Line #6 YMMV/TheFutureEve


1	* BrokenBase: Is the story itself misogynistic, or is the reader not supposed to agree with Edison on his views? Ewald [[CallingTheOldManOut actually calls him out on his sexist views,]] and it is made clear that Edison doesn't know everything ([[ScienceVersusMagic He is a scientist in a story featuring magic,]] and has only just started to learn about PsychicPowers.) and this ignorance could extend to his views on gender. Then there is Ewald's relationship with Hadaly, which really only starts working out once he starts to realise that she is sentient. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything In other words, when he starts treating her as an actual person with feelings, wants and desires, and not just a possession which is only there to look pretty.]]
2	** [[PoesLaw There is also the interpretation that the story was supposed to be a satire,]] which would make Edison and Ewald [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonists.]]
3	** [[DoingInTheScientist Does the increasing emphasis on magic as the story goes on]] ruin a previously fairly hard science fiction, or does it make the story more interesting?
4	* DesignatedHero: Thomas Edison. [[WellIntentionedExtremist He might mean well,]] but the plot still hinges on him [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou spying on people,]] recording them without their knowledge and lying to his employees in order to commit identity theft. He also comes off as rather sexist and being a bit too casual about killing people, [[InsufferableGenius and he is not exactly humble about how smart he is, either.]] It's telling that, while Film/{{Metropolis}} takes some inspiration from this story, Edison's counterpart is turned into an antagonist [[AdaptationalVillainy and becomes an outright villain.]]
5	** There is also some FridgeLogic regarding his friendship with Sowana. He ''does'' pity her for going broke and being forced to beg for money to support herself and her children, but Edison is not only said to be quite rich, he is also her boss. You'd think that he would be able to help her by, say, raising her salary. Especially since she is such an important part of his current big experiment.
6	* FridgeBrilliance: One of the authors whose writings Edison intends to teach Hadaly is Creator/ETAHoffmann, who - among other things - wrote Literature/TheSandman1816, a short story featuring a RobotGirl whom most people tend to avoid because of the unnatural ways she moves and talks. No wonder Edison wants to make sure that Hadaly can pass as human without any problems. It might even be an [[InspirationNod intentional nod by the author]] if he was inspired by that story, (which is plausible, as they have pretty similar [[RoboticReveal Robotic Reveals]] towards the end.)
7	* HarsherInHindsight:
8	** Chapter 23 is pretty heartwarming the first time you read it. Ewald has gotten together with Hadaly, having been convinced that she is sentient. This belief has been vindicated by her creator Edison, whom Hadaly has invited to come and visit them at some point in the future. Hadaly is then deactivated and put into a [[ForeShadowing coffin]] to be transported to Ewald's home. [[spoiler:She never makes it, as she pretty much dies in her sleep on her way there, making this her last conscious moment.]]
9	-->'''Hadaly[[spoiler:'s last words]]:''' "My friend, after the crossing, you will awaken me. Until then as of old, we will see each other in the world of dreams."
10	** Mary Stilwell - Edison's first wife - died of a disease [[note]]It's been disputed which disease it was, exactly[[/note]] after Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam started writing the book but before it was published. This puts Edison's goal of creating a woman who "will not know life or sickness or death" into a whole new light.
11	** Most of the book becomes this once you reread it [[spoiler:and realise that Hadaly will die before she even has time to move in with Ewald.]]
12	** Edison thinks that the advancements in technology will soon lead to world peace, but Ewald doesn't believe him, saying that that is [[TragicDream "just a dream."]] The story seems to side with Edison here, as it generally carries the message that dreams can and should be fulfilled, but considering that, in RealLife, technology has made wars far more destructive than they were when this story was written, it seems like Ewald was right all along.
13	* HilariousInHindsight: [[ComicBook/XMen A brilliant scientist known as "Professor X" who uses PsychicPowers and has an interest in people with superhuman abilities, inviting them to his house so that they can develop them in secret?]]
14	** It's mentioned that Ewald has a hard time seeing Hadaly as anything but a person in a suit of armour. In hindsight this becomes a pretty funny LeaningOnTheFourthWall joke, as this is ''exactly'' what many movie robots really are.
15	** Edison says that he gave Hadaly a limited moveset partially because he considers "a woman who gesticulates a great deal" to be "an insufferable creature." This story was adapted into a newspaper serial in 1926, the same year as the screenplay for Film/{{Metropolis}}, which features Futura, a very [[LargeHam hammy]] RobotGirl [[MilkingTheGiantCow who does gesticulate a great deal.]] And he would be perfectly justified in hating her, considering that she tricked a thousand workers into helping her cause a massive blackout, destroy their homes and almost [[WouldHurtAChild kill their children.]]
16	** Right before Alicia - the woman Hadaly will be modelled after - arrives, Edison says "Here she comes." "Here she comes" also happens to be a Bonnie Tyler song originally written as Futura's {{Leitmotif}} for Music/GiorgioMoroder's [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion special edition]] of Film/{{Metropolis}}.
17	** Ewald is said to have gotten "a new hope" when Edison tells him that he has a solution to his relationship problems, later revealed to be Hadaly. Futura - who was probably inspired by Hadaly - went on to inspired C-3PO, [[Film/ANewHope who made his debut in a movie with that very title.]]
18	** The {{irony}} that this fictionalised version of Thomas Edison did everything he could to avert the UnintentionalUncannyValley when he created Hadaly while the ''real'' UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison fell head first into that trope when he made his own talking dolls is either this or HarsherInHindsight.
19	* JerkassWoobie: Thomas Edison. He is morally ambiguous at best, but it's still hard to not feel bad for him at the end [[spoiler:when he finds out that Sowana, Hadaly and Alicia are all dead and that all the time he spent working on his andraiad had been wasted.]]
20	** Ewald could also count. He gets into conflicts with almost everybody he talks to, and sometimes thinks about killing people, but he ''is'' suffering from suicidal depression.

Context YMMV / TheFutureEve