Alex Garland’s ‘Ex Machina’ Is a Classic Story of Feminist Empowerment [The Lady Killers Podcast]
“Isn’t it strange, to create something that hates you?”
At this point it’s difficult to get through the day without encountering artificial intelligence. From Siri and Alexa to deep fakes and Grok, we seem to be approaching a point of no return. But genre films have been warning us about the dangers of AI for decades.
Though unbelievable at the time of release, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina now feels like a tech nightmare that may be just a few years away.
When Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) first arrives at Nathan’s (Oscar Isaac) isolated compound, he discovers that not only has the tech genius billionaire created a revolutionary AI robot called Ava (Alicia Vikander), Caleb will be the human component in a Turing test designed to evaluate her humanity. Their sessions are off to a promising start, gradually drifting into romantic flirtation, when ominous power failures interrupt their pleasant conversation and Ava warns Caleb about her creator’s sinister intent.
But is Nathan the villain she makes him out to be or is Ava simply using Caleb as a means of escape?
In the latest episode of Bloody FM’s The Lady Killers Podcast, co-hosts Jenn Adams and Sammie Kuykendall join friend of the pod Ashley Casseday to chat synthetic women, toxic men, and ominous predictions about the future of AI. Should we be afraid of Ava? Is Caleb really as nice as he seems? What is Garland saying about feminism and how does the film recreate the garden of Eden? They’ll cut the power and break out of the box to discuss this uniquely empowering film.
Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.
The post Alex Garland’s ‘Ex Machina’ Is a Classic Story of Feminist Empowerment [The Lady Killers Podcast] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.