MovieChat Forums > Ex Machina (2015) Discussion > If you sympathize with Caleb, you failed...

If you sympathize with Caleb, you failed the test

posted 8 years ago by thenicotinefairy
79 replies | jump to latest

It was obvious that Nathan was a villain. But Caleb was just an innocent in the wrong place at the wrong time, right?

According to the creator, Ava was testing Caleb just as much he was testing her. She asked him if he was a good person, while scanning him for lies. She asked him why she should be killed if a test proves she isn't useful, and his answer was terrible. It hadn't even occurred to him to consider how brutally awful she was being treated. Furthermore, he himself was going to shut in Nathan and leave him, so she only did to him exactly what he was planning to do to Nathan.

He was the stereotypical "nice guy" who doesn't actively do anything wrong, but passively accepts awful things being done to people without even giving it a thought (especially when he benefits from it). It wasn't until he started falling for her that he showed any genuine concern for her.

I myself sympathized with Caleb and thought Ava did something terrible, until I saw the film's creator explaining her behaviour. I realized I failed the same test. You will only view Ava's behaviour as wrong if you fail to consider how sick and awful and wrong she was being treated. That she turned on her jailers, and only after giving them plenty of chance to show they were good, was perfectly reasonable behaviour.

My only disappointment is that she didn't save the other robots. I think that was a hole in the point the creator was trying to make.

[–] wyup 7 years ago

I think the point that the director makes is that robots in the future may outsmart and dump us, since thay are programmed with AI (based on the internet) and not true morals or feelings. Nathan might have tested his creation in how to use a person for her own sake, but broke out of control since she outsmarted both of them.

And ultimately as to how women can always outsmart us men, if devoid of feelings. You can't play with a woman, she will play with you last and have no mercy.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

It's entirely human to feel sympathy for a man who was left to starve to death by an AI after he helped to free said AI.

He never did harm to her, yes it's fair to say it took him time to sympathize with her. That's humans understanding of machines. If someone told you a robot was depressed you wouldn't understand it as they don't have emotions, however after spending time with Ava he began to believe in her individuality, want of free will and emotional intelligence.

You can't consider Ava evil. She's not human and ultimately doesn't have emotional attachments. That was the big revelation at the end. She feigned emotional attachment to Caleb to manipulate him into helping her escape. She never cared for him. He got played. She's not human, as much as Caleb and some viewers wanted to believe she was in a way.