TV: Humans: Not So Real Humans.

TV: Humans Versus Real Humans

Having watched the first episode of the new UK/US made drama Humans I was rather disappointed; it was full of what has now become a rather cliché for any medium that involves female AI robots. It was full of objectification, all unexamined and unmentioned, and I was frustrated that we were getting something with so much potential that seemed it was going to squander it. So I decided to watch the original Swedish version to hope against hopes that a place which has been doing well in becoming a country that treats women well could do this concept justice. It wasn’t the most ‘feminist friendly’, as a friend described it, show in the world but I have yet to find one that is. It was much more self-aware, it might not have said the words ‘male violence’ or ‘objectification’ is bad but it certainly, I feel, presented the various ways in which men are violent and entitled with an understanding of the impact that it has on women. Since the UK/US show Humans has only had two episodes versus the Swedish show Real Humans having two whole seasons, a total twenty episodes, I have decided to review them as separate beings but with an awareness of what the show could be when it is made in another country.

Warning: Spoilers for both shows.

Humans

The AMC production is currently airing on Channel 4 as a new drama; it is heavily science fiction as it uses science beyond what we currently have to explore various issues about society, family, and, most of all, what it means to be human. The creators, in an interview with Digital Spy, tried to shy away from giving the show a Sci-Fi label because they felt it was limiting, incorrect, and that it was in fact a show about examining family – I feel that this is simply a misunderstanding, and a misrepresentation, of what science fiction is. In fact I feel that this show is more slick and shiny than the Swedish original; it has the sheen that current dramas have and it’s ‘all-star’ cast aims to make it a show to be talked about.

However, it suffers from a problem that almost all science fiction suffers from: misogyny. Now by this I don’t mean that the show openly hates women, I don’t mean that there aren’t female characters, but what I do mean is that it uses science fiction to explore advances in technology and robotics but firmly plants its feet in, digs them in firm, and demands that this has to take place in a parallel world where we are not further – in fact I could argue they have gone further back – in sorting out our misogynistic society. It is disappointing because it has, as even the original suffers, meant that the female AI are reduced to being tools to explore male sexual depravity and objectification. Even as robots we don’t get a good story line, we get, excuse my French, fucked.

The main cast in this show is many – though not as many as the Swedish original as sadly many have characters have been erased and rolled into other characters. The main family are Laura, Joe, Toby, Mattie, and Sophie who buy a Synth called Anita because she is on offer. Straight away the mother is portrayed as angry, dismayed that one of those ‘things’ is now in her household whilst also being shown as a bad mother and wife because she is away being a busy lawyer. We instantly understand that the mother is a bitch & that she is going to be a source of conflict as we see throughout the first episode with her immense distrust of Anita. Her husband, in contrast, is understanding and open and frustrated with his wife’s lack of approval for his decision as well as her work commitments; she will give them more time to spend with each other and the kids is how he argues for Anita to stay with them. Anita herself is odd – laughing too long etc. – and yet the little Sophie embraces her quickly. Their elder daughter is furious and antagonistic, insulting the Synths and Anita – she is, again, clearly difficult and ‘a handful’ and seems like she will be another source of problems for this family; the daughters character appears in fact to be more like a character called Kevin in the original, who I will talk more about later. Finally, there is Toby who wastes no time in lingering on Anita’s breasts and buttocks – along with his father.

In addition to this very casual – and very much not criticised – glances by the young Toby are a scene which happens in episode two. Anita is charging on a night and Toby comes along, he initially holds her hand and she awakens, shocked. After he tells her to close her eyes, and pretend he’s not here he tries then to touch her breast; her response to this is to mention that inappropriate contact will be reported to his parents but she decides that she won’t need to as his hand didn’t actual touch her. As he leaves, glad she won’t tell his parents, he bemoans ‘why did they have to make you so fit’. This scene is disgusting for many reasons: he is a teenager, he does it knowing that Anita is very aware of it, he finds no problem in doing so and only gets upset that someone might find out about it, and after all of that he still makes it known that he finds her ‘fit’.

In the Swedish version this scene is there but it plays out very differently, though not perfectly; Tobias, a much older looking teenager – after not objectifying her before – shyly sits down next to a charging Anita and puts his hand between her legs, over her dress, and Anita says nothing and does nothing except pull her dress back to normal after he has left. Now whilst this is very much not okay and I was shocked it took place in an atmosphere where his mother was telling her father to tell him that Anita is not there for sex – which may still happen in the UK/US version – and it plays a role in a later storyline. Neither are okay, neither bring an awareness of sexual assault or consent but the UK/US one makes it clear that despite the inappropriateness of the encounter it is still the son’s place to share what his penis thinks of her body.

Now we get onto another very disappointing part of the show: using female robots for sex. Let me get a few statements out of the way here: I understand that it is realistic that men would use robots for sex, I understand that this is a parallel world, and I understand why the show has done this storyline. Here’s what I am pissed off about: just because it’s realistic doesn’t mean you have to do it, doesn’t mean you have to show a woman getting fucked from behind, and it also doesn’t mean that you have to introduce a female character to us primarily through her job as a sex robot. I admire the show for talking about whether she has turned her pain setting off, for showing her screaming silently, and for her standing up for herself in episode two – already?! However, there are many problems with the way this version of the show has shown this current aspect of this world.

Firstly, in the Swedish original robots do not feel pain, and whilst there are different robots – or hubots as they are called, none of them are programmed to feel pain. For them to feel pain one man brings his large breasted half naked hubot to Leo, who is temporarily working in a brothel modifying hubots for room & board. He asks Leo if he can make her feel pain and act scared when he hurts her and gets rough. Leo does what he asks but as we see later, spoilers, it makes her murder him. In this version we have a Synth that thinks a human woman should feel pain when she is being repeatedly raped by men; as though a defining feature of women is the pain they feel as a consequence of man.

Secondly, there is the line that she utters as she walks away, after murdering her client for asking her to be young and scared, “All the things men do to us they want to do to you”. I do not deny that this line is true, and I appreciate that female robots are being used in the show in place of human women. But also, Fuck. You. By saying this the show acts as though there are not prostitutes world-wide who are suffering like this by acting like the only way we can openly show how degradingly these women are treated is through metaphor. It also implies that in a world with sex robots that the only interaction between men and women is now all consensual and kind which is completely wrong; men would simply have sex with hubots on top of raping women and children because it is about control not sex.

Whilst watching the show I was trying to figure out who this female Synth was from the original version and I sadly realised that she is probably a number of characters put together. Her character is called Niska which is a very different – more commanding, definitely not sexualised, and aggressive – character, as well as a blonde, beautiful, and complex character called Flash, as well as the robot I mentioned earlier who was used for sex and murdered the man raping her. This is also true for other characters on the show and what it has done, so far, has resulted in many characters being ruined. Characters have lost their whole characterisation, their potential for storylines, and many now feel as hollow replacements.

I feel that this is true for the whole show so far; it has removed many subtleties from its original, perhaps expected from a US/UK production, presented many complex themes with a harsher lens, and given women roles they didn’t have so they can be the negative ones as well as the sexualised ones. There are also many other issues, such as the future of a character who is potentially a domestic abuser and whether this story will be done effectively; now the abused character is disabled and as disabled women are twice as likely to be in abusive relationships it is important to raise awareness of the issue but as with other sensitive issues I feel this may not be the show to do it. There is hope for this series and I hope that these problems are sorted out as time goes on and the show finds its feet; however seeing as the show has previous material to work with it feels like it has already caused problems in trying to make it its own. But I will leave it on a wishful note, hoping that it’s all but one male writers have found a more sensitive way to deal with the dehumanising, specifically, of female robots and the objectification that they and all women suffer.

I will now examine the show Real Humans in detail because there is, also, a lot to discuss. However I will post it here so it is easier to access as a separate entity.

Also, to read about the female AI film Ex Machina read my review here, and also for my review of a film that also does not understand the potential of women in science fiction read my review of The Anomaly here.