Recommended for AS/ A2 and equivalent level Film & Media Studies
This event will explore how a science fiction/speculative fiction genre narrative can be created drawing on a long history of representations of robots and androids and combining it with contemporary concerns about privacy and data. Gender is also a major issue in the film in which a young software specialist interacts with a specific android. Is Ava female? If ‘she’ is, what does this mean?
Ex Machina could also be a case study British film – a successful genre film with a substantial budget (for a UK production). Information and analysis about the production and distribution background of the film will be included in the teachers’ notes.
Led by Roy Stafford, Freelance Film Lecturer
Screening: Ex Machina (15)
Dir Alex Garland / GB 2015 / 106 mins/ Domhnall Gleeson / Alicia Vikander / Oscar Isaac
In the debut feature film from novelist Alex Garland, a young programmer is selected by his reclusive employer, to participate in an experiment to push the boundaries of artificial intelligence, by evaluating the human qualities of a female android. The young man’s task is to be pursued in a remote controlled environment with close attention from his employer.
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