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1. 1 2016-04-19T22:53:04-07:00 Tannis Weaver e65961abb006529a8a8cb47ad858d29abf9a88bb Simon the Alien Tannis Weaver 2 plain 2016-04-19T22:54:31-07:00 Tannis Weaver e65961abb006529a8a8cb47ad858d29abf9a88bb

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• 1 media/Screen Shot 2016-04-18 at 11.59.48 AM.png 2016-04-18T11:10:17-07:00 "I Found This Rock to be Immensely Attractive" 16 Exploring the love life and humanity of Emily III image_header 2016-04-24T16:40:06-07:00 The exploration of humanity in the future of World of Tomorrow continues in the examination of Emily III’s love life. In David Sims’s article “World of Tomorrow and the Copy-Pasted Brain,” Sims states “His [Hertzfeldt’s] film posits a future where emotion has slowly slipped away as humans foolishly pursued immortality, but where feelings and warm memories are valued higher than anything.” This quote from Sims perfectly illustrates the problems that Emily III faces. In the world that she inhabits, she is technically still alive, but she is so far removed from Emily Prime that she struggles with emotions. The innate humanity that existed in Emily Prime does not exist within Emily III. 
  
  Emily III has to learn about and gain her humanity as she experiences the world around her. One way that Hertzfeldt explores Emily III’s humanity is through her feelings for love. In a beautiful way, the complexity of the objects that Emily loves evolve as she does. While Emily III shows Emily Prime her life, she randomly inserts the different objects that she has loved. As the viewers watch, the love interests of the clone’s life evolve from less complex objects to more complex beings. This evolution of love for Emily III tracks her evolution to finding her humanity.
   
  The stories about the objects of Emily III's affection begin with the memory of her work on the moon. Briefly, Emily III mentions that she fell in love with a rock. At first glance this seems like a strange thing for her to love; however, even with the simplistic animations, the viewer can easily the sincerity that is involved with the statement. In this moment, Emily III does not fully understand her emotions and only has the capacity to love a rock from the moon.
   
  As Emily continues to experience life, she gradually falls in love with beings that are more complex. After the rock, Emily III falls in love with a fuel pump and then an alien named Simon. The relationship with Simon, at this point in the film, is the one that the viewer has the most time with. Emily III explains how she found Simon as an egg and that they gradually fell in love. The whole relationship with Simon isn’t completely explained, but it ends when Emily III decides to leave. She comments upon Simon’s emotions but not on her own. The very fact that she fell for a living being shows that she has found more of her humanity.
   
  Emily III’s love stories end with the clone of David. This is the relationship that is explored the most. When Emily III falls in love with David, she has reached the capacity of emotions that she is able to feel. She has fallen in love with a clone like her. She bonds with him in a way that she couldn’t with Simon or the other objects because she has learned from her past experience. When David dies, Emily III shows that, in spite of discovering some of her humanity, she does not have the emotional ability that Emily Prime does. Emily III says, “I do not have the mental or emotional capacity to deal his loss.” With this one statement, Emily III admits to her own lack of humanity. This begs the question, do the clones in this future have any hope at retaining the humanity of their originals?