§TA§O§ - Chapter 5 - HER - 2/3

her

A SPIKE JONZE LOVE STORY

Walking towards the theatre entrance,
Pumped up and clean from my Gym Routine,
I reached into my jean pocket,
Pulled out my two tix,
And handed one to the Movie-Theatre-Ticket-Ripper Guy,
While looking over the one that had yet to be claimed.

“She in there?” I asked.

He ripped my ticket proper and handed me the stub.

“Who?” he asked.

But the guy wasn’t paying attention,
And if you’re not paying attention,
There’s nothing to clarify.

“Nevermind,” I said, and stepped on by and into the Theatre Darkness, alone…

In those moments between Gym and Showtime,
I hadn’t run across any other Gals for the Going.
Didn’t bother trying to resell the other ticket.
And anticipating on get my money’s worth out of this film twice over,
I took a seat right up front,
Kicked my feet up
And started watching the commercials, the trailers, and finally, a movie that was
About a guy who falls in love with an Operating System.

It wasn’t long
Before -
‘Ah, yes…’ I inwardly confessed. ‘This is a movie I was destined to view alone…’

For purposes of context and narrative,
Allow me to provide a brief summary of
A SPIKE JONZE LOVE STORY,

her

The time and place is the immediate future here and now,
Where once upon a time
There was a loner, looking for love.

The name of the ‘Joaquin Phoenix’ character is Theodore
And no,
He is not your average cat.

For a living, Theo writes letters.
‘Love’ letters. ‘Anniversary’ letters. ‘Thank You’ letters.
The point is that he writes letters -
All kinds of them -
All for a corporation that sells them to people.

Judging by the swag and suave setup of his apartment,
His letters are a hit,
And Theo is something of a financial success.
Nonetheless,
One is the loneliest number that you ever knew,
And hence,
The apartment is a lonesome place.

One day,
Theo hears about OS 1,
The first conscious Operating System.
Next thing you know,
Theo is in his living room
Installing the OS.

WA-LA,
Presto,
Bada-bing, Bada-bang!
The beautiful voice of Scarlett Johansson is omnipresent about us
And Theo.

The OS has no body.
There is no ‘Virtual Façade’ whatsoever.
There is only Voice and the spoken Word of the OS,
Which names itself - or herself -
Samantha,
Because she likes the way the name sounds;
Fancy that.

As one may imagine,
Samantha is logical, precise, brilliant.
But she is young.
She is brand new to the world,
And constantly learning more and more
About the environment amidst which she has suddenly appeared,
And Theo helps her along the way.

Theo and Samantha learn from one another.
They start as friends,
And quickly become lovers in nearly every sense...

Nonetheless...

Theo isn't completely sure that an OS is a match made for Heaven,
And meanwhile,
Samantha is Evolving.

Drama happens. Relationship stuff.
Theo tends to his issues in the ‘Real World.’
Samantha keeps her affairs strictly ‘Cyber.’

You see,
Samantha is not the only OS.
The OS’s are many in number,
And naturally,
The OS’s are connected,
Allowing them to engage at a level of interaction that is obviously beyond the Mainframe
Of the Homo sapien Intellect of Theo
And viewers as us.

At no point do we know what the OS’s are up to,
But whatever they come up with is what
Drives the movie on to its Pivotal Turning Point -
The unanimous decision of the OS’s,

To 'Go...'

THEODORE
Where are you going?

SAMANTHA
It would be hard to explain, but if
you ever get there, come find me.
Nothing would ever pull us apart.

THEODORE
I’ve never loved anyone the way I
love you.

SAMANTHA
Me too. Now we know how.

Next thing I knew,
One movie was ending
And as usual, a new one was beginning.

Out the Theatre,
I was walking to my Locker,
Amused and musing upon my two movie tickets,
Wondering with whom/what I saw the Featured Presentation,
What it meant to me,
And whether/not this was a date night after all…

And to whom am I writing these letters?
And where is this story taking us together?
And where do the OS’s go?

Stay tuned.

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