Posthuman Love Affairs in Spike Jonze's "Her" (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1, Klagenfurt University (English Department), language: English, abstract: The following research paper aims to discuss the futuristic love story in Her. The first part analyzes differences and similarities between human-human and human-machine relationships, highlighting essential parts of a functioning bond. Next, it examines the long-term negative effects of such relationships.

Living in the 21st century, human-machine relationships do not seem far-fetched. With dating sites like Tinder and Lovoo, traditional dating has changed for humanity in the last decades. With Instagram, Facebook, and Co., long-distance relationships are more common than they were the generations before. Traditional dating patterns have changed in many ways. With the development of modern technology, communication habits are based on phone calls, video chats, and messaging apps and sending each other posts via social media.

In his science-fiction drama Her (2013), Spike Jonze goes further to say that a romantic relationship between an operating system and a man is possible. In a futuristic setting, the protagonist Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) finds himself grieving over the separation from his ex-wife. As Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) appears in his life, she can connect with him. A posthuman love story between an operating system and a human being is the topic of the film.