The Lighthouse (2019) & Ex Machina (2014) Are Sister Movies: Please Hear Me Out
It’s come to my attention that the quarantine is making me live life like I’m in The Lighthouse, so I’m externalizing this by comparing it to a very different movie. Okay look, I obviously don’t mean to downplay either of their uniqueness; I really like these parallels between them, so hear me out. Also [MAJOR SPOILERS] for both movies so please only read if you’ve seen both.
The Research Facility Fortress / The Lighthouse: The Setting
Ex Machina and The Lighthouse share the same spirit in their locations. The movie is entirely spent in this one place: Nathan’s Research Facility and the lighthouse. They are both extremely isolated places, on remote islands hidden away from the outside world, only accessible by helicopter/boat. The isolation means nobody else can reach them, leaving only a hotbed for tensions to rise between the two main characters.
Nathan Bateman / Thomas Wake: The Master
Oscar Isaac’s Nathan Bateman and Willem Dafoe’s Thomas Wake both occupy similar roles. They are the master, they hold the authority over the protagonists. They are both the figure with the most power in the isolated location, which they use to keep Caleb/Howard under their control. Nathan used his immense social media fortune to build the research facility, and Wake is the lighthouse keeper. From the beginning, it’s clear that both of them are hiding everything from the protagonist, that they are manipulating them into playing along to their system. They try to break down the other character by making them doubt what they’ve seen and what they know. The two of them die by being violently murdered, Nathan being stabbed by Ava in her escape, and Wake having his head split in half in a failed attempt at killing Howard.
Caleb Smith / Thomas Howard: The Novice
Domhnall Gleeson’s Caleb and Robert Pattinson’s Thomas Howard hold the films’ main perspectives, the story is told through their perceptions. Their situations are similar, they both arrive to the Setting under the pretenses of a new job opportunity. Caleb believes he’s there after winning a company lottery to help develop a new project, while Howard believes he’s there to work in physical labor in maintaining the lighthouse. They suspect they’re being manipulated and try to break through the Master’s restrictions to achieve their goals, which, while they differ, can be achieved by accessing the Room. They both die by wasting away after finally accessing the Room.
Nathan’s Office / The Light: The Room
The Room, the source of the Master’s power over the Novice (besides being like, their employer/work superior). Nathan uses this room as the main center of control over all of the computers in his facility, as Wake uses the top of the lighthouse as the host of the mystical “light”. Caleb and Howard are both strictly excluded from this room, despite their poking around. There is even a scene in both films where Nathan/Wake are passed out, and Caleb/Howard try to steal the key card/key from their body without waking them up. Once they finally have free access to the Room after their main obstacle dies, this in turn ends up being the cause of their death, which leads to them wasting away.
Ava / The Mermaid: The Paramour
While Ava’s (Alicia Vikander) role in Ex Machina is far more important and central to the plot than The Lighthouse’s mermaid (Valeriia Karaman), they are both the third, female character that escalate tensions between the two male characters. Both of these characters are inhuman, Ava being an artificial intelligence and the mermaid being a mythical creature (who is likely a figment of Howard’s imagination), both beings that greatly resemble humans. They both are the subject of the Novice’s sexual/romantic desire. Caleb and Howard’s obsessions over them are born from their isolation and sexual frustration: Caleb’s, from not having a relationship at home, and Howard’s, from being stuck on a remote island with one other person.
Psychosexual Tension
I have Evidence: In this mind-melting haze of isolation and tension, a peculiar romantic tension based on their own impulses develops between Nathan and Caleb/Wake and Howard. Somewhere in the mental hell they’ve created for each other, there exists a very unhealthy homoerotic tension between the two, largely based on their isolation and the power dynamic between them. The Lighthouse’s romance is much more immediate, featuring a scene where Howard is being rocked to comfort by Wake, they come face to face and come very close to a kiss (I recommend you read up on this analysis including what the actors and director have said about it: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/the-lighthouse-homoeroticism-robert-pattinson-willem-dafoe_n_5da9c888e4b0e71d65b801ae?ri18n=true). While Ex Machina’s romance between Nathan and Caleb is not as upfront, it can be read into (especially considering that’s what Oscar Isaac has said about them, are you going to tell me Oscar Isaac is WRONG?: https://twitter.com/bisexualbateman/status/1231947254564622337?s=20)
Unhinged Dancing
Not much to say here, just some lunatics cutting loose
Okay so you see what I’m saying right? There are some cool similarities between these movies that would seem to be incredibly distant from each other. There are immense differences between the two films, like how I’ve completely downplayed Ava and how critical of a role she plays in this science fiction setting, as well as the haunting fantasy elements of The Lighthouse. These key differences change the entire course of both movies. I mean you’ve seen them, they are pretty great, am I right?
