CARNEY / SPECTRE / FENYX

MADELINE + ME + MOLES = ?

Hi, here is the companion to my Miles Harding character analysis, the second of my three character analyses. I have to admit, Madeline is the hardest character for me to pin down. I’ve given it a shot. It might not be the most generous interpretation of her compared to others’, but I do like her (it’s hard to dislike any character played by Virginia Madsen). Here is currently my best interpretation of Madeline…

“Like you are not just someone living under me”: Madeline & Isolation

Madeline and Edgar's characters both have heavy themes of isolation. While the film emphasizes Edgar's physical exclusion, Madeline foils this by feeling emotionally isolated when she's among others.

Throughout the film, she is continuously singled out by other characters: Her conductor, Bill, Miles, Edgar (to an extent)… Even in her introduction, she is treated as someone peculiar by the movers. She is continuously around people, but she very rarely connects with them.

Here is my first of three Electric Dreams character analyses.

What is the Film Explicitly Telling Us?

Miles is awkward

This is shown throughout the film, right from his debut where he tries to make conversation with a woman wearing headphones (unbeknownst to him). This is most apparent on his movie date with Madeline.

This goes hand in hand with…

Anxiety: He’s really in his own head!

To the point of being oblivious to his surroundings.

In Madeline’s introduction, he pushes her out of the way, seemingly without thought. He pulls Edgar’s keyboard off the table (and then floods the bath). He runs into Madeline at the grocery store. Their movie date is a sequence of him knocking around food and beverages and accidentally hitting Madeline.

While he’s sorry for that, he also tends to be oblivious to others' feelings.

Shown by… everything with Edgar and the song. He’s also lying to Madeline, which isn’t very considerate! I think the most obvious point of this in the film is telling Madeline that her beloved cello was “just a piece of wood.” He clarifies what he means (or saves it, depending on how you read that scene) afterward, but he doesn’t seem to realize how uncaring that sounds until Madeline gets upset. This is also a point towards awkwardness and a lack of tact.

That Man Neurodivergent: Periods of Fixation & Overstimulation

Related to the above, I want to point out other ways Miles can be read as neurodivergent. He tends to have very narrow fixations. First on architecture. We see his apartment having very little in the way of clutter… except for the model homes and other architecture-related stuff, suggesting a longstanding fixation. We see him risk his job by flying to LA to conduct research for his brick (a current fixation). Then, we see him fixate on his computer—plugging in everything he can to home automation and buying a ton of peripherals (a new fixation). After that… is it fair to say he fixates on Madeline?

He also has periods of overstimulation, particularly when stressed. I believe the beginning, where Miles is observing everyone at the airport, is meant to read as him being overwhelmed. And I believe his freak out on Edgar later in the movie was supposed to be the same thing, with it emphasizing how loud Edgar is and how he is constantly asking Miles’ opinions in that scene. He should have apologized, but still, guy is overwhelmed to the point of tears.

The Preoccupation on Image

I feel like at his core, Miles’ character is about his struggles with image. Or at the very least, how he tries to balance an image (good worker; musician) against his fixations (his brick; his love of Madeline).

It’s important to note that throughout the film, Miles is in precarious roles. He cares about architecture, but he’s new to the field and already about to lose his job/foot in the industry because of his disorganization. He is Madeline’s boyfriend, but it’s based on lies that make him more interesting to her. Madeline couldn’t even remember his real occupation on their first date.

Also related to image: Miles tends to bottle up emotions until he lashes out. Think about him saving face at Madeline’s concert before screaming at Edgar when he’s home.

This all colors his interactions with others.

Relationship with Madeline: Miles & Masculinity

Okay, so we’re going there. One thing about Miles’ relationship to Madeline that I would like more addressed is that Miles upholds a lot of rigid, traditional ideas about what his role “should” be with her. This includes: courting her, protecting her from the big bad computer (without telling her what’s going on), believing he can take her away from SF to somewhere where she will only think about him… just generally and repeatedly disregarding her agency.

But, Madeline—and this will be brought up in her character analysis—resists being put in a subservient role. She probably insisted that she drive Miles to their movie date in her car with the broken stereo. She takes charge again by taking him to Alcatraz and then to the fair, winning him a stuffed animal. And Miles, for his part, seems to really enjoy this role reversal (especially on that last date).

Yet, Miles is anxious about what he perceives as out of his hands. He feels that everything Madeline loves about him (the music) is really Edgar’s traits. This isn’t helped by the fact that it was the only thing Madeline wanted to talk about on their first date. It’s only after Madeline confesses her love for other parts of him that Miles starts to feel secure in their relationship.

Relationship with Edgar: Miles & Image

We begin the story with Miles needing to portray himself as more organized and show up on time for work. As the story progresses, this morphs into upholding an image of a talented musician to impress Madeline. In both cases, Edgar is the one to maintain Miles’ image for him.

Miles is extremely defensive over his image. When Edgar damages it by playing through the radio pager, Miles freaks out at him despite Madeline saying she enjoyed it and despite Miles knowing Edgar’s alive (is this more reasonable or less reasonable? Discuss). When Edgar wants to tell Madeline the truth, it starts to degrade whatever relationship Edgar and Miles had with each other.

I want to touch her. Maybe you already have.

Miles knows that Madeline was touched by Edgar’s music, and it is a driving reason why he never wants them to meet. He is frightened by Edgar.

Not only does Edgar maintain Miles’ image at work and in his relationship, but Edgar wants to do other things for him with home automation, entertainment, and sharing news. In terms of “expected roles,” Edgar fulfills his role as a subservient computer until he realizes that nothing is going to improve between them. I’ve always found it interesting that he is assumed to be Miles’ wife by his coworker. Edgar really is the opposite of Madeline when it comes to subservience. (I will talk more in Madeline's analysis about the potential of her and Edgar being foils.)

While Miles does take a dominant role in their relationship, giving Edgar orders and such, I think it’s fair to say that Miles also likes situations where other people (like Madeline) take the lead and relieve him of that burden. Once again, Miles gets overwhelmed. Also, there is a point where I interpret Edgar doing everything as furthering Miles’ anxiety and heightening a poor self image, as Miles isn’t doing much of anything himself anymore.

That said, I think it’s a misconception that Miles never liked Edgar after learning he was alive. While they played the roles of computer and user, Miles is the type of person to tell his computer “Remember to have a good time!” while it works. As much as Miles displays a characteristic lack of tact and elaboration when telling Edgar he needs to start his love song over, he calms down quickly and explains concepts to Edgar with a smile.

It's also logical that some of the home automation stuff was added specifically for Edgar, like the RC car. Or the toothbrush. Do we think Miles was plugging in his toothbrush, going to his computer to start it up, then walking back to use his toothbrush? Or do we think that was added so Edgar could feel like he was helping? Is it possible that Miles keeps food in the microwave for Edgar to heat up to keep him happy?

Miles is very much a character with a habit of catastrophizing and acting without thinking of others. Did he mean it when he tried to kill Edgar out of frustration and the hit to his ego? Yes. Did he mean it when he pet his computer and told it to have a good time? Also yes.

Spot the difference