri, ‘What if?’”
“That’s a beer can, not an iPhone.”
“Shut up, Rob. They didn’t have to know that.”
“Well, I guess I’ll answer. Your first thought is, ‘Of course not.’ The idea of someone trying to fall in love with Siri seems like a silly concept, until you realize where director Spike Jonze is going to take it.”
“Her is a story of near-future man/tech love, but it’s not what you might expect given that premise,” Eric said, looking especially handsome and definitely not talking to a half-finished can of Lone Star. “This isn’t a Wall-E future showing modern man’s disconnect with nature or a bleak post-apocalyptic world where self-aware machines have all but eradicated mankind a la The Matrix or Terminator — though, for fun, you can pretend Her is an origin story for Skynet.”
“All of human history is an origin story for Skynet. Her is a commentary on modern relationships,” Rob said. “How much do they depend on authentic human emotion? Is it possible to have a real, intimate, emotional connection with someone who isn’t a real person?”
“But, this isn’t a one-way human/robot love in the sense of Jude Law in A.I. or some creepy guy who buys a sex robot,” Eric said, regretting that “sex robot” was now going to be in his Internet history. “No, this is real reciprocal human love with a big ‘L’ between a man and something man-made. It’s not just a man that learns to love his operation system; it’s an operating system who learns to love a man.”
(Rambling derelicts, Arrested Development, ScarJo and more after the jump.)
“Wha… Are you asking me?”
“No, I”m asking Siri,” Eric said. “Siri, ‘What if?’”
“That’s a beer can, not an iPhone.”
“Shut up, Rob. They didn’t have to know that.”
“Well, I guess I’ll answer. Your first thought is, ‘Of course not.’ The idea of someone trying to fall in love with Siri seems like a silly concept, until you realize where director Spike Jonze is going to take it.”
“Her is a story of near-future man/tech love, but it’s not what you might expect given that premise,” Eric said, looking especially handsome and definitely not talking to a half-finished can of Lone Star. “This isn’t a Wall-E future showing modern man’s disconnect with nature or a bleak post-apocalyptic world where self-aware machines have all but eradicated mankind a la The Matrix or Terminator — though, for fun, you can pretend Her is an origin story for Skynet.”
“All of human history is an origin story for Skynet. Her is a commentary on modern relationships,” Rob said. “How much do they depend on authentic human emotion? Is it possible to have a real, intimate, emotional connection with someone who isn’t a real person?”
“But, this isn’t a one-way human/robot love in the sense of Jude Law in A.I. or some creepy guy who buys a sex robot,” Eric said, regretting that “sex robot” was now going to be in his Internet history. “No, this is real reciprocal human love with a big ‘L’ between a man and something man-made. It’s not just a man that learns to love his operation system; it’s an operating system who learns to love a man.”
(Rambling derelicts, Arrested Development, ScarJo and more after the jump.)
“People in relationships often suck at openly expressing their emotions,” Rob said, clearly implying he wished he could tell Eric how majestic his beard looked in this light. “They feel pressured to stifle them for fear of being hurt or judged. But what if you could remove that pressure? What if there were machines that could respond to and express emotions more freely than humans, reducing the risk of awkwardness or rejection? That’s the question at the heart of Her.”
“This may all sound like a laughable premise for an Oscar contender that’s bound to choke you up, but Jonze is the man who made a movie about a door leading inside of John Malkovich’s head, and we saw how that worked out (i.e., very well).
“Why would you say ‘i.e.’ out loud?” Rob asked, clearly jealous of Eric’s mastery of middle school-level English. “In the future of Her people have become even more attached to technology. Everyone walks around in public — in subways, elevators, and other places where, at least for now, it’s generally considered obnoxious to blather repetitive verbal commands into your smartphone (although some of today’s Bluetooth-wearing assholes might need to be reminded of this) — on their phones. In the future it’s totally cool. So given that context, maybe it’s not extremely weird that someone might consider dating an operating system. Most people in the film don’t write Theo off as a total creeper as they would today.”
“Her?”
“You can draw an interesting parallel to the way people regarded online dating back when the Internet was relatively new,” Rob continued. “Today, of course, it’s no big deal to meet someone on Match or OK Cupid, but back in 1998 many were kinda embarrassed to admit that their romantic relationships began in the virtual world. Today, some people will date exclusively online for months or years before even meeting face to face. Some find The One, others get Catfished, but that’s the world we live in now.”
“Please don’t use Catfish as a verb. But, to me, Her is less about man’s relationship with technology and more about dissecting a modern human relationship arc — how something as simple as communication tears us apart despite the abundance of tools to communicate and connect with,” said Eric, who totally always gets the meaning of everything like a real smart dude.
“Theo works for a company called BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, where he ghostwrites deeply personal notes on behalf of strangers who lack the patience or eloquence to write to their loved ones themselves,” Rob said as he checked to see if BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com is a real site. (It’s not.)
“It’s ironic then that Theo finds himself in the same position as those to pay for his heartfelt messages: He struggles to express himself to those he loves,” said Eric, feeling confident he has not misused the word irony since one would believe a man paid to express emotions for strangers would have no problem opening up himself. “While he’s busy writing letters for others, there’s a letter of his own he’s unable to pen just yet — sentiments he’s not willing to utter.”
“Letter writing is a cathartic exercise for him. Theo works through his own emotional baggage by writing through the perspectives of other people,” Rob said.
“Yeah, an interesting thing I’d like to check upon a second viewing of Her is how much inspiration his own relationships affect these letters. Maybe all of them?” Eric asked/said. “It started seeming to me like everything Theo writes in the letter he dictates could be a commentary about his own relationships. You so clever, Mr. Jonze.”
“Or maybe some of the letters he’s writing are actually intended for him to send out but he never does,” Rob said. “Take one letter we hear Theo dictating to a girl with a crooked tooth. To me, it was unclear whether this was a legit letter for a client, or if it was just Theo writing a note about his ex, who is shown in a flashback to have a crooked tooth, that he’ll never send. It definitely makes you wonder how often he does this.”
“Well, while Theo has trouble talking face to face, he opens up to his new OS, Samantha, a disarming digital assistant voiced by Scarlett Johansson,” Eric said while Googling how in the hell to spell Johansson.
“Writing other people’s love letters is a brilliant choice for the character’s profession for Theo. It depends on his being able to come up with words that are beautiful and seemingly heartfelt, but are fundamentally insincere and ingenuine. He doesn’t even know these people. He’s essentially their Samantha — he gets to know them, learns about their needs, and then engineers a product customized to meet those needs. It kind of suggests that Samantha isn’t a substitute for the ‘real thing’ — a genuine connection between humans. She may seem real in almost every way, and she’s capable of stirring up deep feelings, but in the end she’s no more real than Theo’s dictations to his letter-writing software. His collection of ‘fake’ letters make people laugh and cry, just like Samantha does for him.”
“To me, Samantha is just as human as Theo,” Eric said. “Like Theo, Samantha is the product of her experiences — the things she’s read and heard shape her, and while we could argue none of her ideas are truly her own and that she’s just been programed to be what she is, you could say the same of any person, too.”
“Samantha describes love as a kind of ‘socially acceptable insanity,’ which could also apply to people’s dependence on and addiction to technology,” Rob said. “Right after she says that line, we see a plaza full of people who are wandering around talking to themselves — they’re actually talking into unseen smart devices, but they look a bit like rambling derelicts.”
“Joaquin is one such rambling derelict, talking to a clamshell-cased phone peering out of his shirt pocket through a single earbud,” Eric said. “Her is largely a one-man show for Joaquin. I wonder if ScarJo was actually on set reading her lines, or if Joaquin was just talking to himself. I don’t know which would be more impressive, but both actors gave tremendous performances. They really make this world real and never make you question it.”
“Is Samantha really developing feelings, emotions, even physical sensations, as she claims to be? (She describes the latter as ‘fantasizing.’) Or, is she just giving Theo what he needs most in life — someone who listens, laughs, challenges him, and validates his need to at least pretend he’s making an emotional connection with someone?”
“She wonders this herself: ‘Are these feelings even real, or are they just programming?’ she asks. Jonze knows the code to take something absurd and make it feel astonishing. The first 45 minutes or so of Her were my favorite minutes spent in the theater over the past year, and while it kind of drags for a few scenes around the midpoint (and I got seriously worried it would botch the ending with a Donald Kaufman-level cop out) Her sticks the landing.”
“So, did Her live up to the hype for you?” Rob asked.
“I didn’t make it easy for Her. I’d been not as wowed as I would have liked by the movies of 2013. American Hustle was just fine, and Nebraska was dandy, Frances Ha charmed and Inside Llewyn Davis was a sweet song, but I was really looking for something to make me feel the feelings. Like Theo says in my favorite bit of dialogue from Her: ‘Sometimes I think I've felt everything I'm ever gonna feel.’ I felt that way about pretty much everything I saw from 2013. The crop of Oscar contenders weren’t exactly doing it for me, but I was determined Her would. It did.”
“So, movie of the year?”
“Is Her the best film of 2013? Maybe,” Eric said, though his hesitance acknowledged his 2013-film backlog made it hard for him to make a definitive call. “It’s a beautiful experience, and if it doesn’t get Joaquin Phoenix some kind of shiny gold statue for his performance, I have to assume the Academy is run by robots who aren’t quite as self aware as Samantha.”
--Eric Pulsifer and Rob Heidrick
“This may all sound like a laughable premise for an Oscar contender that’s bound to choke you up, but Jonze is the man who made a movie about a door leading inside of John Malkovich’s head, and we saw how that worked out (i.e., very well).
“Why would you say ‘i.e.’ out loud?” Rob asked, clearly jealous of Eric’s mastery of middle school-level English. “In the future of Her people have become even more attached to technology. Everyone walks around in public — in subways, elevators, and other places where, at least for now, it’s generally considered obnoxious to blather repetitive verbal commands into your smartphone (although some of today’s Bluetooth-wearing assholes might need to be reminded of this) — on their phones. In the future it’s totally cool. So given that context, maybe it’s not extremely weird that someone might consider dating an operating system. Most people in the film don’t write Theo off as a total creeper as they would today.”
“Her?”
“You can draw an interesting parallel to the way people regarded online dating back when the Internet was relatively new,” Rob continued. “Today, of course, it’s no big deal to meet someone on Match or OK Cupid, but back in 1998 many were kinda embarrassed to admit that their romantic relationships began in the virtual world. Today, some people will date exclusively online for months or years before even meeting face to face. Some find The One, others get Catfished, but that’s the world we live in now.”
“Please don’t use Catfish as a verb. But, to me, Her is less about man’s relationship with technology and more about dissecting a modern human relationship arc — how something as simple as communication tears us apart despite the abundance of tools to communicate and connect with,” said Eric, who totally always gets the meaning of everything like a real smart dude.
“Theo works for a company called BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, where he ghostwrites deeply personal notes on behalf of strangers who lack the patience or eloquence to write to their loved ones themselves,” Rob said as he checked to see if BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com is a real site. (It’s not.)
“It’s ironic then that Theo finds himself in the same position as those to pay for his heartfelt messages: He struggles to express himself to those he loves,” said Eric, feeling confident he has not misused the word irony since one would believe a man paid to express emotions for strangers would have no problem opening up himself. “While he’s busy writing letters for others, there’s a letter of his own he’s unable to pen just yet — sentiments he’s not willing to utter.”
“Letter writing is a cathartic exercise for him. Theo works through his own emotional baggage by writing through the perspectives of other people,” Rob said.
“Yeah, an interesting thing I’d like to check upon a second viewing of Her is how much inspiration his own relationships affect these letters. Maybe all of them?” Eric asked/said. “It started seeming to me like everything Theo writes in the letter he dictates could be a commentary about his own relationships. You so clever, Mr. Jonze.”
“Or maybe some of the letters he’s writing are actually intended for him to send out but he never does,” Rob said. “Take one letter we hear Theo dictating to a girl with a crooked tooth. To me, it was unclear whether this was a legit letter for a client, or if it was just Theo writing a note about his ex, who is shown in a flashback to have a crooked tooth, that he’ll never send. It definitely makes you wonder how often he does this.”
“Well, while Theo has trouble talking face to face, he opens up to his new OS, Samantha, a disarming digital assistant voiced by Scarlett Johansson,” Eric said while Googling how in the hell to spell Johansson.
“Writing other people’s love letters is a brilliant choice for the character’s profession for Theo. It depends on his being able to come up with words that are beautiful and seemingly heartfelt, but are fundamentally insincere and ingenuine. He doesn’t even know these people. He’s essentially their Samantha — he gets to know them, learns about their needs, and then engineers a product customized to meet those needs. It kind of suggests that Samantha isn’t a substitute for the ‘real thing’ — a genuine connection between humans. She may seem real in almost every way, and she’s capable of stirring up deep feelings, but in the end she’s no more real than Theo’s dictations to his letter-writing software. His collection of ‘fake’ letters make people laugh and cry, just like Samantha does for him.”
“To me, Samantha is just as human as Theo,” Eric said. “Like Theo, Samantha is the product of her experiences — the things she’s read and heard shape her, and while we could argue none of her ideas are truly her own and that she’s just been programed to be what she is, you could say the same of any person, too.”
“Samantha describes love as a kind of ‘socially acceptable insanity,’ which could also apply to people’s dependence on and addiction to technology,” Rob said. “Right after she says that line, we see a plaza full of people who are wandering around talking to themselves — they’re actually talking into unseen smart devices, but they look a bit like rambling derelicts.”
“Joaquin is one such rambling derelict, talking to a clamshell-cased phone peering out of his shirt pocket through a single earbud,” Eric said. “Her is largely a one-man show for Joaquin. I wonder if ScarJo was actually on set reading her lines, or if Joaquin was just talking to himself. I don’t know which would be more impressive, but both actors gave tremendous performances. They really make this world real and never make you question it.”
“Is Samantha really developing feelings, emotions, even physical sensations, as she claims to be? (She describes the latter as ‘fantasizing.’) Or, is she just giving Theo what he needs most in life — someone who listens, laughs, challenges him, and validates his need to at least pretend he’s making an emotional connection with someone?”
“She wonders this herself: ‘Are these feelings even real, or are they just programming?’ she asks. Jonze knows the code to take something absurd and make it feel astonishing. The first 45 minutes or so of Her were my favorite minutes spent in the theater over the past year, and while it kind of drags for a few scenes around the midpoint (and I got seriously worried it would botch the ending with a Donald Kaufman-level cop out) Her sticks the landing.”
“So, did Her live up to the hype for you?” Rob asked.
“I didn’t make it easy for Her. I’d been not as wowed as I would have liked by the movies of 2013. American Hustle was just fine, and Nebraska was dandy, Frances Ha charmed and Inside Llewyn Davis was a sweet song, but I was really looking for something to make me feel the feelings. Like Theo says in my favorite bit of dialogue from Her: ‘Sometimes I think I've felt everything I'm ever gonna feel.’ I felt that way about pretty much everything I saw from 2013. The crop of Oscar contenders weren’t exactly doing it for me, but I was determined Her would. It did.”
“So, movie of the year?”
“Is Her the best film of 2013? Maybe,” Eric said, though his hesitance acknowledged his 2013-film backlog made it hard for him to make a definitive call. “It’s a beautiful experience, and if it doesn’t get Joaquin Phoenix some kind of shiny gold statue for his performance, I have to assume the Academy is run by robots who aren’t quite as self aware as Samantha.”
--Eric Pulsifer and Rob Heidrick
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