Reviews

블레이드러너나 스파이크 존즈의 Her 등에서 우리의 의식과 기억 그리고 정체성에 대해 던진 질문들이

이 작품에서 더욱더 현실적으로 다가오는 이유는

hologram AI라는 것 외에는 우리가 미래 시대에 있다는 것과

우리가 상대적으로 더 짧은 순간을 함께 보낸 연인을 잃는 것과

우리의 삶의 많은 부분을 만들어오고 더 오래 함께 한 가족을 잃는 것,

그리고 그 아픔을 어떻게 해서라도 치유하고 싶어하는 우리의 욕망을 반영하기에 더 절실하게 느껴진다.

영화에서 심리학자 William James의 기억 이론으로도 짧게 언급되었지만

최근 읽은 Michael Gazzaniga의 인지 뇌과학 저서에서도 다루었듯이

AI없이도 충분히 조작되고 입력될 수 있는 우리 기억의 불완전성에 대해 생각해보며

우리의 불완전한 기억에 토대를 잡은 우리의 정체성 또한 얼마나 허상에 불과한가 하며

짧은 우리의 생명보다 더 찰나적인 우리의 기억과 정체성 위에서

우리가 그토록 집착하는 것은 결국 무엇일까..하는 서글픔 속에서

시간과 끝없이 반복되는 fairy tale같은 추억 이야기 속에서

주인들 없이 남겨져 이제 필요가치도 없어진 AI들이 마치 허공에 대답하듯이 말한다.

"How nice that we could love somebody."

감정도 기억도 의식도 인공지능에 의해서 copy될 수 있는 인간에게는

불완전함만이 인간을 정의하는 것으로 남아있는 것인가?

아니면 그런 복제품을 필요로 할만큼 애틋하게 사랑할 수 있는 강한 본능이 인간을 정의하는 것이 아닐까?

만약 그렇다면 인공지능 홀로그램이 마지막에 말한 것은

인간들 본성의 메아리로 울려퍼지는 것일지도 모르겠다.

상당히 미니멀리스트인 연극 대본을 영화로 만들 때는 좀 불필요한 요소를 많이 넣는다는 생각이 들 때가 있는데

이 경우에도 약간 그 점이 좀 아쉬웠다. 물론 연극대본을 보지 않고 영화만 보았다면 그런 생각이 안들었을지 모르지만..

이래서 가끔 연극대본보다 단편소설을 영화로 만드는 게 나을 때가 많다.

colin_cox's review against another edition

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5.0

Jordan Harrison's Marjorie Prime is a quick but utterly engaging play that uses many noticeable and familiar science fiction motifs to stage an elongated conversation about grief, resentment, and relationships. "Primes" are digitally projected A.I. constructs that allow users to converse with deceased friends, family members, and lovers. Throughout the play, characters interact with Primes as a way of exercising past traumas and unresolved conflicts. What a Prime knows is to some degree contingent on its user. Throughout the play, there are suggestions that Primes arrive prefabricated. A Prime is not necessarily a tabula rasa.

Harrison's greatest accomplishment is the way in which he conceptualizes characters and character development throughout the play. Main characters die but return as Primes, which allows Harrison to have a broader conversation about identity and selfhood in digitally constructed environments. The play concludes with three Primes sitting together, musing aimlessly about their existence. In this scene, the Primes interact with varying degrees of playful affection for one another, something their human counterparts did not do. The play's final line is a clear reference to Damian, Marjorie and Walter's son who died as a child before the play begins, and Toni Two, the family dog who died with Damien:

Marjorie: How I miss them.
Walter: I didn't mean to make you sad.
Marjorie: You didn't. All I can think is how nice.
How nice that we could love somebody.

When Marjorie references love, what are the ramifications of this declaration? Primes are learning machines, but is Harrison suggesting that A.I. can love? Furthermore, to what degree do Primes feel what their human counterparts felt? Are they approximating such feelings by using language, or are they parroting those feelings through linguistic utterances?

But the most upsetting and thrilling aspect of Marjorie Prime is the suggestion that Primes are happier and more content than their human counterparts. I hesitate to use language like "happy" and "content" because Harrison doesn't explicitly explain whether or not Primes are capable of such feelings, which leaves me to ask a simple question the play refusing to resolve: would a digital rendering of myself be better at being me?

ryankey721's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

amandasamuelson's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

addisona's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character

Content Warnings

catdad77a45's review

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3.0

This early play is the last of Harrison's published works for me to read, and per usual, I am not always sure of what's going on at every moment, but am still impressed by his imaginative leaps of faith. This play is particularly of interest as it contains the germ of ideas that flourished more fully in both his 'breakthrough' play 'Maple & Vine' and his most recent Pulitzer finalist 'Marjorie Prime'. Still, as a director, I get annoyed when a playwright proffers impossible stage directions such as "Occasionally she cries crocodile tears, which gather on the floor in a champagne glass'.

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