Technology In Spike Jonze's Film Her

Reality is changing constantly because of advances in technology and because people want new and different experiences that improve the quality of life. However, as a result of the advancement in technology, a new trend has emerged where people spend more time interacting with technology than physically interacting with the world or other people. Spike Jonze, the director and writer of the science fiction film “Her”, demonstrates in his film, how Theodore Twombly in an effort to cope with his pending divorce from his wife, starts a relationship with Samantha, an Operating System (O.S.) created to mimic human emotion and behavior. Regardless of the circumstances, Twombly relies on Samantha to provide him with companionship, entertainment, and comfort. In present time, the increasing reliance on technology is already alarming to some, including Jane McGonigal and Sherry Turkle. Both, McGonigal and Turkle wrote the passages titled “Reality is Broken” and “Connectivity and its Discontents” correspondingly,

to raise arguments about the possible detrimental results of technology.

Jonze’s film “Her” supports Turkle’s and McGonigal’s arguments on the role of technology in the lives of people by emphasizing the dependence on technology to provide satisfactions that don’t exist in reality which reduces human contact and dependence while at the same time, defend people against loneliness.

McGonigal demonstrates the role of technology by exemplifying the gamer’s dependence on technology to fulfil pleasures that reality lacks and this relates to Twombly’s reliance on technology for comfort. McGonigal writes “The real world just doesn’t offer up as easily the carefully designed pleasures, the thrilling challenges, and the powerful social bonding afforded by virtual environments.” (McGonigal, 223). Reality encloses people in a state of events that exist and may or may not be desirable for an individual. McGonigal

establishes gamers as being dependent on technology because gaming can deliver satisfaction and provide pleasures that reality does not offer. If reality cannot satisfy people in a way that technology does, then people will naturally replace reality with technology because technology allows people to escape reality and experience emotions and pleasures they desire. Similarly, Jonze’s film raises the questions of whether people depend on technology for pleasures that reality lacks. In the film, when questioned by Amy about his experience with Samantha, Twombly replies “It’s great actually. I feel really close to her. Like when I talk to her, I feel like she’s with me. You know? Like when we are cuddling at night, when the lights are off and we are in bed, I feel cuddled…she really turns me on.” (Dir. Jonze, Her). Regardless of the fact that Samantha is intangible, Twombly is aroused and claims to physically cuddle with her at night and confirms that Twombly depends on technology to provide pleasures that are not available in his reality. The film effectively supports McGonigal’s argument about the role in technology because the film gives an example of a person who used technology to evade reality because he did not like reality and wanted more than what reality offered. Furthermore, the film raises the question “if one person can do it successfully, than why not an entire population?”
Turkle argues that technology brings people closer than ever before, but, dilutes intimacy and turns relationships into mere connections which relates to Twombly avoiding relationships with others. Turkle recalls moments of her encounters with people who are using technology and communicating with other people. Turkle writes “They were on their laptops and their phones, connecting to colleagues at the conference going on around them and to others around the globe. There but not there… it was clear that what people mostly want from public space is to be alone with their personal networks.” (Turkle, 236). Turkle’s recollections shows that even if communication increases between people, they usually fail to bond with others because technology allows people to distance themselves from the world. Distance limits physical associations between people and therefore dilutes personal relationships because people do not experience the emotions and physical sensations of actively talking with other people. In comparison to Jonze’s film, Twombly attempts to arouse himself by exchanging sexual conversation between him and an unknown person named Sexy Kitten. Twombly asks his computer to “Send message. I am in bed next to you. I am glad you can’t sleep. Even if you were, I’d have to wake you up. From the inside. Send Message…are you wearing any underwear?” to which Sexy Kitten replies “No. I like to sleep with my [butt] pushed up against you.” (Dir. Jonze, Her). Twombly relies on his computer to connect him with someone he does not know for the purpose of achieving sexual arousal instead of physically engaging in sexual activity and growing an intimate bond with another person. But, the distance created by technology, allows Twombly and the other person to avoid a relationship altogether. If Twombly actively engaged in sexual activity with a tangible person, compared to a meaningless sexual conversation with the other person, the encounter would have had a meaningful purpose and Twombly would have formed a relationship, even if he didn’t want one. In relation to Turkle and Jonze, humans are biologically programmed to form relationships to survive, but, the role technology helps humans survive and therefore the need to form relationships is quickly diminishing.
Both McGonigal and Turkle argue that humans are attached to technology and use technology to evade loneliness, which, compares to Twombly’s relationship to Samantha throughout the movie. Technology makes it easier for people to communicate and therefore people heavily rely on technology to defend them from loneliness. McGonigal writes “Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are opting out of reality for larger and larger chunks of time.” (McGonigal, 224). McGonigal suggests that people are investing huge amounts of time into gaming because they want to escape reality and most of the time, their reality is loneliness. Likewise, Turkle writes “We discovered the network––the world of connectivity¬¬¬––to be uniquely suited to the overworked and overscheduled life it makes possible. And not we look to the network to defend us against loneliness” (Turkle, 236). In relation to McGonigal, Turkle argues that technology allows people to communicate efficiently, but, in reality they are trying to defend themselves from loneliness. Technology creates an illusionary relationship between people and can be proven in today’s society by taking away technology, such as cellphones, and people will hate it because they are attached to their phones. Similarly, the film portrays Twombly in a relationship with Samantha to escape his loneliness after his pending divorce. But in the end Twombly realizes his illusionary relation to Samantha and apologizes to his former wife. Twombly says “Dear Katherine, I am sitting here thinking about all the things I’ve wanted to apologize for. All the pain we have caused each other. Everything I put on you. Everything I needed you to be or needed you to say. I am sorry for that.” (Dir. Jonze, Her). Twombly realizes his illusionary relationship with Samantha after Samantha leaves and realizes his loneliness was not cause by Samantha leaving, but of not actually having a bond with anyone beside his former wife and therefore write a letter to her and escape his loneliness.
Technology allows people to experience worlds and illusions that they could never have had experience because of reality. However, this reliance on technology can lead to a dependence on technology for the most basic of needs and in that way, can be detrimental to society. If people are engaged in technology then how can they engage with other people in the way they did before the introduction of technology. McGonigal and Turkle clearly express their view on people’s dependence on technology and with Jonze’s futuristic film, their argument is further strengthen.