Thoughts on Jennifer Phang's "Advantageous"

*Potential spoilers

Last weekend, I watched low-budget feminist sci-fi film Advantageous. Though Advantageous may not satisfy those who seek action and a turbulent plot, it is a thoughtful and elegant work. The plot unfolds through subtle statements and scenes. The aesthetic overall is very clean as well.

The movie's poster is rather misleading, due to the focus being more about abstract concepts of the human condition than technology itself, but Advantageous stays true to its subdued style with a future that simply seems normal. It is a future that makes sense. The chronological setting is not played up, like with many other futuristic movies, but is instead treated as what is. This New York includes towering upgraded modernist buildings and a blank white sky. Like the emptiness of the sky and its cold lighting, there is little compassion. Today's social issues are only elevated.

Above anything, Advantageous is about maternal love, dedication and sacrifice. Gwen, the protagonist, is the single mother of 12-year-old Jules. She works at a biomedical engineering firm, the "Center for Advanced Health and Living". The Center had recently come far in development in a process which transfers the consciousness to a younger, beautiful body. Of course, the target audience is women. In this future, women are struggling to find jobs, struggling to conceive due to growing infertility, and are expected to be reliant on men. Gwen, who is not old, but no longer young, faces incredible hardship when her position as the face of the Center is to be exterminated. Gwen searches for other occupations, but because the society demands youth, the only possibility of money would be in egg donation (which she still is considered old to be doing). At the company, Gwen is manipulated into being the first person to have the consciousness-transferring process executed on. The biggest pressure and tool in persuasion was Jules' incredibly expensive tuition, which Gwen cannot bear to deny. As a mother, she is willing to sacrifice her everything so that her daughter can be successful in life.

Here are only a few what I considered the most thoughtful pieces of Advantageous:

In the scene above, Gwen finds out that Drake, who was like a sort of over-the-phone assistant, is not human. He than asks her "How do you define a human being?" to which she replies with "Do you have blood running through your veins? Do you get thirsty?" Drake replies with "That is the definition of a human being?" leaving Gwen incredibly confused.

Gwen tries to remain optimistic in her search for income, but she finds that society just wants nothing she has to offer.

As technological advances accelerate, there is little room for those who can't keep up. Mere human existence isn't enough anymore.

Even Jules is very aware of the adults' lack of direction. She knows that no one really knows how to handle where society is going, and she's conscious of the fact that there is only interest in what she can offer in profit, rather than her true characteristics.

Twice in the film, Jules asks "Why am I alive?" Once is with Gwen, and the second time is with "Gwen 2.0" (the new version of her mother). The first times, Gwen responds with simple pleasures like music and her love, but this answer doesn't satisfy Jules. The second time, the answer is that it doesn't matter because "whatever you do will be wonderful and worthwhile." Jules then squints her eyes in suspicion and Gwen explains her answer further, discussing kindness, empathy, and energy.

This is hands down my favorite scene in the movie. It takes place during Christmas after Gwen opens Jules' gift, which is a stylized portrait of her.

What draws the most interest in Advantageous is not the plot itself, but the themes it portrays. Social problems then are not much different in topic than today. The future society is completely possible. In terms of being anxious about the direction of the world and not understanding their purpose, the youth of today is not that much different compared to Jules. The greed of society and lack of compassion are not foreign either. Though many people only care about the production and income of an individual, there is still raw and rich love between a mother and her daughter. Overall, Advantageous is a movie that effectively explores the concept of human value.