I know that Animatrix has been out forever, but I just saw it and have a question. At the end of Matriculated, the converted machine plugs himself and the woman, the only survivors of the attack, back in. He reaches out to her, and she screams and withdraws in horror.
What happened? Did she die at the end, pass out, what? What did you think the machine intended? Did he love her and want to connect with her in a “corporeal” way, which she could not accept? It really seemed to me as if the machine craved her contact, to comfort and be comforted. The woman freaks out, but why? Becasuse humans, even those humans who seem to reach out to machines, who seem to respect their free wills, still do not accept the “humanity” of the machines? That the machines, even after all that has happened, still desire human acceptance?
In reading over old threads, this short did not seem very well received, but to me it was very poignant. It illustrated how, in the end, humans still haven’t learned the lesson of the Second Renaissance; they still think of machines as slaves and lesser beings, and machines, though stronger, smarter, and wiser, still long for human approbation. Very sad indeed.
The woman is being raped and there is nowhere she can go. She is locked in the simulation forever.
The machine only has a very primitive understanding of what desire is. He has craving, but no empathy. He cannot understand that the woman does not want him, even though he wants her.
This isn’t necessarily an argument that machines are incapable of the full spectrum of human emotion. Toddlers are incapable of empathy as well. They learn this stuff as they grow up.
Raped? Wherever did you see rape? The avatar of the machine was merely reaching out his hand to her. Remember the convo that the woman with the doctor who was in charge of the reprogramming? The machines believe the simulation is real; that machine honestly thought that the woman cared about him, as she seemed to in the original encounter.
It’s really hard to say if the machine has a lack of empathy in that scenario. He bought the line about humans caring about him-- that line was FED TO HIM by those people, so I think it is the human in this case who lacked empathy. She was faking, but his feelings were for real. Who, then, is actually lacking in true emotion?
We really saw this movie differently. I saw the machine as the one with real feelings and the humans as the callous manipulators who lied to the machines to get them to convert. When confronted with the reality of what she’d created, the woman recoiled, but the machine was true. I think this sentiment pervades Animatrix: the machines want to live in harmony with man, but man will not allow it.
It is easy to see that rape will follow. The machine and the woman are locked into the simulation with nobody else in a position to interferre. The machine is in love with the woman. The machine is more powerful than the woman within the simulation (as well as outside of it). Rape is unavoidable, and the woman realizes this.
It is open to discussion whether the machine has genuine feelings, or only a simple understanding of the range of human emotion. Think of it this way – if you believe the first, immediate interpretation of what you observe, or what people tell you, you will often be mistaken. Expectation of complete honesty from everyone is not a workable proposition. People lie all the time.
I didn’t see it. I’m not trying to be argumentative, but I just did not see the machine forcing itself on her, nor any foreshadowing of such an act. It really thought she would be happy to see it, and it seemed hurt and bemused when she wasn’t. I saw no intent to use force whatsoever and wonder where you saw it.
If the machine is in love with the woman, it won’t hurt her, and it didn’t. Just because one is more powerful does not mean that it is inevitable that one will hurt the beloved. Also, I’m not sure why you think the simulation of the machine is stronger than the simulation of the woman, nor why that would matter or lead inevitably to violence. Its eyes were glowing green, showing that it was converted and was on her side. It was sitting there, dejected, looking at her prone form, infinitely sad, IMO.
But the machine doesn’t know this. The machine has probably never had such a close encounter with humans before. It obviously fell for the woman’s beauty and apparent affection for it. The woman herself protests at the beginning of the short that the machines are fooled into believing the simulation is real, which falls short of coercing them to convert but is less honest than reprogramming. The machine WANTED to believe the beautiful lie the humans fed to it, and in the end seemed only hurt and sad, not angry or violent or intending to rape.
The humans are still the bad guys, was the message of this short for me. They still haven’t found a way to love the machines as the machines obviously still wish to love them. It’s funny to me that it is the non-humans who evoke the pathos in several of these shorts, not the feckless and solipsistic humans.