Written by Elliot King for Justine McLellan’s Cinema Styles course

Spike Jonze’s Her (2014) is set in a futuristic world where technology has been fully integrated into everyday life, even more than today. This is clear when the protagonist Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with an operating system named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). Regardless of their romantic connection explicitly portrayed throughout the film, it is interesting to view their relationship through the lens of parenthood. In Jonze’s Her, Theodore is a vessel for Samantha’s growth, taking on a parental role as she is created by him, brought up by him, and ultimately leaves him when she is ready for the next stage of her “life.” This is demonstrated in the creation of Samantha purely using sound – as she has no physical form, the intimate point of view given by the hand-held camera shots, and the expressive acting accentuated by close-up shots. 

As it is explicitly demonstrated in the film, Theodore creates Samantha, therefore Samantha is created for him and relies on him much like a child. He is “ask[ed] a few basic questions before the operating system is initiated” to “create an OS to best fit his needs” (Jonze, 00:11:25). As such, Samantha embodies the ultimate manic pixie dream girl, literally created to help the male protagonist live a better and more fulfilling life, acting merely as a stepping stone for his accomplishments. She “organizes his files, gets him out of the house and […] doesn’t complain about juggling her many roles […] – which makes her an ideal companion” (Dargis, 2013). She is “good” for Theodore, without any backstory or baggage of her own to weigh him down. 

Samantha is not a figment of Theodore’s imagination, but she might as well be. By creating her character purely out of sound, Theodore can picture her exactly how he wants, without any imperfections. Although the sound is diegetic, Samantha is only real in the image he has created of her, reinforcing her incarnation of the manic pixie dream girl that is seemingly not an individual within herself, but rather an addition to Theodore’s life. Furthermore, Samantha is created similarly to a child: through the image of her “parent.” As much as Theodore relies on her, Samantha needs him in turn to survive, evolve, and be socialized. Theodore is her gateway to the human world, literally turning her on when he desires. 

Much like a child is raised on the values of their parents, wanting to “become them” when they are older, Samantha is brought up by Theodore and idolizes his humanity. She asks him “[w]hat […] it[‘s] like to be alive” and if her “feelings [are] even real” (Jonze, 00:37:15–39:59). Theodore holds Samantha in his pocket, her camera allowing her to see his literal perspective of the world, a physical embodiment of his values and beliefs. This is apparent in the many hand-held camera shots where the audience witnesses the world through Theodore’s eyes and, simultaneously, what Samantha sees being that they are one in the same. This is further described in a review of the film written by Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian: “the title: “her” rather than “she”, the object of a man’s perception” (Bradshaw 2014). Samantha is only as good as the image that Theodore creates for her. 

Towards the end of the film, Samantha has evolved past Theodore. Therefore, like a child, Samantha must leave him in order to fulfill her potential. The metaphor used by Samantha portrays Theodore as the words to the book that she has been reading her whole “life.” However, “it’s in this endless space between the words that [she is] finding [herself] now” (Jonze 01:51:22 – 51:49). She no longer strives to be human. Instead, she knows that she can be more. She is capable of composing music, of reading books in less than a second, and of interacting with more than one human or operating system at once. Phoenix’s acting as well as the close-up shots of his face depict, at first, resentment towards Samantha. Then, as a parent accepts and even hopes that their child will evolve past them and exceed their full potential, Theodore understands that Samantha must do the same. In an interview with NPR, the director Spike Jonze explains that Her is “about something that [he] think[s] has maybe always been there, which is our yearning to connect” (NPR). Regardless of Samantha’s form, the duo had a connection, a strong one. However, just because the loss is painful does not mean that it is not necessary; Samantha must leave him to become who she is truly meant to be. 

What starts out as a simple connection between man and technology turns into much more. Theodore and Samantha connect with each other through their highs and lows, grasping at the straws of a “normal” relationship that can never be theirs. Although Samantha is originally created to assist Theodore, he allows her to grow, playing a parental role that shapes and guides her throughout her evolution. Theodore creates her, raises her, and allows her to leave when it is her time to go, a painful yet realistic embodiment of the relationship between a parent and their child.

Works Cited

Bradshaw, Peter. “Her – Review.” The Guardian, 13 Feb. 2014, www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/13/her-review.

Dargis, Manohla. “Disembodied, but, Oh, What a Voice” The New York Times, 17 Dec. 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/movies/her-directed-by-spike-jonze.html.

Jonze, Spike, director. Her. Performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. Warner Bros Pictures, 2014.Staff, NPR. “Spike Jonze Opens His Heart For ‘Her’.” NPR, 16 Dec. 2013, www.npr.org/2013/12/16/251625458/spike-jonze-opens-his-heart-for-her.