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Well,The Electric Statehas finally been released for the global audience onNetflix, and the American sci-fi film takes viewers on Michelle’s journey as she sets out in a dangerous world to find her brother Christopher. Michelle finds some companions along the way and learns the truth about her brother, which eventually leads her to the Robots Exclusion Zone.
After facing some bumps inThe Electric State, Michelle finally reunites with her real brother, but not in the way she expected. She learns that while Christopher’s consciousness is alive, his body can’t quite get out into the real world. Sure, Christopher can keep on living through Sentre’s life support; however, his very existence is crucial for the proper functioning of Sentre’s drones. And, well, Sentre isn’t exactly doing good things for the world. So, Michelle has to make an impossible choice — to pull the plug on her brother’s life support, so Sentre’s technology can collapse along with Christopher.
Christopher’s Tragic Fate InThe Electric State
Michelle Sacrifices Her Brother To Save The World
After a car accident, Michelle seemingly lost every member of her family, and spent three years of her life jumping between different foster parents.The filmkicks off in earnest, one fine day, a Cosmo robot appeared in front of Michelle, who surprisingly had consciousness of her brother, Chris. Michelle then learns that on the day of the accident, Ethan Skate—the founder of Sentre—found out that Christopher’s brain has the potential to create a connection between the human brain and the Sentre drones. At the time, humanity was losing the war against robots. So, Dr. Amherst, the doctor who was handling Christopher’s case, had no choice but to help Ethan set up Christopher’s brain as a power source for the Sentre.
After the accident, Christopher’s body wasn’t in a condition to survive without life support. So, instead of pulling the plug on the boy, Dr. Amherst decided to go with the alternative. He couldn’t reveal this to Michelle, though, so he lied and said that Chris couldn’t survive. After learning the truth, Michelle’s path became quite straightforward. Chris' body was being held up in Sentre’s HQ, so all she had to do was go there and release her brother. Not only could she save Chris by doing this, but she could also destroy Sentre by pulling out her brother, since it’s Chris' mind that is making Ethan’s technology work.
You can’t lose me. But youcanlose them. You. You’re the one who’s gonna change the world
Unfortunately, things weren’t as simple as they seemed. Chris was sharing a symbiotic relationship with Sentre — Ethan’s technology couldn’t survive without Chris, and the boy couldn’t survive without Sentre. Of course, Michelle wanted to keep her brother alive, but after getting into the real world as Cosmo, Chris saw the damage Sentre was doing to humanity and the robots. The young boy convinced Michelle to pull the plug and let him die, and since it was for the greater good, Michelle did the same. Instantly after Christopher’s death, Sentre’s drones became non-functional, and humanity found its way out of the clutches of Ethan’s addictive technology.
That’s not the end of the road for Christopher, though. In the final sequence of the movie, we see the same Cosmo robot being thrown in the garbage. However, right before the credits roll in, we see that the robot is moving, suggesting that Chris must have transferred his consciousness into the Cosmo robot. So, his body may have died, but his consciousness survived.
The Movie Hints At Christopher’s Fate In The First Sequence
Foreshadowing Can Be Quite The Spoiler
Interestingly, Chris' fate was foreshadowed at the beginning of the movie when he took an intelligence test for college. Chris was incredibly smart… somehow shown to be even smarter than Einstein. And, well, after learning the potential of Chris' brain, Sentre used it to power up their technology.
While talking to Michelle in the first sequence, Chris mentions that it’s possible for our consciousness to transcend physical boundaries if everything exists in a state of electricity. Unsurprisingly, what happens in the final sequence of the movie? Chris transfers his consciousness to the Cosmo robot since, at the time, his body and the Cosmo robot had an unlimited power supply through Sentre’s machinery.
Robots And Humans United To Fight The Real Enemy
Sentre Wasn’t Only Destroying Robots; It Was Also Destroying Humanity
The movie starts with a deadly war between robots and humans. For several decades, humans used robots to make their lives easier. They gave the robots the ability to reason, but they didn’t want the robots to think for themselves. However, the robots had enough, and they finally raised their voices and decided to fight for their freedom. Humanity as a whole agrees that people have the right to freedom, but robots aren’t exactly “people.”
Regardless, robots didn’t need food, and they didn’t sleep or get tired, so humanity was at a clear disadvantage. That’s when Ethan Skate entered the picture. He used Chris' brain to establish a successful connection between a human brain and a Sentre drone. These Drones were powerful enough to defeat robots, and they could be remotely piloted by a soldier. As expected, humanity won the war and forced the robots to stay within the exclusion zone. There was peace, but Ethan decided to pivot his drone technology and make it useful outside of warfare.
Sentre’s neurocaster technology was being used by humans to find escapism in a virtual world while also being available in the real world. Basically, it allowed its users to be present in two places at once. It was an undoubtedly useful technology until it became addictive.
The things that Sentre did, they weren’t just bad for robots. They were bad for all of us.
Sentre allowed humanity to escape the pain and suffering of the real world. Most users of neurocasters get detached from reality and lose any sense of human connection. It goes without saying that this could have led to humanity’s extinction. At the same time, Sentre forced the remaining robots to live isolated from the rest of the world. It certainly wasn’t true peace if robots and humans didn’t find a way to live together.
After realizing that Sentre was the true enemy, Robots and humans fought alongside each other. This sparked a debate all over the world, and while Ethan Skate was arrested for conducting experiments on a human child, humanity started wondering if they could respect the rights of robots. The robots had a sense of right and wrong. They felt sadness, love, and empathy, and this was the very realization that madeBradbury (Giancarlo Esposito)have a change of heart in the end.
The Electric State Warns Us Against The Over-Reliance On Technology
Humanity Just Needs To Put The Gadgets Down
In the film, when robots fought against humans for their rights, humanity had to rely on another form of technology to win the war. However, humans couldn’t let go of this technology, so they implemented Sentre in their daily lives. It took only a couple of years for the entire world to become addicted to Sentre’s drones. Through Sentre, people created their own version of a perfect world, but their real lives were a complete mess.
We got so used to it that we thought that that’s what real life was. But it’s not.
With the constant advancement in AI, it’s quite obvious that several businesses and humans will rely too much on technology. Even today, it’s very much possible to escape to a virtual world and keep away from all human interaction. But no matter who people become in the virtual world, they can’t escape who they are in the real world. Of course, it’s not wrong to use tech in daily life when the need arises, but humanity mustn’t forget the sense of they we are by relying too much on technology.
