Relistened to Sea Wall for the first time since watching the movie, it really is an incredible piece of work. Honestly probably the best track from any movie I have seen for a long time.
I love how the sound design in this movie made the soundtrack seem so OPPRESIVE compared to the dialogue and sound effects.
It just comes crashing into a scene in most cases and really adds to the tension.
Also the scene where K finds out that he's not the "birth" child is such an emotional gut punch.
But then he has his tragic hero moment in the end and seeing him relax / pass out on the steps at the end was so cathartic.
It's a bit unsettling here too. I definitely had conflicted feelings about it. Scottie projects the image of the woman he desire's onto the woman he's with (despite both being one and the same, he just can't see or accept this). Here, Joi literally projects her image onto Mariette as Joi is the woman K desires. It reduces Mariette to just a vessel. Are either one an authentic expression of love?
Ah, at least somebody else gets it. I feel better now.
Anita Sarkeesian is going to mention this, and the YouTubers are going to go mental again.
Remember though, JOI had planned this with Mariette after seeing that K had met her.
Mariette may be a prostitute, but it's implied that she heard JOI's idea and was willing to go with it, judging by Mariette telling K "You've got a special one here."
JOI's line of "I could tell you liked her" made me think of more like they're a couple that met a girl they could fancy having some fun with, like a couple that looks to add a third person into the mix.
The "overlay" certainly adds an extra layer to it, but I saw it more like JOI is unable to have sexual relations so she's "living" through Mariette who is willing to be the "interface" for JOI and K's romance.
Which in and of itself does seem to reduce Mariette to an object or tool, but if she consented to the act and actually complimented JOI about thinking about it at first, it seems like Marietta had the agency in the situation. Mariette was designed to be a pleasure model android, yet here she was asked by JOI to help her fulfill a fantasy and Mariette obliged. It seems less "objectifying" than if a human had demanded Mariette have sex or something of that nature.
However, afterwards when JOI is trying to kick Mariette out by saying "I'm done with you" it does make it seem like JOI may have had some regrets about the event or doesn't want to be reminded that Mariette was the "interface" and not JOI herself. To which Mariette responds by "not much inside of you" as an insult that reminds JOI that without Mariette, the experience wouldn't have been possible.
It's a very interesting dynamic, for sure but I don't think it's a negative one in essence. It does raise the interesting thought that how far can you go to "emulate" something to make it "real"?
A one night stand using an android prostitute as the physical interface for a digital AI that you've built a "relationship" is peak cyberpunk / futurism, in my opinion. It blends reality on multiple levels, just like the visuals of JOI and Mariette layered together did.
.