Tilly Norwood: The Patriarchy’s Perfect Woman
Gita Anand ’28
Staff Writer
anandggr@lakeforest.edu
Tilly Norwood is the name of the first fully artificial intelligence (AI) generated actress to be officially released in Hollywood. Although Norwood claimed to be an “aspiring actress” on Instagram since May of this year, the character was not seriously acknowledged until late September, when prominent actresses such as Emily Blunt, Amy Poehler, and Whoopi Goldberg expressed fears of a fully-fledged AI “actress” entering the industry.
Their public critiques of Norwood sparked heated conversation about the use of an AI actress in live-action cinema. After witnessing the backlash, Norwood’s creator, Dutch comedian and Particle6 founder Eline Van der Velden, put out a statement on Norwood’s official Instagram account. Addressing the controversy, she claimed that the AI character “represents experimentation, not substitution.”
Van der Velden went on to say that she considers her work to be about “holding up a mirror to society through satire,” and indicates that Norwood is simply a piece of art meant to spark conversation, which it clearly has. The artistic value of Norwood is a separate debate altogether, and a vital one as society continues to explore the new age of AI.
However, this statement brings a couple of questions to mind. First, why was Norwood’s character specifically chosen to be fully developed? And second, what are the implications of such a character’s existence in the film industry?
The debut of Norwood was through an official website, where a series of AI-generated photos depict shots of the character from her various auditions. Also included is a video link to a comedy sketch released by Particle6 called “AI Commissioner” that explores the topic of AI in script-writing.
Although it is meant to be a comedy sketch, each character in the completely AI-generated video lacks the soul and humanity that even animated works portray more effectively. The video discusses the efficiency of AI resources in quickly producing ideas, budgets, and even characters in minutes.
While it dryly acknowledges potential issues, it frames AI as a generally positive asset that saves a great deal of money, time, and resources. “It cast and budgeted itself,” said one male AI character in the video. “Only bit it struggled with was consent in romantic scenes. We just ignored that.”
The lack of concern for consent should be a big red flag. Of course, when working with an AI “actress,” there are aspects one never needs to worry about. Consent is one example, along with signs of aging, lighting, and diction, to name a few. These are the imperfections of human actors and actresses that are most often covered up with Botox and post-production magic. But this is a very slippery slope.
According to a statement Van der Velden made at the Zurich Summit in Switzerland on Sept. 27, several talent agencies are already interested in signing Norwood as a “client,” and her new representation will be announced sometime in the next year. While most people assume that agencies are clamoring to represent Norwood due to the efficiency of resources described in her debut video, I believe the underlying reason is much more sinister.
Regardless of what they might claim, talent agencies have expressed interest in Norwood not because she’s a great “actress,” but because they are eager to have complete and utter control over her. They could have chosen any kind of character to experiment with using AI: a sardonic yet charming man, a loving mother, or even an emotionally intelligent alien.
But they decided to create a petite, innocent, girl-next-door type actress whose image is honed to appease the male gaze. She is purposefully constructed to possess many of the features prized by misogynistic audiences, with some influences from conventionally attractive actresses such as Vanessa Hudgens, Natalie Portman, and Rachel Zegler. In case additional persuasion is needed, another AI man in the comedy sketch made a comment that illustrates this point perfectly: “She’ll do anything I say. I’m already in love.”
Norwood is the blueprint of what the patriarchy demands women become. It shapes her, scripts her, dresses her, and programs her to be mindlessly obedient. She is modern proof that women are not seen as equal to men in this world. As if her mere existence wasn’t disturbing enough, our world’s patriarchal ideologies are so deeply entrenched that all women, even innovators such as Eline Van der Velden, are subconsciously controlled by them as well.
Of all the kinds of characters that could have been produced to experiment on and control, ultimately, Van der Velden chose an obedient young girl. That is no coincidence. The world continues to be infatuated by the concept of controlling women, and Norwood is nothing more than a result of modern misogyny.