Reading Notes Ex Machina’s Emergent Philosophical Content

Nunan closely analyzes Ex Machina as a film not only about intelligence and consciousness but
about gender as well, reminding us that in thinking about personhood and the human
condition, gender is perhaps an unavoidable subject [though as Nunan points out, Garland tries
to avoid it]. Nunan situates Ex Machina between two competing readings of the film:

1. The director Alex Garland’s reading which insists, somewhat ambiguously, that the
gender of Ava is irrelevant, and
2. Feminist critics of the film who insist that Ava is a stereotypical femme fatale and
criticize the film for being misogynistic

Nunan argues that neither of these readings is supported by the film, making the interesting
claim that the film shows things [remember Baggini’s and Goodenough’s points about
cinematic philosophy showing] that go beyond what the director and others involved in the
production of the film intended. While Nunan’s essay is a bit complex [it is a philosophy essay
after all], there are some key points he makes clearly and which we should find interesting.

The first three sections of the essay set up Nunan’s argument, much of which unfolds in section
4 where he engages in a pretty close reading of the film.

Section 1: The Overt Philosophical Content of Ex Machina

In this section, Nunan recounts the obvious [or overt] content of the film with its emphasis on
Caleb employing something akin to the Turing Test to determine whether Ava is a self-aware AI.
Nunan recounts some of the important philosophical issues the film raises from the
perspective of this overt reading:
• The alpha male creative overreach of Nathan
• Theories about AI and the evolution of technology [shades of both The Matrix and Blade
Runner]
• The ethics of creating self-aware AI
• The challenges of determining whether AI [such as Ava or Rachael or David] have self-
aware consciousness
This last point is related to a famous thought experiment in philosophy created by the
philosopher Frank Jackson called “Mary and the Knowledge Argument” which Caleb explains to
Ava and which you can review in a brief video here: https://youtu.be/mGYmiQkah4o.

Section 2: Alex Garland and his Critics on Gender

In this section, Nunan Alex Garland’s approach to the issue of gender in the film: Alex Garland’s
insistence that Ava has no gender. As a machine, with no biology, Ava has no gender and she is
merely simulating being a woman in order to deceive Caleb. Nunan is critical of this stance of
Garland’s [p. 8]. Can you figure out why? We might wonder why Garland tends to downplay
the role of gender in the film, which it seems so obvious to the film viewer.
Section 3: Ava as Femme Fatale
Having critiqued Garland’s thoughts on Ava and gender, Nunan now turns to Garland’s feminist
critics. They read the movie as reaffirming negative stereotypes about feminine gender identity.
But Nunan doesn’t accept this view of the film either. As he notes, “I don’t think this analysis is
true to the content of the film” [p. 11] Here Nunan explores some of the same elements of film
noir that we discussed in Blade Runner. On pages 11 – 12 Nunan argues that Ex Machina
challenges the social conventions of film noir.

One of the interesting issues raised in this section is our feelings for Caleb. Do we sympathize
with Caleb? Is he basically a good guy who meets an undeserved fate at the end of the film?
What do you think? Nunan’s addresses this question in the next section.

Section 4: Ava’s Test of Caleb

In this section, Nunan challenges our understanding of both Ava and Caleb. See if you can
figure out how he does so. This is one of the more interesting and thought-provoking sections
of the essay. Much of Nunan’s analysis of the film has been leading up to this section.
1. How does he characterize Ava such that she does not come across as a femme fatale?
Notice how his analysis pays very close attention to the film, including attention to
specific shots.
2. How does he characterize Caleb such that he is deserving of his fate at the end of the
film?

Section 5: Emergent Gender Identity Speculation

Nunan turns to the issue of Ava’s interior emotional life and suggests that she clearly has the
potential for a recognizably gendered form of emotional commitment. Her emotions, Nunan
argues, are presented as genuine in the film. Pay attention to p. 20 where Nunan spells out his
reasons.