Spike Jonze is a well-known American actor, screenwriter, producer and director. His work includes commercials, music videos, television, and film. One of his films, however, stands out to the world. Her was directed, produced and written by Jonze in 2013, and made his solo screenwriting debut. The film established groundbreaking production design. Her uncovers a bright and vibrant future populated by human-friendly technologies. In a journal by Hugh Hart, he interviews the production designer K.K. Barrett. Hart asks, “Why no gloom or doom?” Barrett answers with, “There are a number of films that cover that very well so we didn’t need to go there. This is a pleasant, soft future where everything is designed to everybody’s personal taste” (Hart 1). The film stars Joaquin Phoenix who plays the sensitive and soulful Theodore Twombley. He falls in love with his new operating system, Samantha, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. Her tells a story of love and loss, while portraying very realistic technological advancements; it shows a warm and comfortable utopia, practically a heightened version of our world today.
Her is fascinating in the fact that although it is considered a futuristic film, it is a very realistic future. The technology has advanced in the film to where people play video games projected on holograms. People wear ear buds in one ear, then carry a slim and compact pocket square that shows them visuals when need be. The globe’s first artificially intelligent operating system called “O.S. 1” is sold in stores that look strangely related to the Apple store we know today. Theodore is a somber and complex Los Angeles resident going through a divorce. He buys his first O.S., and when he activates it, he meets Samantha. She sounds utterly realistic with her enthralling character. Samantha becomes more of a friend than a computer assistant. She helps Theodore get over his divorce, and urges him to accept a blind date invitation. The audience can’t help but fall in love with her at the same time as Theodore does. Her throaty laughter and sense of humor warms the film. Johansson’s voice brings Samantha to life. According to The Psych Report, “Our research suggests that it was not what Johansson said but rather how she said it, that made Samantha seem so real” (Schroeder 1). Her voice is so human that she almost seems even more human than other characters in the film.
Her tends to focus on the futuristic “O.S. 1”, but the theme of the film is about humanity, not technology. In a journal written by Kyle VanHemert, he also interviews production designer, K.K. Barrett. Barrett says, “We decided that the movie wasn’t about technology, or if it was, that the technology should be invisible” (VanHemert 2). It shows that someone is almost never truly alone, yet cannot escape loneliness. This concept reflects on what society seems like today. We have the world at our fingertips with technology and social media. A virtual connection to another human being is only a couple clicks away, with our smartphones and other devices on hand. The total number of social networking applications astonishes the mind, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, FaceTime, and many others. Technology enables our connection with other people, yet it’s never really enough. Some of us still feel empty and lonely, an unsettling feeling of disconnect. Technology is enjoyable and we are contented, but there is still loneliness. Theodore became extremely lonely through a divorce with his wife Catherine. He spends a significant amount of time thinking about her, and there are several flashbacks throughout the film showing Theodore’s blissful relationship with her. He is dwelling in the present, but he is somehow stuck in the past. In the beginning of the film, he can’t sleep and he engages in a futuristic physicality of phone sex, but without the actual intimacy. Theodore was in a vulnerable state, and that is when he started developing an intimate relationship with Samantha, because he was so weak and lonely.
Theodore starts to become noticeably happier throughout his relationship with Samantha. “She shapes Theodore, through her organization of his life and the joy, fulfillment, and companionship that she brings him, but she is also shaped by him” (Bergen 3). He tells his coworkers that he is seeing someone, and he goes on with life as if he is in a normal relationship with someone. The way that Theodore and Samantha communicate with each other seems so real, almost like she is right beside him. There is a scene in the film where Theodore is talking to Samantha and he is at a carnival in the city. He is happy and giggly, and their conversations are humorous and lighthearted. People look at Theodore like he is crazy; but he doesn’t see them at all. In fact, in many scenes where he is talking to Samantha in public and the people in the background are blurred out; giving us the notion that Theodore does not pay attention to how others perceive their relationship. Theodore’s growing love for her feels not only believable, but also completely acceptable. Throughout the film, Theodore starts to open up to some of his coworkers that the girl that he has been dating is an O.S. The reactions from his friend Amy and his coworker Paul were extremely surprising. They had no judgment or negativity towards Theodore, and their relationship was completely accepted.
As time went on in the film, it became more accepted and for people to form relationships with their OS’s. There was a scene where Samantha wasn’t answering Theodore’s calls, and he was worried that she was gone. He panicked, left his office, and frantically ran around Los Angeles, which seemed like he was looking for her. It seemed ironic because he was desperately searching for her like she was a physical person, as if he could actually find her somewhere. He finally gets in touch with her and she explains how she shut down to update her software, and that her and a group of OS’s wrote an upgrade that allows them to “move past matter as our processing platform”. That incites that she might be leaving some time soon, and Theodore did not know how to react. In a straining conversation towards the end of the film, Theodore tried to come to terms with Samantha. He wanted to know if she was talking to anyone else, and she said she was talking to 8,316 other people. He then asked her if she was in love with anyone else, and she replied with 641. I don’t think that Theodore prepared himself for this moment. For Theodore, Samantha’s view of the world does not make any sense. He does not have the ability to talk to 8,316 other people. And he definitely does get to experience 641 people loving him back, all at the same time. His humanity does not make him weak or flawed. At the end of the film, Samantha and Theodore have to part ways. Theodore tells her that he will never love anyone else like he loved Samantha, which is true.
One of the strengths of this movie is that it leaves us, and Theodore, wondering what he really learned from him relationship with Samantha. The story feels somewhat like a tragedy. Theodore finally learned to believe in love again after his divorce, and it is heartbreaking when that is taken away from him. The absence of Samantha in his earpiece seemed almost deafening for the audience, who has to look for her warm voice and presence just like Theodore does. Even with all the advances in technology, there is still melancholy to be found in quiet moments.