Whether it be in the blankness of space or (shudder) our dating scene, the future doesn’t appear to be promising less bleakness. The work of filmmakers Stanley Kubrick and Spike Jonze both present a world that contains all of these attributes.

Throughout our live screening of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), I found myself taken by the grandness of it all – the vision depicts a world far beyond what I would assume would be considered feasible in the 1960s. Sixty years on, many of the fears Kubrick would predict have become eerily real. The attempts his world makes to increase efficiency and progress ends in a piece of artificial intelligence, trying all it can to evoke a living, breathing organism.

The third section of the film follows much of the aforementioned grandness, and promptly strips it away. The presence of the Hal 9000 works only to make the cold of space feel frozen over. The future is here, and is trying all it can to emulate humanity. Even after all the destruction Hal leaves in his wake, he does all he can to die painfully. As he’s slowly dysfunctioned, no music can be heard – just his increasingly low-pitched cries droning away. The emotional monologue he delivers in his signature robotic voice does nothing to attain sympathy – it’s merely a final, glaring reminder of how terrifying this technology could become.

Image 1: Hal-900 from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Michaels, S (2024). The Tragic Reason HAL 9000 Malfunctioned in 2001: A Space Odyssey May Surprise Fans, CBR, https://www.cbr.com/2001-a-space-odyssey-hal-9000-betrayal-explained/

In his essay on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Metekohy concludes that the devotion we have towards the tools we invent will lead to us losing the “authenticity of being human” (1). This idea remains prevalent in Spike Jonze’s Her (2013). It follows a lonely man wrecked with grief. Like with everybody else in this world, he finds solace in artificial intelligence. He forms a connection with a robot, once again trying to simulate a human. The universe Jonze portrays is very much our’s, but it also manages to heavily evoke the dead of Kubrick’s space. 

There’s innovation in every corner, interacted with by individuals trying all they can to believe it’s authentic. Theodore spends the film doing all he can to not believe that he’s simply numbing the pain – that his relationship with his operating system is real. Alas, not even their shared sexual experiences could prevent me as a viewer from seeing through the simulation. Samantha is programmed to fulfill his needs – meaning that she is not making active choices to be with him. Theodore learns this the hard way, once he discovers that she is talking to other people at the same time – fulfilling their needs as they request. In his analysis of the film, Troy Jollimore notes that if “the program has no experiences, then it would be a mistake to attribute feelings, emotions, or any other forms of consciousness to it” (2). He goes on to claim that experience is “entirely necessary for actual love”. Theodore learns this as he reconnects with his lonely friend Amy. Despite not being romantic, the moment they share on the city rooftop in the film’s final frame signifies hope – an embrace of human connection over innovation.

Image 2: Closing frame from Her (2013)

Noble, V (2024). Scenes that Stick: final scene of ‘Her’ shows growing need for humanity in a technology-dominated world, the Eagle https://www.theeagleonline.com/article/2024/11/scenes-that-stick-final-scene-of-her-shows-growing-need-for-humanity-in-a-technology-dominated-world

I came out of both films feeling both empty and hopeful. However lifeless and foreboding Kubrick and Jonze both chose to portray the futuristic technology – what still remains is a dose of humanity. We’re still trying, still discovering – still finding ways to survive. They bring the dangers of AI to task, and predict just how little they’ll allow us to evolve in the end.

References

(1) Metekohy, Marschall Eirence (2017). The Ideology Of Being A Being In 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yogyakarta: English Language Studies of Graduate Program, Santa Dharma University

(2) Jollimore, T (2015). “The Endless Space between the Words”: The Limits of Love in Spike Jonze’s Her. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, p.g. 123