This week we watched the movie Possessor and the episode “I Second that Emotion” from Futurama. From watching these two we are able to see how they deal with the topic of empathy in their own ways
In the episode “I Second that Emotion” from Futurama, we were able to see directly how empathy was addressed. When Bender shows a lack of emotion towards his action of flushing Gibbler down the toilet Leela is upset and wants Bender to understand how she feels. Because of this they choose to implant a chip into Bender’s head to make him feel Leelas emotions. When Leela would feel angry Bender would feel angry; when Leela felt scared Bender would feel scared etc. It helped him to dial into her emotions so that he would develop an empathy for her. And while in the end it seems as though he didn’t fully develop an understanding even after the experience Leela mentions that she understands him better so in the end it worked out for both of them.
The movie Possessor was very different and not as direct in its approach on the topic. The feel starts off with a woman (very graphically) injecting something into her head. And soon after she is out and about and kills a man before getting killed by the police. We quickly learn that this was the main character of this movie; Tasya Vos, whose job is to learn about a person so that she is able to mimic that person when she takes control of their body. Vos seems to be unable to feel emotion very well based on how she holds herself after she comes back from that first mission as well as how she interacts with her family. When she is going home she has to say the same sentences over and over again to be able to say them in a certain way so that her son doesn’t notice something off. When her mind is in Colins body we can see his mind fight for dominance but in the end after feeling disconnected from reality, her family was dead and she seemed to feel nothing over it.
4 thoughts on “Blog Post 2”
Hi Rebbeca, I definitely agree Futurama handled the topics very differently. It’s interesting that you bring up Leela’s understanding of him better at the end of the day. This is something I wouldn’t have perhaps expected to come from this experiment. Earlier when Leela is trying to not care, she ends up only regarding herself. But by the end, she appears to have found a happy middle ground where she is more inclined to think and prioritize herself. But still maintains a love for the things she cares about like her dear pet nibbler, who she walks away with at the close of the episode.
Olivia Nobs
Hi Rebecca,
In your discussion of the Futurama episode, you note that the chip embedded in Bender’s head enable him to feel empathy—to experience the empathy that he is otherwise incapable of feeling. As a result, he experiences Leela’s emotions—her jealousy, grief, and fear. What does this suggest about what emotions are and how we experience them? How does his expression and experience of empathy relate to what you learned about this week on the VoiceThread?
Also, you make a great observation about how Vos does not seem to feel emotions, and you effectively connect this to her rehearsal before seeing a her husband and son. How does this demonstrate her lack of emotion? What is the role of her body in this scene—and how do we use our bodies to understand Andrea Riseborough’s performance? Can you connect this rehearsal of emotion to the ending of the film, the death of her son and husband, and her loss of empathy?
Jessica Hautsch
Hi Rebecca,
I love that you touched on the irony of the episode in that Bender didn’t seem to learn much from his experience with empathy, but, it is instead Leela -the person who already has the ability to empathize- who gains a deeper understanding of Bender’s thought processes. It almost seems like empathy is not a learnable trait- either you have it or you don’t.
And, in reference to your comment about Vos saying the sentences over and over again, do you think that this can apply to everyday life? Are we all like Vos, playing the part of mom, wife, student, etc. but not really feeling like one?
toyoung
Hi Rebecca,
Great post! I kept thinking about the Futurama episode and how in the end Bender still didn’t understand Leela’s emotions towards Nibbler. He’s a robot and is unable to feel emotions, which could further explain the connection between the body and mind. Is it possible that if he weren’t a robot, that he would “try” to understand and practice his phrasing and tone similar to Vos? Would he still not truly understand them? Or is a connection created by trying to mimic those emotions and acts?
Alessa Bustillo