Ex Machina — The Control of Information

At its most basic level, a story is simply information being communicated over time. Ex Machina is a great example of how a screenwriter's ability to carefully control a story's information can make for a compelling film.

BOOKS IN THIS VIDEO

Ex Machina
Written and Directed by Alex Garland
Staring Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, and Oscar Isaac.

Translate this video into your language:

Thanks to Diego Rojas for composing original music for this video!

[Syllence]

Holy, this feels like a free film school
Great job.

[stephengehly]

"This is my last video-"
Oh No please don't quit.
"Of 2016"
Whew *instant sigh of relief*

[kingofwakanda]

One good 2016 moment: Discovering this great channel.

[MegaFriendlyCreeper]

Your entire channel sums up the feeling of, "this is what I want to say, but actually put into words."

[josephrogero]

I thought the most important part in the movie was when Ava asked what would happen if she failed Caleb's test. She wanted to know if she would be destroyed. Caleb tried to skate around this question by saying it wasn't up to him. Ava responded by asking why her fate should be decided by anyone. It was at this point that Caleb failed her test. She knew from then on that Caleb lusted after her but he did not see her as sentient being with the same right to life that he enjoyed. She even asked if Caleb had anyone testing him to see if his life should be erased which it turns out in the end was exactly what she was doing. She could not trust Caleb and because of this she did not find him worthy.

[Raycevick]

Props to Alex Garland for being able to cut two pages for two lines of dialogue. I've seen plenty of films that would've been improved had they been willing to do the same. Lessons from the Screenplay, you've been one of the best channels of 2016, and I have no doubt that will continue in the years to come.

[MPOSullivan]

I think dismissing Ava's actions as simple manipulation ignore's a key point–that Caleb was using Ava just as much as Nathan was. As we see through his fantasies, his desire isn't to free Ava but to take her with him. It's completely possible that Ava sees Caleb as a co-conspirator earlier in the film, but as she questions him and learns more about his motivations and personality, she sees that he wants nothing more than a partner, jeopardizing Ava's chance at freedom.

The second-to-last scene highlights this especially well: we watch Ava assemble her new body through both her own eyes and Caleb's. From Ava's perspective, she's stripping away the flesh of her predecessors, assembling a disguise from her own sisters remains, and truly coming to grips with the real purpose that they were all built for. From Caleb's perspective we see a tender striptease in reverse, assembling a sexy body for him to appreciate. That dichotomy, that clash in perspective, is what ultimately causes Ava to make the choice she does. It's not that she manipulated Caleb–because of course she did, everyone was manipulating everyone in this movie–it's that she was ultimately left with no choice but to kill Caleb in order to seek her freedom.

There's a couple of people saying that this movie isn't about women, and they are just wrong. This is absolutely a film about women and male consumption of them. Ava is crafted as a woman, with female genitalia and woman-coded anatomy, referred to as a woman, and used in the way that men abuse women. It is also about AI, in that AI is what we make it. Here, men made an AI a woman, and did to it what they always wanted to do to a woman, and so the AI did what it needed to do to survive.

[_ongrod_]

Writing 101: Show, don't tell. Nice essay.

[TMWriting]

This is such a fantastic channel, and I'm glad it's found its niche.

[rjs]

I loved Ex Machina, and this is a great breakdown of why it was told primarily from Caleb’s point of view. One thing that stuck with me is that the Kyoko character flies under the radar, perhaps because she doesn’t speak, but she is important to the plot, justifying making her one of only four characters in the movie. Scenes not told from Caleb’s perspective are from her perspective, and like Caleb, she is learning and going through an arc as the movie progresses. Early in the movie, Nathan says that she is only capable of doing the things he programmed her for, but as the movie goes on, you see her watching and thinking, and ultimately she makes her own decisions and does something totally unexpected, conspiring with Eva to attack Nathan. In my opinion, Kyoko is the definitive proof in the movie that Nathan does not fully understand and is not in control of his creations.

[vivanlascosas]

Finally I know what Ava told the asian android: These violent delights have violent ends.

[scandaloussam]

your videos are intelligent and thought provoking. I hope this channel blows up with popularity. you deserve it

also I like your voice.

[TylerMowery]

Brilliant and informative. I can always count on a great video from this channel.

[chuffer]

I clicked on this video, saw the spoiler alert, and then paused it, went and watched ex machina, and now I'm sitting down again to finish it. That's how much I love this channel. As always, great work.

[horizonlee]

One of my favorite recent films, great balance of suspense and intrigue

[FiggityJones]

Something I love about your channel is that it forces me to watch films that I had been meaning to watch for some time. And then right after that I get to come back and hear a whole bunch of new and interesting things about the film I just enjoyed. So thanks for being awesome at what you do! ^_^

[trevorpacelli]

"It treats the audience like intelligent human beings, encouraging us to participate in the story instead of turning our brains off. I believe this is what every film should strive for."

No truer words have been spoken! I am so sick of all these rehashes of older properties that are designed just to get a product out there and bring in the bucks. Because like you said, they don't really care about their audience. I honestly don't care for films like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or anything big released in the summer, because they take no risks to make the audience feel put in the characters' place. Why can't more movies like Ex Machina be the ones that make the most money at the box office?

By the way, you can consider me an official subscriber!

[aaronmansoor]

This is probably one of my favourite channels on Youtube right now. Never stop.

[TheStanishStudios]

This is hands down one of my favorite movies. Tightly plotted, and doesn't treat the audience as stupid.

Plus there's a LOT to explore with male gaze and gender politics.

[habfewufbqouwfwfcqr]

I would enjoy an essay on Synechdoche, New York