Frankenstein Vs Ex-Machina Essay

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein tells the tale of Victor Frankenstein, a devoted scientist determined to create life. Fast forward two hundred years, and Alex Garland’s Ex-Machina features Nathan Bateman, a reclusive billionaire genius, who is working to perfect his latest artificial intelligent android to pass as human. Ex-Machina is a modern day Frankenstein, in which Shelley’s themes and ideas are showcased, 200 years later, in a technologically advanced world to meet today’s contemporary issues. Through the analysis of both the characters and the plot associated to the cautionary tales, it is evident that Garland’s film is a subtle contemporary version of Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Nathan Bateman is a modern day Dr. Frankenstein; the two scientists
Nathan refers to his god status by misquoting Caleb, the human component for the Turing Test, “I’ll never forget it, you turned to me and said ‘you’re not a man you’re a god'” (Ex-Machina) in reference to the successful creation of Ava, the artificial intelligent ‘machine’. In comparison to Victor, he never directly refers himself to God, but he acknowledges that the work he is doing is that of the gods (Shelley, 54). Furthermore, “Nathan describes his work as Promethean” (Cooney), comparing himself to the Greek titan who stole fire from the gods and provided it to the humans. Shelley’s alternate title for her novel, The Modern Prometheus, compares Victor with the Greek titan, and, much like Ava, the Creature is the creation of Prometheus. While the tale states that Prometheus was punished by having his liver pecked at by a vulture for eternity, Ex-Machina portrays a more contemporary view with Nathan’s abusive relationship with alcohol seen throughout the film. His alcoholism is a contributing factor to Ava’s escape, which leads to his death. Both scientists have a parochial outlook fixed on power and fame, rendering them unable to feel any love or sympathy towards their creations. In