Introduction to MAEDO MOVIE MINUTES
Those who know me understand that I enjoy watching movies, specifically going to the theaters, and getting that nice cinematic experience on the big screen. To express my appreciation of film, I am going to be starting a new (and hopefully reoccurring) segment on this blog called MAEDO MOVIE MINUTES!
For MAEDO MOVIE MINUTES, I will share my thoughts on films that I would like to talk about. Some of these minutes may be brief. Others, I may go very in-depth about a topic I find interesting that the film raises. Also, on my website under MAEDO MOVIE MINUTES, I am logging every movie that I see in theaters (or on streaming if the movie is an exclusive streaming release), so you can keep up to date on what I have been watching.
M3GAN Movie Reaction
For my first entry into MAEDO MOVIE Minutes, I am going to discuss the most recent Blumhouse Productions film MEGAN, directed by Gerard Johnstone. To introduce the film, according to the Google plot synopsis of M3GAN:
M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a lifelike doll that is programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. Designed by Gemma (played by Allison Williams), a brilliant roboticist, M3GAN can listen, watch and learn as it plays the role of friend and teacher, playmate and protector. When Gemma becomes the unexpected caretaker of her 8-year-old niece (played by Violet McGraw), she decides to give the girl an M3GAN prototype, a decision that leads to unimaginable consequences.
January is considered the “Graveyard Month” in which studios release the films in which they have the least confidence in them. And if you have seen the trailers for the movie, you know what kind of movie this is going to be: a scary robot AI slasher. Usually, if a scary robot AI slasher movie comes out in January, it is going to be predictably terrible. Given that, it was surprising how much praise M3GAN was getting critically, which was why I was very excited to check it out.
Last Sunday, I watched M3GAN with my friend Jake at the AMC Village 7 in Lower Manhattan, and I really enjoyed the film thoroughly. M3GAN was a very fun experience with a great amount of satirical comedy and some solid emotional moments. The movie knew what it was, and it successfully played into its campiness. The audience that we saw the movie with was very responsive to all the horror movie tropes, anticipating every moment when the creepy AI doll was about to start wreaking havoc.
In contrast, my friend Jake did not particularly feel the movie was that good. I understand his opinion, and so do a good number of moviegoers. While the movie has been receiving a high critical score, the audience scores have not fared as well. M3GAN is meant to be very satirical and overtly ridiculous, which can leave a lot of people perceiving the film as just a bunch of predictable dumbness. The movie does have a certain acquired taste, but if you are looking for just a really good time, I would recommend you go check out M3GAN.
What Are Toys? (SPOILERS from here…)
For me, the biggest strength of M3GAN was its exploration into the concept of toys. Why do we play with toys? What function do they serve? The most useful online resource, Wikipedia, defines toys as “an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment.” For a lot of us, we associate toys with nostalgic feelings, an experience from our youth. We all remember our favorites. For me, it was TRANSFORMERS. My brother and I discovered the original TRANSFORMERS: GENERATIONS ONE show around the same time the first Michael Bay TRANSFORMERS film was coming out. That combination of circumstances primed us for a childhood of loving TRANSFORMERS.
But what happens when we grow up? Do we stop playing with “toys”? There is a comical bit in M3GAN where Gemma has shelves full of toys in her living room, and she does not let her niece Cady play with them because they are “collectibles.” Weird, right? Having toys that are not meant to be played with. Well, there are lot of people that are huge into collectibles, including my brother and me. All our TRANSFORMERS now sit upon our shelves as display pieces, barely having being touched in years. My brother has recently been collecting an astonishing amount of Star Wars, Marvel, and DC action figures, but, just like our TRANSFORMERS, they sit upon our shelves as display pieces. You can argue that these objects are no longer toys; instead, they are art pieces, like a sculpture. What is the point of this? For some, it may be a display of wealth, as some vintage toys have high price values today. And for others, it is a nostalgic reminder of our interests, a personification of youth.
Now what about phones? Are they toys? If we go back to the Wikipedia definition of toys as an object to supply entertainment, then absolutely. Phones have become crucial tools that we all use in our day to day lives, such as checking emails, connecting with clients, managing project teams, and so forth. And we use our phones predominately for entertainment: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, BeReal for some reason. There is an interesting article that goes further into the distinction between tools and toys in phone use:
https://www.raptitude.com/2019/05/smartphones-are-toys-first-tools-second/
This is where I feel M3GAN really hits its thematic stride, questioning the extent to which the lines between toys and technology essentially disappears, and the movie uses the concept of toys to raise a lot of insightful ideas about commercialism, parenthood, attachment, and emotional intelligence. And while the robot M3GAN is a weird, creepy AI doll that commits murders, she also embodies all of these themes.
Toys as an Emotional Escape
In the middle of the movie, there is a pivotal scene where Cady’s therapist name drops Attachment Theory. Since I vaguely remembered what Attachment Theory was from high school, I just want to show off my AP Psychology knowledge. Let’s take a bit of a history detour on Attachment Theory. In 1958, American psychologist Harry Harlow conducted an experiment on Attachment Theory by isolating infant rhesus monkeys. He isolated them in cages with access to two surrogate mothers: one made of wire, and one covered in soft cloths. Half of the monkeys got milk from the wire mother, and the other half got milk from the cloth mother. The result was that all monkeys spent more time with the cloth mother, even though half of them did not receive milk from her. During the experiment, when the monkeys were provoked by something scary, they would all also seek the cloth mother for refuge. The study concluded that infants need to attach themselves to something of comfort.
Why do I mention this? At the beginning of the movie, Cady was spared in a tragic car accident that took the lives of her parents. Consequently, the role of guardian was passed to her aunt Gemma. Gemma was reluctant to truly manage a motherly role, so she turned to developing the creepy animatronic M3GAN to make her niece happy. We see M3GAN and Cady’s relationship blossom as Cady becomes more and more happy, but it is slowly revealed that this happiness is fleeting. While Cady seemed to be feeling happier since the death of her parents, whenever Gemma took M3GAN away from Cady, Cady became extraordinarily aggressive, just as any childhood would when their toy is taken away. While this was not an abnormal reaction for a child, it became desperately concerning that Cady was reluctant to deal with her traumatic memories of her parents with anyone, including Gemma, and only found comfort in M3GAN. This raised a couple interesting thought exercises for me, which ties back to the Attachment Theory shenanigans above.
According to Attachment Theory, when a child is in distress, that child will turn to a comforting caregiver for emotional support. Toys cannot really provide that comfort, as they are really just temporary distractions. However, what happens when that toy becomes so life-like that it can become a person for comfort? In the case of the film, M3GAN behaves so closely to a real person that Cady turns to her as a source of comfort, and not Gemma. This attachment causes Cady to become dependent on M3GAN as a source of happiness, but of course that way of living is unstable.
While a toy may make a child happy, that happiness is only temporary, a distraction from our true emotions. When we are feeling distressed, we usually turn to a person of comfort, a loved one, a parent figure, a close friend. But not always. With how technologically advanced our phones have become, we can easily retreat in isolation and use our phones as temporary distractions from feelings of trauma, depression, loneliness, and sadness. And just like toys, distractions cannot last forever, and we must face our feelings directly head on. And while we will still have feelings of doubt, misery, and heartbreak from time to time, if we learn how to deal with our emotions in healthy ways, then we can build longer-lasting feelings of happiness.
Anyways, Cady and Gemma learn to connect emotionally together. M3GAN goes on a mini killing spree. Cady and Gemma team up with another robot to beat the crap out of M3GAN. And there is a little tease for a sequel at the end. Did I really need to go so in-depth on a movie that is meant to be a fun satirical slasher? No, not really. Also, Ronny Chieng is in this movie, and it is always fun to see him.
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