ABSTRACT
The plot of the 2018 science fiction film Upgrade is set in the near future, where technology controls nearly all aspects of life. Within this technologically deterministic dystopia, Grey, a self-identified Luddite, has his world turned upside down when his driverless car is hacked by a gang of bandits who kill his wife and leave him quadriplegic. His only hope for vengeance is an experimental artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will ‘upgrade’ his body by helping Grey to regain his motor functions. STEM constitutes an attempt to bridge the gap between Grey’s brain and his limbs; however, it also has a mind and a voice of its own. This is exactly what makes the film plot special. STEM is not a magic chip that simply enables humans to walk and complete tasks as usual. As Grey makes decisions and converses with STEM, the film renders the upgrade much more believable, and the human subject much more complex than if determined solely by the binary of the biological self and the technical other. The cinematographic hybrid of STEM-Grey asks whether humans really can be innocent of murders committed by an entity with whom they share a symbiotic relationship, reminding us of Bruno Latour’s ‘if someone shoots another with a gun, who is doing the shooting – is it the person or the gun?’ (1999). Where does Grey stop and where does STEM start? What are the limits/thresholds? Are there any?
