Hanno Hauenstein (hallo Hanno) wrote today about how we need to paint our future again.
A couple of weeks ago I saw the new Spike Jonze film “Her” at a festival and it left a bigger impact on me than I thought at first. I was never into science fiction so I can’t say if the movie falls into that category but it’s set in the future. We don’t know exactly when, but possibly some decades from now.
The beauty of making a film is that one is able to create an entire world. Which makes me think of Fellini and of his love for being everything: an architect, a costume designer, a painter, a storyteller, a technician, a make up artist, a wig maker and much more. Like a child creating his own phantasy world he couldn’t stop having his hands on every detail. He knew that it was the sum of all these specific elements that made his phantasies come alive.
This passion is also found to a certain degree in the new Spike Jonze film. In his excitement of designing how fashion in the future will look like (bit twenties, high-waisted thick wool pants and colorful shirts), our homes (very Danish, wooden coziness, lots of light), he also invents new work fields, technical objects, computer games, etc.
His fantasy future looks friendly and feels lonely. Because behind all this preciseness in developing all these particularities he seems to ask himself where this extremely quickly developing technology (internet, social media, siri, etc.) will lead us. What impact it will have on our relationships, needs and desires. And he states that the wish for intimacy, to be meant and seen for who we are and eventually loved will always be there through all times.
Thus the main character falls in love with his OS. And Jonze is clever enough to make this OS a smart, intelligent, self-ironic and sensitive “character” (with the voice of Scarlett Johansson which makes the rest). The temptation to fall for it is high; to leave behind real human contact with it’s complicated patterns, disappointments and shortcomings.
Since I saw the film I feel as if time is going too fast. I hear of new technological developments and they frighten me because I wonder if I can adapt to them, if they are healthy or if I will be strong enough to take myself out of it.
I truly believe that some things need time, and that the productiveness and result-orientated thinking in genral but also in relationships can be harmful. Getting to know someone needs time, getting to know yourself needs time, complicated processes you can’t google.
One of the most beautiful moments in the film is when the OS (Scarlett) tells the main character (played by Joaquin Phoenix who I adore) that being with him is like reading a book just with huge gaps between the words. He became just too slow for her.