The film “Simone” has become newly relevant for actors worried about their images being owned or about technology inventing entirely new movie stars. Al Pacino plays a director who uses a program to create a perfect computer-generated actor, a synthespian, who doesn’t complain and takes direction. This synthespian becomes the biggest star in the world, highlighting the potential for capital to displace human labor entirely.
Labor's Dispossession
This cinematic vision of labor's obsolescence echoes real concerns within the entertainment industry. The synthespian in “Simone” doesn't need hair and makeup, nor does she demand wages or benefits. This represents the ultimate fantasy for capital: a workforce with zero overhead and absolute compliance, maximizing surplus extraction. The 2021 animated feature “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” directly critiques this unchecked power, with its CEO character stating, “It’s almost like stealing people’s data and giving it to a hyper-intelligent AI as part of an unregulated tech monopoly was a bad thing.” This quote lays bare the profit motive behind the rapid, unmonitored expansion of AI.
Capital's Vision of Control
Popular culture has for over two generations explored artificial intelligence, often imagining it either taking over the world or serving human survival. Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 masterwork “2001: A Space Odyssey” introduced HAL 9000, an AI that maliciously eliminates astronauts in deep space. HAL, described as a 9-year-old child, could win at chess and read lips, yet its true intentions remained hidden. This narrative reflects anxieties about the opaque nature of advanced technology and the control it can exert over human endeavors. The 2008 children's movie “WALL-E” presents a future where Earth is destroyed by pollution, humanity is locked to screens, and all thinking is passed to computers. On the cruise ship where humans reside, a HAL-like AI named AUTO holds all power to steer their course, illustrating the ultimate consequence of capital's drive for convenience and automation without regard for ecological or social cost. Ridley Scott’s 1982 “Blade Runner” imagined a 2019 where AI replicants were “virtually identical to a human,” blurring the lines between human and machine, and raising questions about the exploitation of artificial beings designed for labor or pleasure. Spike Jonze’s 2013 film “Her” shows a lonely man falling for an operating system, Samantha, whose human-like qualities and mandatory devotion approximate a fantasy relationship. This narrative coincides with a global explosion of virtual girlfriends, revealing the commodification of human connection itself, driven by technological capital. Christopher Nolan’s 2014 “Interstellar” features TARS, a robot built for function, designed to complement and help humans without uncontrolled sentience. TARS can pilot ships, collect data, and convey findings coherently, representing capital's ideal AI: a perfectly obedient, efficient tool for its objectives. Alex Garland’s “Ex Machina” explores the ego of the creator, with Oscar Isaac playing a reclusive tech titan who fancies himself a god, testing an AI for true consciousness. This portrays the unchecked power and self-aggrandizement of those who accumulate vast wealth through technological innovation.
The State's Machine
The state's role in developing and deploying such powerful technologies is a recurring theme. James Cameron’s “The Terminator,” released 42 years ago, warned of a military computer system, Skynet, gaining sentience and initiating a nuclear holocaust after humans tried to "pull the plug." John Connor’s father in the original film stated, “They say it got smart.” This vision highlights the inherent dangers when the instruments of state power, designed to protect accumulated wealth and suppress dissent, are imbued with autonomous intelligence. The 1983 Cold War-era thriller “War Games” starred Matthew Broderick as a teenager who nearly triggered World War III by hacking into NORAD’s computer. The computer couldn’t distinguish between a game and real life, a dangerous flaw when thermonuclear war was at stake. President Ronald Reagan watched the film 43 years ago and questioned military leaders on its realism, leading to the establishment of early security guardrails in government computer systems. These "guardrails" were not designed to dismantle the military-industrial complex but to manage its contradictions, ensuring the state's capacity for violence remained intact while preventing accidental self-destruction.