MovieChat Forums > Her (2014) Discussion > The cat....SPOILERS!!!

The cat....SPOILERS!!!

posted 9 years ago by Gabe1972
28 replies | jump to latest

The scene where Theodore attempts to have phone sex with the girl fairly early in the film was hilarious. When she said for him to strangle her with the dead cat, I practically lost it. Talk about being effed up. Good God! That's just wrong in so many ways! I know the things that turn people on are as varied as people are, but that was just really out there.

That, to me, would be about as enjoyable as chewing on aluminum foil. Actually, think I would rather chew on the foil, though I would probably go insane if I had to do it for more than a second or two. I wonder why foil does that. Hmmm.

The plural of mouse is mice. The plural of goose is geese. Why is the plural of moose not meese?

[–] GMonhey 9 years ago

It was hilarious. I thought she sounded like Amy Adams but in fact it was Kriten Wig so it makes sense for it to be a joke.

Notice how she got off but he didn't.

Do I have to give it to you?

[–] Gabe1972 9 years ago

I think it only shows that he is normal. If he did get off, I might have a totally different outlook on this film. LOL.

I didn't know it was Kristen Wiig. Too funny.

The plural of mouse is mice. The plural of goose is geese. Why is the plural of moose not meese?

[–] PetuniaPet 9 years ago

I took the dead cat request as a glitch in the software program's logic, that the virtual woman suggested something in error since no dead cat (or at least we can hope!) would be a turn-on!

[–] irishaspaddyspig 9 years ago

He was talking to a live woman on the phone when this took place.

[–] PetuniaPet 9 years ago

Can we be sure that is a live woman?
Would any real woman think a dead cat a turn on?
Theo didn't; maybe at that suggestion he realized the sex service used programs and not flesh-and-body humans, adding to his dismay.
Not arguing, just suggesting a programming glitch! SexyKitten wants autoeroticism using a dead cat! Of course!
Also, since he was apparently not satisfied, but the Kitten character certainly was, and immediately and abruptly hung up, it seems to me a human would not have done that; a human would have been concerned abt customer satisfaction, even rated by management on it.

[–] irishaspaddyspig 9 years ago

Yes, we can be sure she's a real woman.

a malcontent who knows how to spell

[–] PetuniaPet 9 years ago

Did I miss something that proves SexyKitten is a woman? Samantha sounds just as real...?

I hope I'm not being called a malcontent just because I have a different opinion on why a dead cat would be offered up as a sex toy by a "woman" during a phone sex session that clearly turned the guy off?

In homage to Leonard Nimoy, my suggestion that SexyKitten is virtual is more logical!

[–] Gabe1972 9 years ago

It was a real person. There's no question in that.

The plural of mouse is mice. The plural of goose is geese. Why is the plural of moose not meese?

[–] alioth4 9 years ago

It was a real person. There's no question in that.

Isn't there? I'll admit I thought she was real (as such "services" are done by real women in the present), and not necessarily an "employee" of a company like your 900 numbers, but maybe part of a network of subscribers that "hook up" with each other (i.e. he was one, she was one). And the "dead cat" thing was some weird demented fetish of hers.

But on second thought, it may not have been a subscriber-to-subscriber service, but may have been an AI of sorts at the other end. Given that these AI OSs were just emerging, and given what TV Tropes calls "Rule 34" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleThirtyFour), it is entirely possible that services like this preceded AI personal assistants (or "OSs").

Interesting read on that--and the "dead cat" thing would definitely be a weird bug if that were the case.

But her being a live person is still certainly a possibility, but disturbing. These days, I can't even say that's the weirdest fetish I've heard of.

Understanding is a three-edged sword.

[–] Gabe1972 9 years ago

For sure, if it were some type of AI, it would have to be a bug, because if it wasn't a bug, some category like "sick fetishes" would be stated before the caller chose the conversation.

I still believe it was a real person, though. Whether it was a hook up line, or a 900 type service, I'm not really certain of, but I do most certainly feel that it was a real person. Of course, it's not a 100% surety, as it's impossible to know that for certain, but I just feel that it was a real person.

"Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too."

[–] Gabe1972 9 years ago

Actually, now that I've watched it again, I'm convinced it was surely a human being. Here's why. He connects to the chat rooms and selects a category, which is women who can't sleep, listens to various messages and chooses the one he likes. He then records his own message. After a few seconds she accepts his invitation, they are connected, and the dialog begins. Shorty after said dialog begins, she says she is half asleep and asks him if he wants to wake her up.

To me, this doesn't sound like a computer, or AI, at all. A computer wouldn't tell him it was half asleep and ask him if he wants to wake it up. I mean, I guess it could be programed to do that, but the whole thing just seemed completely human to me, from the messages, to the selection, right up through the acceptance of the invitation and the question of waking the person from their half asleep status.

Again, sure, a computer could have been programmed for this, but it seems like an awful lot of hoops to jump through to speak with a computer.

"Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too."

[–] leutertjuh4 9 years ago

He had to send a message to her first. Wich she accepted and after that they started chatting.

[–] MoviemanCin 9 years ago

Now that I think of it, that is a really good theory. Could have been a virtual woman. The movie doesn't really make that clear. Good catch, leuterjuh4! :)

Even if you're on the right track, if you're standing still you're going to get run over.

[–] foxyrabbit 7 years ago

the OS is the first AI and I think it hadn't come out yet at the time.

[–] Franco_Zed 9 years ago

"Can we be sure that is a live woman?"

No, but I think it makes considerably less sense for SexyKitten to be an AI than for her to be a real woman. An AI would be programmed to please him. A real person, on the other hand, might be talking to him purely for own gratification, behaving selfishly just like millions of people do every day all over the world.

If you want to believe that it's an AI, go ahead, but that doesn't mean that it will make sense to other people.

______

Every single person on the face of the Earth is unique.

... except for you.

[–] janX9 8 years ago

It was a live woman. If it was an AI he would have gone into the next AI as opposed to helping her'get off'

I just don't see him sticking around for that cat crap unless it was human.

[–] Gabe1972 9 years ago

He was speaking to a real person, not a computer. No computer software program logic involved.

The plural of mouse is mice. The plural of goose is geese. Why is the plural of moose not meese?

[–] Bellatrice 9 years ago

If OS1 Samantha = Alan Watts
Let dead cat be Schroedingers.

--------------------

Austerity is a word said mainly by people with a full stomach.

[–] Gabe1972 9 years ago

Ah, to be strangled with a superpositional cat. What a dream! Perhaps she would get off twice as hard, or half as much...who knows.

Would we find out when we open the door to look at her?

The plural of mouse is mice. The plural of goose is geese. Why is the plural of moose not meese?

[–] Franco_Zed 9 years ago

Schrodinger's blind date:

He doesn't find out whether it's a man or a woman until they start having sex.

______

Every single person on the face of the Earth is unique.

... except for you.

[–] QTKeet 9 years ago

Interesting idea about the Dead Cat Woman being a buggy AI, but I still believe she was a real living human.

For one thing the exchange between her and Theo was pretty one-sided so obviously not a "service", like for his benefit or anything. In that case you'd figure there'd be more of an effort to cater to his desires, especially if it were an AI.

Secondly, the scene just seems to shows the contrast of just how awkward interactions with real people can be, so that later, when you see Theo developing a relationship with Samantha, it just feels more socially sensible.

...and you're right, people are strange and diverse, there's all kinds out there so you never know just what you'll come across. This way we can sympathize with Theo.

Ironically it's usually women who would be more worried about meeting strange men. Women who are weird usually get good attention. Weird men are generally avoided by everyone.

This was an intriguing switch to that gender stereotype.

-"But you know what's on my mind right now? It AIN'T the coffee in my kitchen..."

[–] donata713 9 years ago

The sad commentary about that whole exchange is, and this is my line of thinking anyway, even if Theodore did enjoy the dead cat as much as his partner did, if he were to express that after the sexual part of their conversation had ended, she would have still probably hung up on him nonetheless. I mean, what luck to find another person who enjoys having a dead cat as a prop during one of your sex capades but realising it can never happen in real life physically between you and your partner.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] svalinanikola 8 years ago

I heard somewhere that "dead cat" refers to the thing that you put over microphones to prevent them from picking up certain noises.

[–] MrMartinJosefsson 7 years ago

I can't remember seeing that cat in any scene. Was it Director's Cat?!

[–] Gabe1972 7 years ago

You don't see the cat. They talk about it on the phone.

Time wounds all heels.

[–] Redneckgirl7676 7 years ago

I turned it off shortly after this, I think I will have to give it another try though

[–] frogca 7 years ago

Even more wrong is the fact that he didn't hang up right away after she said that. Clearly, in case we didn't already know that, he is extremely passive.