Wow, I found the movie, Possessor quite jarring, the imagery was initially very shocking. When we look at the concepts in class in regard to the film, I definitely see some elements at play. Throughout you can see that in a way Vas has a very concrete understanding of the Theory of mind. When we see her standing outside the house, she is practicing how she will act. “Hi, darling. HI darling. What have you got there? What have you got there?” Varying her tone and intonation slightly, clearly attempting to find, what lends to making her sound so natural. The fact that she does this informs me she understands the average person’s perspectives are different than her own. Her identity, body, and empathy are very much at odds during the course of the movie. You can see her identity, which she ushered into the forefront was that of mother and wife. But by the end, we see clearly this is not the core part of herself that she felt day to day. We see her kill that part of herself when she kills her son and husband. At that point, Vas has decided to end that part of her life where she deluded herself. The technology in the film certainly blurs the lines between bodies. As far as empathy is concerned, Vas doesn’t concern herself with this issue. In her interaction with other characters, she does not seem to consider their perspective. In fact, she seems entirely detached from empathy. Her motivations appear entirely motivated within the self.
In the episode of Futurama, “I Second that Emotion” is much more focused on empathy, rather than ideas in regard to the body. The episode takes us from Bender not having any empathy to gaining the mimicked feeling of empathy. This take was very interesting being that the empathy displayed is not internally inspired but rather projected from the other character, Leela’s head. It is empathy at its most scientific, broken down to triggers in the brain that lead to emotions as a result. This idea brings me back to the idea of the brain in a vat, that emotions can be falsified and replicated by electronic pulses. Another interesting moment in the episode was when Bender tells Leela to stop caring and, “Start thinking about the things you want, the things you deserve…” It’s an interesting suggestion that when you put yourself first you no longer care about others. One moment that is overlooked is the moment that bender has right after. When he regains control of himself he continues to attempt to save Leela’s pet nibbler. This emotion was not present at the beginning of the episode. Though he went on this quest to retrieve him from the sewers, he most likely would not have put himself in any kind of harm’s way. Yet we see all kinds of growth when he does this without hesitancy, even after his arms are ripped clear off his body he completes the mission and saves the day.
5 thoughts on “Empathy to feel? Or not to feel?”
Hi Olivia,
I think you make an interesting point in your connection between Vos’s rehearsal of her greeting before seeing her family and theory of mind. Can you say a bit more about this? How does this rehearsal illustrate her understanding of the fact that the thoughts, feelings, and perspective of others are different from her own? For example, what do you make of the fact that she is able to exactly predict what her husband will say to her when she shows up at his door? Also, great observation that she kills that part of herself when she murders her husband and child. How does this connect to the film’s broader exploration of empathy and embodiment? For example, you include an image of Vos spying on Colin. How does she use her body to embody him even before she possesses him?
Love that cute lil picture of Nibbler that you include in this post. While the brain does play an important role in empathy (as it does in all of our cognitive systems), the importance of mirror neurons has been somewhat overstated. But the role of brain and body in empathy and feeling do raise important questions about how a robot like Bender—who doesn’t have a human body, but a mechanical one—could feel empathy? Indeed, how can he feel anything at all?
Jessica Hautsch
Hi Olivia,
I definitely agree that the episode of Futurama was interesting in its display of empathy and how the empathy that was displayed through Bender is not internally inspired but rather projected into Bender from Leela’s head. While in the end he may still not fully feel empathy he does understand it and because of this he was able to save Nibbler for Leela at risk to himself. And in the end both Bender and Leela seemed to understand each other a bit better.
Rebecca Kennedy
Hi Olivia,
I liked that you spoke about Vos’s role as a mother and wife because it shows a different perspective. Maybe she wasn’t losing herself, but just morphing into the person she truly is. Like you, I also noticed that she practiced what she would say to her husband before he opened the door, even changing the inflection in her voice, I think that she is capable of empathy. However, her empathy doesn’t seem genuine, since she can only display empathy but is able to disassociate her feelings when doing so.
toyoung
Hi Olivia,
I like the way you phrased what Vos was going through: “Her identity, body, and empathy are very much at odds during the course of the movie.” It was difficult to pinpoint at what moments she was at a struggle with her body and mind. She was at odds with her identity because she was pretending to be someone she wasn’t for her husband and son. She couldn’t be her real self without forgetting about them. She was also in her host’s bodies much of the time, and she had to get to know them in order to finish the job, further complicating things.
Alessa Bustillo
Hi Olivia!
I really like your analysis of Vos; I think she’s a super interesting character. The scene where she’s practicing talking to her child and partner also shows the audience that she’s intelligent enough to recognize how “normal” people speak. She applies this knowledge into learning how to mimic the people who’s body she’s going to take over. It also shows us that she knows how she’s feeling isn’t socially acceptable. I believe she genuinely was like that, once, but her time as an assassin warped her mind and took away her ability to empathize with people. It makes the story that much sadder knowing that she once had a family she loved and cared for, but, over time, lost the ability to.
mchupick