From Film Festival

Thoughts on Gumdrop and Stop Dave, I’m Afraid

Stop, Dave is a disembodied voice, that gives the impression of being a sentient intelligence. It tries to provoke emotion in it’s human companion by the words it uses, “I feel’, “I assure you”, “I honestly think”, but there is no feeling behind the words, they are uttered in a monotone. It is easy for the human to ignore them.

Gumdrop on the other hand is clearly a robot in appearance yet speaks in a very human like way about her experiences and life. She appears to relate to humans in many ways, and her dream sequences show her interacting with humans as though she were human.  In fact, everything about the interview process shows her being treated as an equal to a human, there is no differentiation.

Thoughts on ‘We Only Attack Ourselves’

The film starts with a disembodied human head full of negative, regretful?, emotions atop a cyborg metal body. The music is lamentful and complements the visuals perfectly. The surrounding are dismal and lack all human comforts – he no longer requires them.

We are taken on a brief journey to the past which gives the impression that he ‘chose’ to submit to the transformation – but was this with the full realisation of all that he would lose?  His connection with the earth, the ability to feel the sun and touch other people.  His emotional connection with others.

In the end he is left with nothing. He is suspended, neither human, nor inhuman.