Thesis: 1) Offer the main connotative significance, or message.
Ex Machina represents a postmodern revision of the Book of Genesis.
2) Explain how the work expresses this message.
It does this by refashioning the figures of God, Adam, and Eve into a tech genius CEO, a kind-hearted computer programmer, and an A.I. fem-bot, respectively.
3) Explain the cultural moment that surrounds your work. Why is it important right now? What’s going on in its system of signs?
Heralded by a longstanding fascination with computers and robots in popular culture, Ex Machina points to an inevitable future in which we must reckon with the very nature and ethics of what it means to be a sentient being.
*Avoid the three-point construction for thesis.
Ex: This film is culturally significant because of its music, acting, and cinematography.
Works Cited: It’s simple. Do it right, or lose a point for each incorrect citation on the final essay.
Integrate Quotes: You cannot, cannot, have a quote stand on its own. It cannot, cannot be its own sentence. It needs your words to frame it.
Conclusions: Do not give the reader advice at the end of your essay. Remain analytical, reflect on the larger issues surrounding your topic.
Synopsis VS Full Summary: Especially when working with TV or film, you need to provide a brief synopsis that gives the reader the gist of the story. Do not, give a point by point summary of each thing that happens in a given episode.
Ex: Ex Machina, Alex Garland’s 2015 directorial debut, follows Caleb, a young computer programmer who wins a contest to spend a week with his boss, Nathan, a reclusive genius whose company, Blue Book, is a clear stand-in for Google. Nathan offers Caleb the opportunity to partake in a Turing test of his new AI, an attractive fem-bot named Ava. What unravels from this premise is a three-way chess match of intellect and emotion. As Caleb progressively sees Ava’s humanity, his faith in the good nature of his employer declines rapidly.
Introduce Characters: Also in films, TV, music, etc., introduce your characters before you start writing about them. Don’t begin like this: Kate is all flustered by D-Bo, even though he has good intentions. What she doesn’t know is that Ray also loves her.
Transitions to Research: Do not leap from your film directly into a paragraph on research without a transition. Ex:
The film shows Ava’s struggle to prove that she does indeed have consciousness.
Cognitive dissonance theory was pioneered by Alexander Blok in the 1950s.
VS
The film shows Ava’s struggle to prove that she does indeed have consciousness.
Crucial to understanding the film’s implications about the possibility of AI consciousness is Alexander Blok’s theory of cognitive dissonance.
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