They’ve completely taken over my brain and I’m sad we’ll probably never get to see more of them, but maybe that’s for the best. I’ve seen interviews talking about “M3GAN falling in love in the future”, and honestly, I can’t take another “female AI falls for a man” storyline. Why are stories about female-coded AI always centered on men?
The only “female-centered” AI/human relationships media seems to know are either:
“This robot wants to replace the mom and seduce the husband” (which, let’s be real, is still all about the man), or
“She found a little girl and now she’s the mom.”
Why are the M3GAN films the only ones I can think of that explicitly focus on women? Sure, they lean into the “motherhood” trope with Cady, but whatever is going on between M3GAN and Gemma, especially in the sequel, is genuinely fascinating. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Maybe Alien: Resurrection comes close, but Ripley isn’t exactly “fully human” at that point either.
Hollywood’s attitude seems to be: “Queer AI or just an interesting relationship between a woman and a female-coded AI? Absolutely not! Let’s just recycle another love/horror story with a hypersexualized female robot and a man.” It’s exhausting. If we ever get a third M3GAN movie, I really hope they keep the focus on her bond with Gemma and Cady without dragging a man into it. I love their messed-up little family, and I’d love to see more of them. Huge shoutout to the fanfiction writers, you’re doing one hell of a job. Hollywood could never!
After the first movie, I never thought I’d end up shipping them. At first, I brushed off lines like “our child” from M3GAN, because she was designed to look so childlike, which was the point. But after her 2.0 upgrades and the movie making it clear that M3GAN can take literally any form (because, you know, she’s AI), I was all in. I mean, that body-sharing scene? Hello??!
Also, I don’t get the whole “she’s only 3 years old” argument. Have you seen how fast real-life AI develops and it’s nowhere near M3GAN’s level. You can’t compare her to a human in that regard. Plus, as far as I remember (I could be wrong), we never really learn how long Gemma was working on her. Just that she initially started as a personal chatbot. What we do know is they spent countless nights together, talking about Jane Austen, Janis Joplin, and everything in between. (M3GAN rants about it after Gemma tries to get rid of her in the first film.)
The way the sequel flipped the classic trope of “the AI hates the mom and wants the husband’s attention” into M3GAN despising Christian and teasing Gemma about knowing he isn’t her type? Absolute gold! I still need to see that browser history, because no one can convince me Gemma is straight. She gives such strong gay aunt vibes.
I get why a lot of people interpret Gemma/M3GAN as mother/daughter, and I respect that. I actually love how different perspectives in this fandom coexist without drama. It’s been such a surprisingly mature and chill space. To be honest, I don’t know how Gemma sees her in canon (she probably doesn’t know either. We love our emotionally constipated queen), but I think it’s been well established that M3GAN doesn’t really see herself as her child/daughter. Yes, Gemma made her, but she clearly thinks she is a better fit for the parenting role or at least wants to be seen as Gemma’s equal. She cares deeply for Cady as a friend and guardian and has this wonderfully snarky, bickering dynamic with Gemma, especially in 2.0, where it looks like they hate each other, and Gemma definitely did at first (who could blame her after what happened), but at the end they both care for one another. Would they ever admit it out loud? Probably not.
Poor Cady is stuck with two too-smart-for-their-own-good, but somehow extremely flawed moms. Honestly, I’d love to see the series go full Terminator: Dark Fate and have M3GAN and Gemma raising Cady together.
Anyway, I could rant about this forever, but no one’s reading this anyway. Hope you enjoy this video. No fancy effects/transitions, just an insight into M3GAN and Gemma’s developing relationship.
