Ex Machina Character Analysis
Throughout the film, Ex Machina, director Alex Garland provides the main characters with biblical names symbolic to their personality and uses parallels between events seen within the Bible such as the Garden of Eden and the temptation of the apple. Nathan, an intelligent CEO who has removed himself from the world, selects Caleb, a programmer at Nathan’s company, for a random trip to Nathan’s private compound. Unknowingly to Caleb, his task is to test the consciousness and abilities of Nathan’s creation, a humanistic artificial intelligence named Ava. It progressively becomes more evident that Ava is far more self aware than Nathan and Caleb ever thought an AI’s intelligence could be. Nathan, the creator of the AI and man in charge of the
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Ava’s name means “life” or “living one”, she is given the opportunity of life by her creator, Nathan. Eve was allowed her life because God created her so that Adam would not be on the Earth alone. Also, Eve is attracted to Adam, just as Ava becomes attracted to Caleb throughout the film. Her name also portrays “living one” and becomes ironic as she is not naturally living, she is mechanically living. Presented in the Bible, God confronts Adam and Eve for breaking their promise to not touch the apples. In the Bible, Eve leaves God and Adam in the Garden as she is naked and afraid. Ava too is seen leaving Nathan and Caleb in the compound one dead and one alive, as she embarks on her mission into the real human world. She is naked in her mind due to parts of her mechanism being exposed which causes her to remove the skin of previous AI’s who failed Nathan’s test. She deliberately detaches the skin of the AI and covers her body with it and then goes to fully clothe herself. This could be another example of Garland showing the future of AI’s taking the place of humans. In summation, this film aligns very similarly with stories in the Bible. The three main characters have biblical names with prominent connections and multiple events that take place in the film are directly related to events in the Bible. Due to the fact that this film was released in 2015, there seems to be enough
Ava’s name means “life” or “living one”, she is given the opportunity of life by her creator, Nathan. Eve was allowed her life because God created her so that Adam would not be on the Earth alone. Also, Eve is attracted to Adam, just as Ava becomes attracted to Caleb throughout the film. Her name also portrays “living one” and becomes ironic as she is not naturally living, she is mechanically living. Presented in the Bible, God confronts Adam and Eve for breaking their promise to not touch the apples. In the Bible, Eve leaves God and Adam in the Garden as she is naked and afraid. Ava too is seen leaving Nathan and Caleb in the compound one dead and one alive, as she embarks on her mission into the real human world. She is naked in her mind due to parts of her mechanism being exposed which causes her to remove the skin of previous AI’s who failed Nathan’s test. She deliberately detaches the skin of the AI and covers her body with it and then goes to fully clothe herself. This could be another example of Garland showing the future of AI’s taking the place of humans. In summation, this film aligns very similarly with stories in the Bible. The three main characters have biblical names with prominent connections and multiple events that take place in the film are directly related to events in the Bible. Due to the fact that this film was released in 2015, there seems to be enough