Emotions are powerful. They show to others that the human body is not just an emotionless slab of stone. And with emotions comes empathy. According to Merriam Webster, empathy is defined as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thought, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner”.

When I think of the word empathy, the first thing that comes to mind is empath, which is defined as “a person with the paranormal ability to apprehend the mental or emotional state of another individual”. The first example that came to my mind was the character “Alex Chen” from the videogame “Life is Strange: True Colors”, who has the ability to read a persons mind and emotions, and in some cases can forcefully change a persons emotions. I would highly recommend playing it.

Anyway, back to the point of this blog post, two things that I watched this week that explored the concept of empathy and embodied cognition, being the movie “Possessor” and the Futurama episode “I Second that Emotion”.

The first thing that I watched was the movie “Possessor”. The film was released back in 2020, and to my surprise it was directed by Brandon Cronenberg. I first thought to myself “wait, why does that last name sound so familiar”? So, I looked it up and I realized that Brandon was the son of David Cronenberg, a Canadian film director who is best known for his body horror movies such as “Videodrome” and “The Fly”. So, after watching the movie, I can say without any uncertainty “Like father, like son”, because Brandon’s use of body horror was phenomenal. One scene that I want to focus on is the scene that takes place in the middle of the movie where Vos, already possessing Colin’s body, is feeling sick and heads to the bathroom. When we see Colin’s eyes, we see a light cross, which is apparently what Vos is currently seeing through her eyes from being strapped to the possession machine. This is an example of perception, because we are seeing things from Vos’ point of view thru the body of Colin as Vos’ perspective is being perceived from somewhere else.

After watching “Possessor”, I watched the Futurama episode “I Second that Emotion”. In this episode, Bender flushes Leela’s pet Nibbler out of jealousy, so to get back at him, Professor Farnsworth installs an empathy chip to Bender so he can feel all the emotions Leela is feeling. The scene that I want to focus on is at the end of the episode, when Leela is tied to a pole and is about to be eaten by El Chupanibre, and thanks to the chip, Bender is too scared to fight El Chupanibre because Leela’s afraid. This is the perfect example of embodied cognition, where we see the body of another person and we “sense in” into their body and “live through it”. Now, even though Bender “sensing” Leela’s emotions is coming from an empathy chip, the point still stands.

In this week’s film Possessor and Futurama episode “I Second that Emotion”, we can see how empathy is an aspect of cognitive science, and plays a role within the relationship between body and mind. In one of the scenes from Futurama, Leela is at the bar crying about missing Nibbler, but we also see Bender at home on the couch with Fry crying as well (10:19). The cross-cutting technique is used here to show that these two events are happening at the same time, and that both Leela and Bender are experiencing the same emotion.  The emotion is “traveling” from Leela to Bender through empathy, just as the camera has switched from Leela to Bender. Theory of Mind is explored in this scene, as earlier in the episode Bender receives a special empathy chip in his head that is in tune with Leela’s emotions. He is able to recognize that he is crying because he is feeling the sadness that Leela feels. When Fry questions if Bender misses Nibbler, Bender replies saying “Hell no. Its Leela’s stupid feelings”.

In the lecture it mentioned that Theory of Mind is “understanding that other people’s perspectives and thoughts are different from one’s own”, which is demonstrated by Bender admitting that the emotions he is feeling are not his own, and he is able to differentiate between the two. But, further into the scene, Bender feels the emotion of jealousy and starts going off on Fry saying things that Leela is feeling while she is in the bar. The lines between the two merge in that moment, showing how the body is necessary for the context of a situation and the emotions that are being felt in them. 

I found it interesting that Bender is a robot, and in lacking a human body he seems to be the only one in the group who is not empathetic towards Leela’s situation. This episode highlighted how important empathy is in relationships and social settings. Connecting with others on deeper levels involves being emotionally mature and in tune to your environment. In a scene earlier in the episode, right after Bender has the empathy chip placed inside of him, the Professor is flipping through the different frequencies in the room (9:13). He experiences everyone’s emotions in a short span of time before finally getting to Leela, and even when he is experiencing her emotions for an extended period of time, there still is an emotional disconnect. He is fighting and complaining about the connection to Leela that he now shares. Although empathy is being shown as something that can be “placed” into someone’s brain, I think it requires the person themselves to want it themselves, as it is something that cannot be forced. His robotic body was not a factor experiencing empathy, but the chip placed inside his head was the main focal point. I think that maybe the show was trying to comment on how the mind and body actually work together when it comes to empathy. 

In the film Possessor, assassin Taysa Vos jumps into the bodies of others in order to complete her assignments. In preparation of entering someone else’s body, Vos studies their behavior and vocal patterns in order to get into character. During one scene we see Vos watching footage of Colin Nate (the man she will be going into), and his girlfriend Ava (22:38). Vos repeats the words and phrases that Colin says, using different inflections to try and match his speech pattern. She takes notes of how he reacts in conversation as well as body language. She is trying to become Colin before even entering his body. This could be related back to simulation theory and how Vos is trying to get inside the headspace of Colin, so that she will be ready for different scenarios and interactions that may occur. If she can get an idea of what he is feeling and thinking about, it will be easier for her to replicate it in his body. It’s not just about going into their body as yourself, but changing yourself to fit their body. I think that’s where it becomes foggy for our main character as she slowly loses herself while being trapped inside of Colin’s body, while he fights for dominance over his mind. The empathy and emotion she is feeling can no longer be distinguished as her own because it is merging with the host. 

The two scenes that really demonstrated the fragility of empathy were when Vos is being interviewed by Girder after coming out of someone’s mind. We see Vos examining some of her old belongings and identifying the significance of each one (8:38). In the beginning scene, Vos seems more aware and present while talking about the history of the specific items. She shows a sort of an emotional attachment to them, whereas in the ending scene she is shown more cold and robotic while shuffling through the case. I think this was meant to show how the time spent away from her body actually affected the way she was able to process emotions, especially because her mind was in a body that was not her own. Vos was able to feel what her host was feeling as the mission went haywire, and was no longer in control of how she was processing the events around herself. In the end it was as though Vos didn’t have any emotions of her own because she became so entangled with other peoples over the course of time. 

This week I watched the movie “Possessor” and a Futurama episode titled “I second that Emotion”. They were both interesting and one was even quite terrifying. Most importantly they both touch on the subject of empathy in their own ways as discussed in the voice thread lecture for this week. Before I delve into each film I did want to discuss their titles. I found “Possessor” as a title to have a double meaning. Although one might see the title as straightforward in discussing the woman’s job to possess others, I think it’s possible that possessor as a title could be describing the way emotions possess us as humans. Most of the time we have no control over our emotions, they become us, they possess us. Secondly the title “I second that emotion” is also an important way of describing emotions. Although we might not always have control over our emotions there are a lot of times that humans share an emotion because the way one person feels can lead others to feel the same way. 

“POSSESSOR”

“Possessor” left me feeling sick to my stomach. The first reason for this was the graphic nature of the film. There was a bit too much blood throughout the movie for my liking. The second reason was that the film provokes such a heavy feeling of empathy within viewers. The film revolves around a woman who’s job is to possess others and carry out different murders. We see throughout the movie the way in which the woman struggles to do these murders presumably because she has a level of empathy for the people she is possessing. In order to complete her job the body in which she possesses must be killed whether by others or by themselves. I felt bad for the woman and I also felt so bad for the people that were being possessed. It just felt so inhumane to see someone not have control over their bodies. In some ways I wondered if the film was commenting on the human need to make sense of things. Perhaps this film was creating a scenario that explains why people murder others. 

FUTURAMA “I SECOND THAT EMOTION”

The episode of Futurama titled “I Second that Emotion” deals with empathy in a more direct way. Bender flushes Nibbler down the toilet because Bender is jealous of Nibbler getting all the attention. All the characters realize that Bender doesn’t feel empathy. This was clearly shown when he was watching tv and kept laughing as clearly devastating news. I found it interesting that although Bender lacked some human emotions like empathy he could feel others like jealousy. I think this might be the case because empathy is sometimes harder to feel than jealousy. The scientist creates a way for Bender to feel exactly what Leela is feeling and as a result Bender feels so bad about Nibbler that he flushes himself down the toilet to save Nibbler. Leela and Bender are able to share their feelings of longing and sadness. 

Possessor (2020)

Wow, what a film. A little gory for my taste but the concept was insanely interesting. A seemingly average woman’s job is to be an assassin by taking over the mind and body of another person by having her mind transplanted into theirs. The hosts mind is subdued to lead out these murders. While watching the film, I thought a lot about the lecture on empathy, specifically embodied cognition. Tas seems to struggle with primodality when she is in the mind of the host, but also appears to be affected by Colin’s own feelings as well. Embodied cognition can be looked at from two different perspectives in regards to this film, Tas’s struggles with her own primodality, she seems to be suffering from PTSD from all the murders she’s committing but also thoughts about her family. While her body isn’t physically present, her mind is and when her mind is put back into her own body, she appears to visualize herself committing these acts versus the body of the person she took over. But we do later learn that she may resent her husband which makes you wonder who was the killer in the final scene where he is killed. 

The second way to look at the idea of embodied empathy within this film is when she is in Colin’s body and seems to be battling his own consciousness, that she is empathizing with his experiences and his own feelings in his life. When it comes to taking the persons life in all scenes where that moment comes, we don’t get to see if the internal battle to take their life is because she has a connection to the host’s mind that’s preventing her from committing suicide. Is she feeling badly over the crimes committed? Or does the host’s mind become more powerful in that moment that she can’t pull the trigger? Is the true emotions of Tas rubbing off on Colin, making him the killer in the end? The film left some of this up to interpretation but a lot of the concepts of empathy could be applied. 

This movie made me feel a lot of empathy for the character’s having their minds taken over without consent. I felt for Colin when he was fighting for his body back and the anger, sadness, and fear he felt. I found this movie really hard to watch.

“I Second That Emotion” Futurama

In the Futurama episode we watched this week, the concept of empathy was much more literally portrayed. Professor Farnsworth puts a chip into Benders head when it’s revealed he can’t feel “humanoid” emotions when he flushes Gibbler down the toilet at his own birthday party. Leela is devastated over losing Gibbler and just wants Bender to feel like she does. The use of the chip helps him to feel her emotions versus simply understanding, which is a basic definition of empathy. They also took the concept of “mirror neurons” in a literal sense. When Professor Farnsworth was trying to dial into Leela’s emotions, he dialed into other characters as well repeated exactly how they felt and thought. In the sewer system, when Leela would scream, Bender would see and then have the same reaction because of the chip. This episode is a great example of empathy in a really literal sense.