Justin Timberlake’s video for “Filthy” is a tribute to Science Fiction, AI and the
tech world of today --
his futuristic robot looks like it could have come out of Ex Machina or I, Robot, though
with a few more moves.
So what is Timberlake trying to say with all this imagery?
And does the deeper meaning have anything to do with the morals of our favorite AI or
tech-driven movies?
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We open on Timberlake channelling Steve Jobs,
walking out on stage at some sort of AI-related “Deep Learning” conference.
He shows the audience a shiny new piece of tech --
a life size animatronic robot, that starts dancing and singing in Justin’s place.
Meanwhile, the real Justin is backstage being the puppet master.
The robot is insisting that it’s real through the lyrics of the song.
"Haters gon say it’s fake.
It’s real."
This line sounds like a reference to the meme of posting obviously fake footage online with
the same title.
Likewise, the robot seems to us to be a fake version of Justin Timberlake but claiming
it’s real.
It’s a product embodying Timberlake’s performer persona --
known for slick dancing, choreography and even particular moves.
So there’s a little bit of self-parody or sending up Timberlake’s own image here.
Filthy is definitely calling to our minds 2006’s hit Sexyback.
The song built up a very sexual persona for Timberlake,
which Filthy plays on here by giving the robot thos suggestive moves.
Incidentally, Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker criticized the gall of SexyBack at
the time, saying,
“How DARE this dot-eyed, crop-haired waif-boy proclaim to be the sole global administrator
of all things sexy?”
So it’s funny that here Timberlake’s “Filthy” video
essentially turns into a mini-would-be Black Mirror episode.
The robot seems to be doing its job -- seducing the audience --
but at the end of the song, the joke’s on the supposedly real Justin --
in a Black Mirror-style twist, as the robot drinks in the love of the crowd, the puppeteer
glitches and disappears.
So it turns out he wasn’t the real Justin, either.
And in fact the robot, the product, that interacts with the audience, is now the “realest”
Justin.
Fittingly, when they were making the video, the robot was animated
via motion capture technology of Timberlake dancing, not just CGI --
so Timberlake is the one performing the robot, and those are his real moves,
which is significant for the symbolism we're getting here.
Most stories about AI and tech-driven futures, are also about these questions of what’s
real, and what’s human.
Often in stories about robots or replicants, we assume the “human” character is “real”
at first,
but we may eventually come to empathize more with the non-human intelligence.
Filthy uses the visuals of futuristic tech and AI not really to comment on
those industries or the destiny of the human species,
but to muse on the nature of celebrity.
He’s pointing out the way that his onstage persona --
“Justin Timberlake” with its moves and distinctive voice --
is a creation that’s not really him.
He’s saying that he is a removed a creator like Steve Jobs
because he might feel as separate from his performer persona as Steve Jobs felt from
the iPhone.
But in both the AI story and the world of celebrity, the creation overtakes the creator.
The “real” Timberlake is hiding behind his product thinking he’s safe backstage
--
until it turns out that he was wrong all along to think he could truly protect
some higher self away from the product --
the persona he created has become the more powerful, substantial, thing.
Similarly, an artist may think their real identity is their private thoughts and intentions,
but once the performer is out there engaging with an audience,
that persona becomes something interactive and shared no longer totally in the artist’s
control.
With Filthy, Timberlake is continuing the recent trend for self-referential reinventions.
He’s giving us a self-aware critique of the “Timberlake” persona,
"Put your filthy hands on me."
and confessing us his vulnerability as a creator -
while the performer’s persona allows them be brash and bold in front of millions of
people,
the danger could be losing the authentic self they started out with.
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