The Scariest Part Of 'The Fall Of The House Of Usher' Doesn't Involve Horror

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for The Fall of the Usher Family.

The Fall of the Usher Family by Mike Flanagan The film is a Netflix hit and promises to be another jewel in its crown of successful horror adaptations. Consisting of several works from Edgar Allen Poe's bibliography, The Fall of the House of Usher focuses on the downfall of the titular family, wealthy pharmaceutical magnates, each of whom suffers a gruesome death. And while the premise itself is scary enough, no one could have predicted that the scariest part of the show had nothing to do with horror.

The second episode of the series, titled The Masque of the Red Death (taken directly from one of Poe's short films), is particularly timely and begins to explore the subject of artificial intelligence in film and television. Although concerns about artificial intelligence are widespread today, discussion of the film The Fall of the House of Usher suggests that the foundations of the idea may have started in the late 1970s. Told in a non-linear fashion , "The Fall of the House of Usher" jumps back and forth between the past and the present as we unravel the mystery of what happened to the Usher family by following sibling duo Roderick ( Bruce Greenwood/Zach) . Guilford ). and Madeline ( Mary McDonnell/Willa Fitzgerald ) Usher's struggles to get rich.

In 1979, at a dinner party for Roderick and his wife Annabelle Lee ( Kathy Parker ), Madeline reveals that she quit her job in tech out of frustration at being a big boy's club. Annabelle comforts Madeline and reminds her that money isn't everything, but Madeline isn't amused until she talks about how computers are the future and that they can be taught to do everything from "the financial markets to investing from performance to medical." "Treatment predictor," he continues. "Well, an algorithm can write movies and TV shows."

The idea makes Roderick laugh, to which his brother objects, noting that even if an algorithm was written for the media, it wouldn't be a good idea. Madeline was once again determined and asked Roderick to wait. About 40 years ago, this might have been a crazy proposition, but today, with the advent of ChatGPT and other high-performing AI software and chatbots, it's a serious problem. Madeline's monologue takes computers replicating human consciousness one step further. There was a dark look in his eyes as he seemed to like the idea of ​​comparing artificial intelligence to exploiting immortality.

Fast forward to the next scene, set in 2023, and Madeline is in her spacious office discussing the same subject, this time with her cousin Lenore ( Kylie Curran ), who has just answered ten thousand questions. A recording and a diary on which he works every day for four months. As Madeline explained, everything is uploaded into one of their algorithms, which pulls this information together with all of Lenore's social media platforms to create her "AI score," something that is essentially a disembodied person, a body. Lenore and Pulse. Madeline continues to pursue her dream of immortality, but she doesn't think about the consequences of her actions. The most important thing for him is to provide an inheritance.

Throughout time, it's always the rich and powerful who think about leaving a legacy, as we see that Madeline has a large collection of artifacts in her office, which she calls her "Eternity Collection." However, there is also a certain reserve around technological topics, as is clear when Lenore visits Roderick, her grandfather, shortly after her conversation with Madeline. While Roderick is clearly smart and shrewd in his business, he doesn't know about it, or at least backs down from his sister's work as it relates to Madeline's AI prediction model, which Lenore has modified into a "video game or something." After Madeline expressed her ambitions for immortality, it was terrifying to hear her sister say something so out loud and compare such a volatile quest to an Atari game.

RELATED: "The Fall of Usher's Greatest Edgar Allan Poe Memoir."

Although the writers' strike thankfully ended after 146 days, there were and are serious concerns about the use of artificial intelligence (like ChatGPT) to write TV and film scripts, which will essentially replace the work of screenwriters and allow movie studios to create a lot of money. A certain amount. Thanks to the WGA's continued efforts, there are now regulations regarding the use of AI on screenplay, but the issue remains a serious concern for actors as the SAG-AFTRA strike rages on. For actors, in addition to fair remuneration for their work, it is primarily about the use of artificial intelligence, which is able to record the general appearance of the actor and thereby make it unusable for everyday work. Actors Guild executive and negotiator Duncan Crabtree Ireland told Reuters. “[AMPTP] has proposed that our background actors can be scanned, paid a daily wage, and that their companies must, with their consent, display the results of those scans on their images. , and should be able to use it forever.

It's scary to imagine an actor being replaced by an artificial intelligence that looks like them, but what's even more amazing is how well this scenario fits Madeline's ambitions in Fall of the Usher Family , just as she has done in the past and is now starting is to implement it. currently with his own bloodline. Government leaders like Madeline Usher who have access to the technology are trying to apply the concept to the real world. Our reality isn't based on an Edgar Allen Poe collection of short stories (or directed by Mike Flanagan), but we face the same problems.

This AI plot point in " The Fall of the House of Usher " is considered a "non-horror" element of the series, but its implications are more disturbing than anything that happened to the Usher family. Simply put, movie studios have gotten too comfortable in the uncanny valley, and while it's sad that actors have to stop doing what they love, SAG-AFTRA needs to fight for their rights and the rights of future generations of actors to get Madeline hers. rights. . Fictions of immortality using inhuman artificial intelligence will never come true.

All episodes of The Fall of the House of Usher are available to stream on Netflix.

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