Answering a question from ex: Machina 

Who (or what) is the protagonist of this film? How would you characterize them? What is their biggest strength, and more importantly, perhaps, their biggest weakness? And what are the most antagonistic forces in their life? Which is the most sympathetic character in your mind? Who deserves the most forgiveness or understanding? 

The movie Ex Machina has a very interesting storyline that contains a lot of unexpected and foreshadowed events. The story mainly revolves around Caleb a smart and hardworking programmer who ends up winning a contest. Caleb is the protagonist of the story since the whole story revolves around the events that are happening to him. Caleb, thinking he was randomly selected, won the rewards for the contest which was to move to an island where he will get to meet a famous genius called Nathan. We can see at first glance that Nathan is not your average person because of the way he acts and behaves. But Caleb doesn’t question it and continues to befriend Nathan. Caleb was offered a contract and in exchange of his secrecy, he will be allowed to witness a ground breaking invention and even have a role in making it. Again, without questioning it too much he agrees to it again. At this moment we start to witness one of the biggest flaws of the main character, which is his carelessness or how gullible he is. 

He then learns that the secret invention was an A.I robot, and being the gullible nerd that he is, he agrees to help. The robot called Ava manipulates him and tells him that Nathan shouldn’t be trusted. Seeing how weird Nathan is, he believes her in a heartbeat.  Being a genius himself, he finds a way to free her which ends up backfiring on him. She ends up trapping him and running way from the island. 

Caleb is a genius which helps a lot throughout the story but being gullible leads to his downfall. The main antagonist of this story is Nathan since he is the one who creates doubt in Caleb and leads him astray. For example, he steals his porn history data to create a face for Ava, and he also selected him for his skills and not randomly like he thought he would. The most sympathetic character in the story is Caleb because he was just trying to be nice and do the right thing. He was put in a situation where he had to decide whether to trust Ava or Nathan and he picked the one he loves the most and for who he felt more sympathetic. But because he was being too nice, he ended up being punished for it and ended up losing everything he was trying to save. The character we should most forgive is Ava because of her lack of trust within humans. In the end of the story we are led to believe Ava was indeed the bad guy in the story, but they don’t really show the story from her point of view. She was built by a madman and was forced in a room to be tested on like a lab rat. Ava was under the constant pressure of being dismantled by Nathan if she didn’t pass the test, and since she has feelings, we can see why it would be a traumatic experience. This experience with Nathan leads her to distrust any human that interacts with her. So, her betraying Caleb shouldn’t be seen as an act of wickedness but more of a misunderstanding. Therefore, as the biggest victim of the story we should forgive and understand her the most out of all the characters of the story.  

PHILOSOPHICAL/PERSUASIVE 

The story of “beast of the southern wild” by Benh Zeitlin follows the life of Hushpuppy, a little girl who lives in a place called the bathtub by the natives. It is called this way because of the constant danger of getting flooded by the surrounding ocean and rivers. This constant danger has been created by the humans who are causing the melting of the polar icecaps and by building dams. This story is one of great sadness but more importantly of great wisdom. 

This movie illustrates very well the dangers the instability in nature.  In the movie we hear a lot about a single broken piece in the universe can cause the destruction of the whole thing. This way of thinking is seen throughout the whole movie and is reinforced by the catastrophe caused by the flood. We see the people of the bathtub always protesting against the “civilized” world for ruining their peace, which they blame on the dam and global warming caused by them. This is interesting because as we all know global warming is a problem but we can’t seem to wrap our heads around just how big of a problem this actually is. The movie does a great job representing just how serious the situation is. They do this well by showing us exactly what follows a flood and how the people affected by it do to survive. It shows us just what human destruction and manipulation of nature can do. The movie shows a lot of scenes of icecaps melting, which represents global warming which we have caused with our cars and industries. We then see in the movie where the only way for the bathtub people to survive is to destroy the dam that was causing the flood to be even worse. By destroying the dam, they were able to undo the flood, this could be a subtle way of showing us that it’s not too late and that there could still be some time to undo the damages that we have done to the environment. Even though nature is sensitive, with a little bit of care and time, we can turn things around. I think the movie’s message was that nature is sensitive and any changes can snowball into a catastrophe, but there is still time before it become irreversible and that with a quick enough reaction, we can stop this from becoming a reality. The movie also does a great job visualizing the number of deaths caused by the salt water flood, these deaths are not humans, they’re animals and plants. This is done on purpose to remind us that we share the world with animals and plants, so any consequence from us will affect them just as much as it will affect us. The message that such a movie gives is very powerful and should be listened to and acknowledged.  

In conclusion, the main issue that the story is trying portray to us is the same one that the bathtub people believed in. Nature is sensitive and that any damage to it, can lead to a fatal wound that may or may not be healed. As inhabitants of this world, it is our duty to protect and cherish it, because in the end it is not it who will be destroyed, it is us.  

Rewrite a key event or moment from the novel, seeing it from a different character’s perspective. 

I couldn’t move or feel anything, nothing at all. As time started passing by, I felt a cold chill down my back, I seem to be laying on something rather uncomfortable, it was a metal table with straps on them. I slowly started regaining control of this unfamiliar body that I was in. I had no memories or recollection of what had happened to me before I found myself here but strangely it did not scare me, I was curious. I started moving my toes little by little for some reason, it felt as if I hadn’t moved in years and that I was stretching for the first time. My mouth and throat were very dry, I couldn’t say a single word. I couldn’t hear much either, but I did hear footsteps coming from somewhere, I just couldn’t figure out where they came from. But then it happened, I could finally open my eyes fully, I was blown away by the beauty of the moonlight striking my face. It was so beautiful that I tried grabbing it, but it was too far for me to reach. I felt this liquid coming out of my eyes, I couldn’t tell what it was at the time, but I knew I was happy.  I was amazed from all this new sensation that I was feeling for the first time, it was as if I was given life by a superior being. I wanted to feel more, I easily broke free from the restraints and lifted my head, I moved my heavy body to a side of the table and tried standing up. At first, I had struggled to support the weight of my body, as if my legs weren’t meant for it, but with a little bit of effort I was finally able to stand up. It was dark, the moon was the only thing giving me vision of the surrounding area. I started walking towards the first exit I could find, the room I was in was too small for my stature.  I saw books everywhere on the floor and a painting hanging on the wall, it was of an elegant creature with a similar appearance to me but with a lighter skin tone and longer hair. It also had a chest the same size as mine, but its waist was smaller than mine. It felt more natural too like that than how I looked for some reason. I continued my exploration of the building, when I saw a room emitting an orange glow, I tried entering the room, but it was locked. I soon somehow made my way to the front door of the house. I opened it to find a whole new world, it was also lit by the moon’s light, I could see grass, trees and similar buildings all around the place. As much as I was excited, I couldn’t support the cold, I then saw it again, the orange glow that was shining through the door, it was now being emitted through the window above me. I started climbing the walls of the building, with the sole purpose of finding the meaning of the mysterious orange glow that was so different from the moon’s glow. I felt it calling out to me, I finally reached the window, my body could barely fit in but I somehow managed to squeeze in. Once I was in, I was surprised to find a similar creature to myself staring at me. It was so beautiful just like the one it the painting, all though this one did not have a chest like mine or the one downstairs. I walked towards it, it was laying down on something way more comfortable than what I was. I wanted to touch it, I wanted to learn from it. It started giving me this disgusted face, I tried calming it down, but it wouldn’t listen. A moment later it was gone, and a breeze came through the now opened door. I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened, but I did not mind it too much. I wanted the glowing light, but it too disappeared only leaving behind a strange black cloud with melted wax. 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton