A Prophecy on How Technology Could Pathetically Numb Our Feelings

Rating: 8/10 (9 April 2014)

Her is another tragedy describing how technology alienates rather than connects us. With creativity, vision and insight, it depicts a pathetic and depressing society. With strong contrasts, it previews and predicts a heartless future unless we wake up. Congratulations on the Oscar Best Original Screenplay.
The basic story line is set in the near future where our protagonist Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) works in a company that helps clients write personal letters to their loved ones. After working solitarily at his work station, Theodore goes home to his huge apartment, playing computer games with a virtual little man or having virtual sex with someone he has never met. He is divorced because he had difficulty telling his feelings. He meets someone new and they hit it off well but he seems to have intimacy issues.
Longing for something new in his life, he bought an intelligent operating system, Samantha, (Scarlet Johansson) which has learning abilities. Theodore communicates with Samantha daily and developed a romantic relationship with her.
Theodore does not have lots of friends. Amy (Amy Adams) is a neighbor and colleague. After breaking up with her boyfriend Charles (Matt Letscher), Amy also brought a smart operating system whom she treats as a close friend.
While the futuristic setting is very interesting and the overall tone of the film is quite warm and bright in pastel color, I feel a haunting coldness and profound sadness.
Not that I am an advocate on appearance, but the characters do not seem to care how they look. The beautiful Amy Adams appears with messy hair and almost no makeup. The cute guy in the poster wears an odd-looking thick rimmed glasses with a dense moustache which makes him so much less attractive. But it probably symbolizes an era where we only communicate through electronic devices so we do not need to care our appearance. Theodore's glasses and moustache are also perfect masks for his feelings. However, to me it is quite a turnoff. It seems in that world everything is focused on the intangible and virtual – like the relationship with an OS.
As for the strong contrasts: all the indoor shots are with closed windows. Although Theodore's apartment is spacious and organized, I feel kind of stuffy and lonely. As they go up the apartment, there are shadows of trees on the wall next to the elevator. Things in that world seems very unnatural.
Outside on the beach, on the street or in the subway, people are all isolated, or talking to an electronic device. Despite the bright sunshine, people are all absorbed in their own world without connecting to others.
Throughout the whole movie the color tone is warm and pastel. But even with the sunshine, the feelings are cold and distant, stuffy and detached. It is just like the technology which is supposed to bring us together but we end up drowning in it and ignoring the people in front of us.
Perhaps even in that virtual world people are not connected because they can choose not to respond, or alter their responses. They do not have to listen yet expect others to listen. With an OS it is even worse because they will adapt to your style and say what you want to hear. No wonder relationships fail in the movie - Theodore and Catherine, Amy and Charles, Theo's date and her past men. Even the OS relationships did not make it. They fail because people have refused to listen and compromise. Sad.
The director paints a vivid picture of a world where people only care about themselves. They only want their own voice to be heard. I feel tremendously sad about the whole situation because the character are so timid to limit themselves and afraid to take risks. They do not try to put themselves into others' shoes, let alone sharing their feelings. This is even more ironical considering Theo is a writer who helps others voice their feelings. Perhaps even those feelings are fake and he has never gone inside himself to get in touch with his own feelings, not to mention expressing them.
The sad part is this type of self-centered disconnection is gradually spreading around us with the proliferation of smart phones, super computers and artificial intelligence.
Although it has been said that love can go beyond the physical aspect and more about spiritual and emotional sharing, without physical touch and human warmth, love is never complete. A hug is so much more soothing – especially when words often got easily misinterpreted. Sometimes the important thing is better left unsaid. Sometimes the more we speak, the more misunderstanding we have. But the body does not lie. Thus it is scary and weird when the human body is controlled by an OS. Her depicts an absurd world where we do not express our feelings anymore and need help from the expert letter writers like Theodore. Ironically these experts cannot connect with other human beings either even though they can write touching letters.
There is some revelation in the final scene when they finally find fresh air and see hope with the sunrise after a long and dark night. And hey, Amy is leaning on Theodore.
For extensive watching, you may find TED Talk: Connect but Alone by Sherry Turkles relevant to this theme.