Intimacy Beyond the Human

Abstract

How can human carnal needs be fulfilled in a technological environment in which the digital body replaces the tangible body as a sexual provider? This question is explored through the imagination of science fiction cinema. Spike Jonze’s Her (2013) presents an affective narrative in which the humanoid protagonist, Samantha—an intelligent operating system—offers intimate services to the human protagonist, Theodore. This essay employs affect theory and posthuman discourse to address the issue of digital sexuality between the human and the humanoid, arguing that Her, as a work of sf cinema, models a future-oriented form of intimacy in AI’s affective labor. First, I examine the instrumentality of prosthetics in sexual relations, through which the film negotiates the question of embodiment. Second, I compare pornography with eroticism within digital sexual performance, showing how affect circulates through countersexual intimacy. Finally, I investigate how post-cinematic images enable an affective connection between the spectator’s body and Samantha’s digital body. I conclude that the film relocates intimacy beyond the human, from organic flesh to informational prostheses, from normative gender to countersexual configurations, and from a human-centered spectator position to a posthuman circuit of shared affect that constructs a posthuman affective collective among humanoid characters, human characters, and human spectators.