By: Keaton Marcus

Spike Jonze's Her. A love story like no other taking place in a world inclined to give comfort, convenience, and solace to its citizens. It's a society that's incredibly peaceful yet somehow utterly detached from reality itself. It's a story of a man who fell in love with an automated voice due to his lack of connection with real women. His detachment from society and loneliness allows him to do so. Let's take a deeper look into why, however.

One aspect of this film that stood out to me was the color scheming. The various outfits and objects represent human emotions. It's the absolute epitome of visual storytelling. For example, mainly before Theodore meets Samantha, we see him generally dress in red. What does this color represent? It is commonly used to allude to the feelings of passion, love, or maybe they need for connection. Before finding his first proper romance with Samantha, his outfits can be interpreted as a symbol of affection. They emulate his desire for it. If a viewer takes the time to examine the color of outfits on the people walking around them, they tend to be more muted, dull palette. This, obviously, makes the character stand out from the crowd, making audiences focus solely on him. His desires. His needs. Still, it's also the color of Samantha, of a piece of furniture with his first wife, and even the sign of his apartment. So what does this tell us? I would personally concur that wherever red appears, Theodore is going through an intense moment of passion.

Theodore isn't exactly living a harmful life before his first encounter with Samantha, but it is far from perfect. There always seems to be a sheer, meandering disconnect with the world. He trudges through life, bereft of confidence and conviction. Unable to even sign his divorce papers, his only way of finding solace and peace within himself is writing letters of love through other people. His distancing to others and almost self-indulgent loneliness comes to a rapid close when he finds the next light of his life, Samantha. As humans, don't we all strive to find a purpose in life? What is our worth? Why are we here? I believe that Her is attempting to show that humanity needs love, and Theodore's primary purpose is that very feeling. He needs it to survive in a sense, and Samantha is the key to it. When the two begin to fall in love, it completely changes his perception of the world. He's happier, confident, convicted, and is almost an entirely new man. Because of his love for Samantha, he has found his meaning in life. To love.

But can it all last? Can a relationship between a human and an automated voice really prevail in the end? It definitely helps Theodore get through his grieving over the relationship with Rooney Mara's character. Still, I would view that as more of a temporary thing. It almost represents a breaking point in his life, a little bit of help for further successful connections, but with actual women. As anyone could have guessed, their relationship begins to deteriorate because of the lack of genuine physical contact with each other. The distancing prevents true love in a sense, and it eventually bogs both of them down. Samantha even hires a prostitute as a surrogate body for them to have legitimate sexual intercourse despite his evident distaste for the idea. The attempt to do so fails almost entirely, leading to even more deterioration in the relationship. Theodore feels out of touch once more, and it only takes one more push to make him realize that he and Samantha cannot last together.

This "final push" comes in the form of a heartbreakingly beautiful confession near the film's end. It electrocutes Theodore emotionally, waking him up in an extraordinarily unpleasant yet necessary fashion. This arrives when Samantha finally tells him that she has been in love with thousands of other men, talking to them while communicating with him. The ultimate romantic betrayal comes as a complete and utter truth about the disconnect in society today. Theodore may not enjoy the experience to any extent, but he absolutely needed the pain. With devices, music, and ultimately technology being ever so present today, we commonly disengage from connection and become blinded from life. It prevents us from living it to the fullest, which causes the butterfly effect towards a lack of purpose. I feel as though Theodore was so obsessed with finding connection in any way possible that it ended up artificial at the most, and this leads us to the ending. Quite possibly one of my favorite moments in cinematic history.

Reverting back to the "finding your purpose" idea, humans are inevitably going to die. We choose not to think about it, but the deep, dark fear will always live inside. Hurtling in a linear path towards the end of existence is a terrifying concept, so everyone feels the need to feel accomplished at the end of it. Purpose principally fuels this idea of content on our death bed, hence Theodore's avid journey for it. Unfortunately, this quest for the purpose has blocked him from true, genuine connection. The ending makes it the opposite. Amy, played by Amy Adams, is the catalyst that wraps this all up. In the final scene, she wears a red sweater, which represents acceptance and fulfillment, two aspects that he lacked in his life. Previously, this symbolized the need for love, but it has changed as wildly as Theodore has as a character. Jonze's screenplay is so incredibly developed that even outfits have a difference in meaning in conclusion. The importance of connecting with nature, friends, work, and overall life is just as essential in finding purpose. It's the lesson this movie is attempting to convey at the end of its running time. A lecturing that I believe all humans need to listen to before making the same mistakes Theodore made.