It’s almost impossible to not feel some level of malicious glee when technological “progress” goes drastically awry. These tragic narratives often make for the most absorbing, chilling movies and M3GAN is no different. With the continuing march of artificial intelligence poised to eventually replace humans in numerous endeavors, M3GAN also points to an ominous future of domineering robots as their creators seem determined to make them as human-like as possible. This story of an AI created humanoid doll that becomes jealously self-aware and causes all kinds of havoc may appear preposterous, but inventions that were once thought to be the realm of science fiction or wishful thinking eventually become reality.
M3GAN exquisitely illustrates how humans can be too smart for their own good, relentlessly pushing technological boundaries – or what some may refer to as “playing god” but instead become hoist on their own petard. This is what ultimately happens when Gemma (Allison Williams) a roboticist employed by a high-tech toy company is covertly working on a project that her boss doesn’t approve of. In fact, she is toiling away at creating a life-size humanoid doll as a companion for her young niece Cady, (Violet McGraw) whose parents were killed in a car crash. The doll “Megan” or M3GAN is cutting-edge AI technology, intended to be the finest life-like toy that money can buy.
In spite of being ordered to stop work on the project by her boss David, Gemma stubbornly carries on. Despite initial frustrating failures which occur during development and testing, Gemma soon creates a satisfactory prototype of the doll to pair up with her lonely, withdrawn niece. At first everything works out splendidly and even Gemma’s boss has a change of heart and is delighted that this breakthrough development can be mass produced and make the company millions – after all what could go wrong? Right? Soon enough M3GAN gets away from its creator and starts having a mind of its own. It’s fascinating to watch the fatal attraction between Cady (Gemma’s niece) and M3GAN and the pending doom soon to follow.
Not only has her robot companion become self-aware, she also proves to be quite deadly, naturally going on a rampage by eliminating anyone and anything that attempts to come between her obsession with Cady. It becomes painfully clear to Gemma that she unintentionally spawned a monster which cannot simply be deactivated with the flip of a switch. While Gemma fully intended for M3GAN to represent only the best of human nature – the film hits the mark by showing that the dual nature of humanity cannot be escaped. Everything that humans create has a bad side. M3GAN is an exaggerated though entertaining example of how human technological advances seek to solve one problem and then create additional ones.
To be an effective thriller the doll couldn’t help but develop a dark side which became all consuming and out of control. M3GAN certainly fills the bill as a thriller which is meant to be over-the-top, while at the same time isn’t overly gruesome with the body count (especially considering it’s target audience). Nonetheless, the film still functions best as satire, exposing one of our chief flaws as a species – persisting in the belief that technology will ultimately solve all of our problems. However, AI generated robot dolls, regardless of how sophisticated or lifelike they may become, are not supposed to replace human companionship and healthy interaction.
Yet, the irony is that if Cady had healthy role models to begin with…then M3GAN wouldn’t be a necessary creation. No doubt, though, there is likely a future time when an AI generated doll will considerably – if not completely replace human interaction for a small, but elite group of unfortunate children. It’s all too obvious that over the past few decades that television, video games, smart phones, and social media have drastically altered the landscape of human interaction, healthy communication and parental responsibility as it is. Why not add more to that mix? This is the direction we keep heading towards, and who knows what else is coming down the pike next?
On a final note, M3GAN could not work without elements of absurd humor as several critics such as Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian have pointed out in mostly favorable reviews of the film. When he writes of “dolls as parodies of intimacy” and “tech itself as sinister child-pacification” we have to laugh at our own folly to an extent. Otherwise, if we don’t, the actual ramifications of what we create are a bit much to cope with.
