October 3: M3GAN

[kinetic_elaboration]

I finally got around to watching M3GAN, while on the plane, and I understand why it made the brief but notable splash that it did, culturally. On the one hand, it’s definitely a story I’ve seen and heard before, a straightforward warning tale about technology, the unthinking reliance of people on that technology, and the equally unthinking spree to capitalize off of invention. If you’ve seen any Black Mirror episode, you’ve seen this. And if you’ve seen any sort of Chucky or Annabelle or any other toy-based horror story, you’re also familiar with the outward shell of this story. Creepy toy, creepy technology, everything that will go awry is completely predictable from both the setup and each choice every character makes along the way. Like people are almost astoundingly stupid sometimes but unfortunately not in a way that feels unrealistic…

None of which is a complaint. Formulaic and familiar aren’t bad.

But the movie gets so much out of the design and performances of M3gan herself: she is creepy but you can still imagine a kid might like her and a toy company might market her; she’s uncanny valley but not in an unwatchable way. And she’s so fucking camp. There were parts of the movie where I was like ‘oh this is a comedy, then, this is supposed to be hilarious’—I mean the dance sequence that proceeds the double elevator kill, that was meant to be memed, that was a contrived Moment. And I subsequently looked on a lot of the earlier parts of the movie differently, too: like, oh, there is supposed to be a sort of sick pleasure, that isn’t horror, or even comedy per se, to the over-the-top, creepy/ridiculous nature of this doll and her dialogue.

My overall feeling about the movie was that it was enjoyable. I didn’t find it at all scary, even the parts that I think were supposed to be, like some of the more ominous, dark, scenes etc. But I was sufficiently invested in the characters, M3gan herself was, as I said, very enjoyable, and it hit a good sweet spot between comfortingly predictable in plot and slick and new in design. Plus I actually do find smart tech scary in the sense of untrustworthy and so seeing it go so obviously awry was vindicating.   

It definitely could have been scarier, I think: the doll actually killing people is so over the top and silly it can’t be taken seriously; that is there for the camp aspect. The real scary stuff is the way she alienates the girl from reality, not just her emotions or her relationship with her aunt but literally all people, and herself. That is a terrifying possibility, a more realistic one than Killer Doll if still exaggerated for horror and for making a point. The most chilling scene was Cady’s dead-eyed testimonial about M3gan. That scariness is both emphasized and undercut by the dialogue after it (isn’t it great? Even for kids who don’t have dead parents!). But overall I feel like the movie more skirts around that aspect than anything, or at least… decenters it at the highest moments of action and conflict, in favor of something more over the top and funny, shooting for Iconic.

This isn’t a critique, in part because I think if the movie had tried to be as scary as possible, it would probably still be no better than a high-mid outing, and going instead for something rarer and probably harder (campy humor on a horror trellis) made it more unique and more suited to being the brief, shining moment that it was. I wouldn’t see the sequel (I’ve heard it’s more action/adventure than horror?) but I would watch the original again.