Ex Machina, directed by author Alex Garland, is a thought-provoking, science fiction psychological thriller that keeps the viewer in suspense from start to finish.  The complicated ideals the film wrestles with delve deep into the concept of the morality of creating artificial intelligence, and the effect it will have on both the machine and the humans that create it.  The movie follows Caleb Smith, a computer programmer that is invited to join Nathan Bateman, Caleb’s boss, in his underground cabin in the woods to test the new Artificial Intelligence known as Ava that Nathan has been working on.  The movie stimulates the senses of the viewer through a stunning soundtrack and intellectual notions, but most notably through the mise-en-scene of color coordinated visuals.  Specifically, the colors blue and red are used to symbolize different aspects of the multiple characters and aspects of the setting.

Blue represents the cold, calculating, technologically-heavy side of life.  Red, meanwhile, represents the warmer, more compassionate side of life.  In contrast with the film’s heavy emphasis on the whites, grays, and blacks of the underground bunker, the reds and blues stand out in the film when they rarely show up.  This stark contrast leads me to believe that the different sharp colors are a prevalent theme throughout the movie.  Using these two differing colors, Garland helps develop his story, characters, and setting extremely well.

One of the first main instances of the color blue, is Nathan’s own company, the search engine called BlueBook.  In the film, Nathan brags that BlueBook is superior to every other search engine company in the world, and talks about how he used the company’s technology to hack into other companies for data to complete Ava, the artificially intelligent girl-like robot.  The fact that Nathan would create a technology called BlueBook that has a technological superiority is a strong correlation and theme throughout the movie.

Another instance of the color blue in the film is the inner workings of Ava’s brain and body.  The mechanics used to create Ava are called “waterware” because of how they behave in the blue water-like substance in Ava’s brain components.  The fact that Ava’s brain is the color blue, and how she acts so meticulous and calculated in her actions and motives, supports the color theory that blue represents a colder, more technological-based level of thinking.  No other scene captures this feeling more than when Ava leaves Caleb to die down in the underground house.  Allowing Caleb to live would have jeopardized Ava’s chances of successfully integrating with the other humans.  In these ways, blue remains a prevalent theme throughout the film.

On the other hand, red is used to show more warmth and emotion in the movie.  Notably, one of the first things we see colored red is actually the main character, Caleb.  His hair is strawberry blonde, a shade of red hair, and his personality perfectly matches what the color red describes. Out of the three main characters in the film, Caleb displays the most emotion and humanity.  He stands against Nathan’s manipulative and deceitful ways, and shows how much he cares for Ava’s well-being.  It’s even stated in a behind the scenes feature that the actor who portrayed Caleb, Domhnall Gleeson, deliberately had his hair changed from his natural orange to a lighter, redder hair color.  Garland wanted Caleb to have some kind of connection to red for a reason, and making him the most compassionate character would accomplish that connection.

Interestingly enough, when Caleb is first introduced, he is seen wearing a shirt that is both blue and red.  The blue part covers his torso, while the sleeves leading up to the neck of the shirt are dark red.  Garland could be trying to signify to his viewers that Caleb could go either way; he could be as cold and calculating as the computer programs he works with, or he could be as warm and compassionate as his red-colored hair.  This creates a sense of moral ambiguity within Caleb even at the start of his introduction.  Which side will Caleb choose? Blue or red?  Garland sets Caleb up to choose either path, and we can see the internal struggles Caleb wrestles with throughout the film.

Another piece of red that occurs in the film is the power outages that occur when Caleb and Ava are alone together.  During these power outages, the entire room is bathed in red light.  This is the only time that Caleb and Ava can freely talk, as Nathan can no longer watch them on his numerous hidden cameras.  When these power outages happen, Caleb and Ava become more intimate, as Caleb becomes more compassionate towards Ava and feels bad for how she’s treated by Nathan.  Due to this, the red power outages represent the compassion and emotional side of life that can only be shared between these two characters during this time.

The colors of blue and red are great motifs throughout the movie.  The blue and red colors acted very similar to the different parts of the brain.  The left side of the brain is the color blue, as it’s more logical and calculating, while the right side of the brain is red, as it’s more emotional and thoughtful.  These colors act like the two sides of the brain; combining together to form a perfectly cohesive idea that is developed throughout the film’s story.  The film shows that the world cannot operate with a greater emphasis on one side than the other.  The world requires balance and unity, and must cohesively work together to keep afloat of destruction.  The film seems to be implicitly saying that by working together like the right and left sides of the brain, we can create a more fitting end to our story than Caleb and Nathan’s.

 

Sources:

Garland, Alex, director.  Ex Machina. Pinewood Studios, 2015.