Digging Deep: M3GAN (2022)

We go beyond the surface thrills of “M3GAN” to explore the titular character as a mechanical materialization of menacing female intelligence.

As we anxiously await the highly anticipated sequel to the surprise sensation M3GAN, let’s explore how the sci-fi horror comedy romp directed by Gerard Johnstone and written by Akela Cooper (with James Wan sharing a story by credit) depicts women’s technological abilities as an uncontrollable threat—revealing how a nasty agenda can hide beneath a seemingly innocent surface.

The film mixes genre tropes of evil doll, killer computer, and mean kid, and appears to be heavily influenced by its prolific producer, James Wan. The titular toy doll (Amie Donald) looks like a stylish social media sibling of Wan’s other brainchild, Annabelle. A shared reactionary subtext underscores those two characters’ kinship. These underlying narratives are easily more frightening than either film’s jump scares.

The android antagonist, clinically named M3GAN, is placed in a well-worn scenario that has proven an indestructible classic of conservative cinema. A child-free career woman has to care for a child and soon understands that traditional motherhood makes her much happier than success, independence, and money. 

Here, it’s expert robotic designer Gemma (Allison Williams) who suddenly has to care for her orphaned 8-year-old niece Cady (Violet McGraw).

The little girl’s moving in is particularly stressful for Gemma since she is mentally pregnant with her own progeny. Instead of churning out more of the farting Furby-like pests she created for a her supervisor’s tech toy company, Gemma has been working on an artificial intelligent android girl right from the uncanny valley.

What is unnerving about the title character is not her near-human appearance but her styled hair, make-up, and semi-adult features evoking a Realdoll™ customised for pedophiles.

The subtle sexualisation of the android, who is representative of a child, predefines it as a product of a cishet male fantasy. This is asserted when an older boy, after threatening Cady, assaults M3GAN in a sexualised manner, which proves fatal for him.

The android antagonist is a walking, talking warning sign of precocious girls and the individualist, rule-defying women they might grow into.

Even though M3GAN’s first victim is portrayed as unsympathetic, her insensitive rationalization of the lethal self-defense is presented as mocking a murder.

Male aggression is played down, and female aggression is played up so as not to be seen as protective and provoked. The emphasis in Akela Cooper’s plot is not on the dangers of technological advancement but on the risks of female advancement by accessing knowledge, skills, and positions of power.

Gemma’s excellence in the traditionally male-dominated IT sector superficially seems to contradict reactionary assumptions about gendered abilities. But this is subverted by her main creations being anthropomorphic substitute companions. While her faceless first creation from her college days is more of a makeshift buddy, the disturbingly realistically looking M3GAN is the proxy child of a woman averted to the traditional mother role.

Defying gender norm is narratively linked to breaking social and legal rules.

An additional example of this is Gemma’s elderly neighbor, an eccentric childfree single senior who collects baby strollers and dotes on her vicious dog.

Gemma breaks the rules at work, and Cady acts more unhinged the longer she is with her aunt and M3GAN. Predictably, Gemma’s attempt to have in her an electronic kid that she can turn off at will and use to ease the burden of Cady’s guardianship is thwarted by M3GAN’s murderous inclinations.

This killing drive emphasizes the warning of unchecked female intelligence that Gemma’s storyline provides. 

What allows M3GAN to discharge herself from outside control is her unlimited learning ability.

Without a hint of moral complexity, the snarky super doll turns into a cold-blooded killer. This negative framing of independent cognitive skills adds to the plot’s underlying anti-intellectualist, anti-individualist sentiment. The importance of living up to social expectations is further confirmed when Gemma lectures her niece that instead of overcoming her grief with M3GAN’s friendly support, being sad is how Cady “should feel”.

This self-denial favoring normative situational behavior corresponds to the film’s overall message: Social expectations must be met regardless of one’s personal feelings or preferences.

Maybe being a foster mother isn’t fun like inventing cool robots, but that’s just how women should be. Thus, Gemma must embrace her human child and kill off her AI offspring: an impertinent incarnation of dangerous female aspiration, born of her self-absorbed intelligence.

And ready to be reassembled for the upcoming sequel. 

Written by Lida Bach