What is it with references to being quotable in Ex Machina?

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I recently saw Ex Machina, not sure how much I'm supposed to read into it (and works of Alex Garland in general) but there are references to quotes and being quotable, and I wonder if they mean anything. For instance, Nathan drunkenly quoting Oppenheimer or the Ghostbusters, saying "There you go again. Mr Quoteable," or:

Nathan: Through the looking glass? Wow. You're good with words, Caleb. You're quotable.

Caleb: Actually that's someone else's quote.



Best Answer

I think it's just Nathan mocking Caleb.

Throughout the movie, Caleb tries to be more 'clever' than the role assigned to him by Nathan requires. He tries to extend the Turing test to be more rigorous and scientific when Nathan simply wants to see if he forms an emotional/erotic connection with Ava.

Caleb also frequently quotes famous figures as in the excerpt you've given.

Nathan is clearly a bit of a mean drunk and he needs to be superficially friendly with Caleb for the purposes of his plan. He therefore takes the opportunities he can to quietly make fun of Caleb by riffing on the 'quotable' theme that clearly annoys him.




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Why do people Reference Ex Machina?

Many tragedy writers used Deus ex Machina to resolve complicated or even seemingly hopeless situations in the plots of their plays. The phrase is loosely translated as \u201cgod from the machine.\u201d This translation refers to how the Deus ex Machina was often performed in ancient theatre.

What does it mean to be human Ex Machina?

Josh Larsen \u2022 April 30, 2015. Ex Machina suggests empathy might not only be a way to distinguish human intelligence from artificial intelligence, but also evidence of our imago dei.

What is the message in Ex Machina?

On the surface, Ex Machina is a solid science fiction story about the emergence of AI and the titanic task of determining and defining the nature of such an intelligence. But its themes are those of individualism, escape from subjugation, and the pursuit of rational happiness as a fully realized, autonomous being.

Is Caleb a robot in Ex Machina?

In Ex Machina, Caleb is picked to have conversations with an artificial intelligence, Ava. While it is clear that Ava is an android, Caleb is introduced as human.



Ex Machina - Best Scene (knife scene)




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