Movie Analysis: “Ex Machina” — Characters
Another in our bi-weekly series in which we analyze movies currently in release. Why? To quote the writing mantra I coined over 5 years ago: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. You will note which one comes first. Here are my reflections from that post about the importance of watching movies:
To be a good screenwriter, you need to have a broad exposure to the world of film. Every movie you see is a potential reference point for your writing, everything from story concepts you generate to characters you develop to scenes you construct. Moreover people who work in the movie business constantly reference existing movies when discussing stories you write; it’s a shorthand way of getting across what they mean or envision.
But most importantly, you need to watch movies in order to ‘get’ how movie stories work. If you immerse yourself in the world of film, it’s like a Gestalt experience where you begin to grasp intuitively scene composition, story structure, character functions, dialogue and subtext, transitions and pacing, and so on.
Let me add this: It’s important to see movies as they get released so that you stay on top of the business. Decisions get made in Hollywood in large part depending upon how movies perform, so watching movies as they come out puts you in the same head space as reps, producers, execs, and buyers.
This week’s movie: Ex Machina, written and directed by Alex Garland, starring Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, and Oscar Isaac.
Our schedule for discussion this week:
Monday: General Comments
Tuesday: Plot
Wednesday: Characters
Thursday: Themes
Friday: Takeaways
For those of you who have not seen the movie, do not click MORE as we will be trafficking in major spoilers. If you have seen Ex Machina, I invite you to join me in breaking down and analyzing the movie.
Apart from a few of Caleb’s co-workers in the opening scene who we only see and don’t hear, and the helicopter pilot who has a few exchanges with Caleb, there are just four characters:
Caleb, Nathan, Ava, and Kyoko.
Note: In the script I have, Caleb is driven into Nathan’s compound by a chauffeur. The pair has a lot more expositional dialogue than in the movie. Smart choice to cut that to a bare minimum. Also the helicopter is a better visual way to introduce the setting and just seems all around cooler.
Note: The cast and crew also lists Lily, Jade, Katya, and Amber, the other A.I.s in Nathan’s retinue.
It’s interesting to play around with this quartet of characters in terms of primary character archetypes: Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster.
Caleb is the story’s Protagonist. Or that’s how we, as a viewer, experience the story. By the end, we may find ourselves siding with Ava and her own Protagonist’s goal to escape. But let’s look at the narrative with Caleb as the P.
I’m quite tempted to call Caleb, Ava, and Kyoko, the lot of them, Tricksters. Yes, if Caleb’s goal is to escape with Ava, who stands in his way? Nathan. That would tend to put him into the Nemesis mold. However it’s not he who locks Caleb in this ‘prison,’ it’s Ava.
She was lying all along, in effect seducing Caleb, playing him. She wears the Attractor mask really well, but in the end, it’s just that. A mask. Not an ally, an enemy. Ultimately feels like a Trickster.
Likewise Nathan wears the Mentor mask, particularly around his A.I. inventions and at times his perspective about life. There are other times when he provides opposition to Caleb, wearing the Nemesis mask. But all of that is in service to the big con job he does on Caleb with several twists and turns, very much in the vein of a Trickster. Plus there’s this: Tricksters often are characters who are utterly out for their own self-interests. That’s Nathan.
Hell, even Kyoko turns from Nathan’s mindless sex slave and party girl into his killer. Trickster.
Frankly Kyoko’s transformation has more in common with Caleb than anyone else, as both characters actually do go through a change. On the other hand, Nathan and Ava’s respective journeys aren’t so much about transformation as they are revelation. That is over time, their hidden agenda become known. Neither of them changes in terms of their own psychological arc, rather it’s their life-circumstances in the External World that shift: Nathan dies, Ava escapes.
A final thought on this introduction to our discussion about characters in Ex Machina: Isn’t it interesting how little we know about any of these characters relative to their backstories? And yet each is compelling in his or her own way. I think in large part that is because of who they reveal themselves to be throughout the narrative, all framed through the experience of the Protagonist Caleb. We live vicariously through his experience, an ordinary guy in an extraordinary circumstance, falling for the beautiful, seemingly guileless, and imprisoned Ava.
Okay, ice broken. What about you? Your thoughts about the story’s characters. Remember, there’s no right or wrong when it comes to analysis. I’m quite curious to hear your take on the characters and what your emotional response was to the movie.
See you in comments!
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