Ex-Machina was thoroughly enjoyable and like many graphic novels has many deeper themes running through it. What particularly interested me is directly an analysis based on David Bell's Essentialist Belief and Post-Modernist viewpoints. In a way Ex-Machina is very similar to Robocop (The feature for this week), it has many similar themes regarding the relationships between technology and work/occupation.
ESSENTIALIST BELIEF: This rather limited viewpoint suggests that identity is always there, that we have "real me", so despite any environmental/exterior changes we are still the same, our identities are fixed from the day we enter the world. When looking at Ex-Machina this is marginally true when considering the character of Mitchell. From a young age he seems interested in comics, but realizes that he must of course follow the path of an architect to essentially amount to anything. This is true of his character as he grows froma boy to a man, and realises that he must run for Mayor to do good, rather than fly around like a vigilante. It so seems that this would be true of Robocop; once a cop, always a cop. However there are flaws to this argument, which is where the development of the post-modernist viewpoint arrives from.
POST-MODERNIST VIEWPOINT:
To understand this viewpoint one must consider that our identities are NOT fixed, in fact they are so flexible that we also choose to reveal specific areas of our identity at a given moment; quite simply, a choice. In Ex-Machina Mitchell is left scarred and able to telepathically affect technology, with this power he must CHOOSE when and where to use it. One cannot simply display all of our unique aspects of our identities all the time, for two reasons. 1. We would feel a lack of personal security, and 2. We 'perform' different sections of our personalities depending on the social situation we are within (eg. you wouldn't samba dance in the office!).
Cyberspace often displays the idea that humans will willingly fall without grace if given the opportunity. In machina, like many gritty graphic novels, has sinister scenes take place in largely old, broken environments. A sort of reminder of the evil we are capable of.
One interesting factor of the internet (in particular the phenomenon of Facebook) is that social barriers from existing face-to-face social practice quite simply disappear. This may be the reason for 3rd world cultures being a lot more sociable and open than the western world. Poorer countries do not have access to any near the level or abundance of technology available in the west; as a result we behave differently. In our online cyber-space world, we are free to express and show so many aspects of our personality than before, and the sheer amount of photographic capabilities are of course letting other people view so much more of you; in essence, the destruction of personal well-being.
I found the Tulip theory reading particularly interesting, Sconce puts forward this idea that when something exotic and interesting doesn't actually produce anything it effectually dies out and loses its values. He uses the medieval tulip craze as an analogy. The tulip was "rare, exotic and in demand (though essentially useless accept as orientation), tulips became the foundation for a whole new speculative economy. The people "woke" to realize that there wasn't anything of substance that was worth anything, just a flower. The same could be said for our online network sites, they don't produce anything, they just allow communication. He suggests that eventually the world will "wake" up and move on to a new tulip craze. I partly agree with his theory, technology changes ever-faster every year, when we realize something isn't worth the salt, we improve/change/ or scrap it. The thing is we still have tulips now (they actually have mass), yet our online facilities/cyberspace have no mass really, so what happens to them?? do they disappear forever?
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