Trauma and Memory in Blade Runner and Westworld
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Struction of the Feminine/Masculine Dichotomy in Westworld
WiN: The EAAS Women’s Network Journal Issue 2 (2020) Skin-Deep Gender: Posthumanity and the De(con)struction of the Feminine/Masculine Dichotomy in Westworld Amaya Fernández Menicucci ABSTRACT: This article addresses the ways in which gender configurations are used as representations of the process of self-construction of both human and non-human characters in Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s series Westworld, produced by HBO and first launched in 2016. In particular, I explore the extent to which the process of genderization is deconstructed when human and non-human identities merge into a posthuman reality that is both material and virtual. In Westworld, both cyborg and human characters understand gender as embodiment, enactment, repetition, and codified communication. Yet, both sets of characters eventually face a process of disembodiment when their bodies are digitalized, which challenges the very nature of identity in general and gender identity in particular. Placing this digitalization of human identity against Donna Haraway’s cyborg theory and Judith Butler’s citational approach to gender identification, a question emerges, which neither Posthumanity Studies nor Gender Studies can ignore: can gender identities survive a process of disembodiment? Such, indeed, is the scenario portrayed in Westworld: a world in which bodies do not matter and gender is only skin-deep. KEYWORDS: Westworld; gender; posthumanity; embodiment; cyborg The cyborg is a creature in a post-gender world. The cyborg is also the awful apocalyptic telos of the ‘West’s’ escalating dominations . (Haraway, A Cyborg Manifesto 8) Revolution in a Post-Gender, Post-Race, Post-Class, Post-Western, Posthuman World The diegetic reality of the HBO series Westworld (2016-2018) opens up the possibility of a posthuman existence via the synthesis of individual human identities and personalities into algorithms and a post-corporeal digital life. -
Beyond Westworld
“We Don’t Know Exactly How They Work”: Making Sense of Technophobia in 1973 Westworld, Futureworld, and Beyond Westworld Stefano Bigliardi Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane - Morocco Abstract This article scrutinizes Michael Crichton’s movie Westworld (1973), its sequel Futureworld (1976), and the spin-off series Beyond Westworld (1980), as well as the critical literature that deals with them. I examine whether Crichton’s movie, its sequel, and the 1980s series contain and convey a consistent technophobic message according to the definition of “technophobia” advanced in Daniel Dinello’s 2005 monograph. I advance a proposal to develop further the concept of technophobia in order to offer a more satisfactory and unified interpretation of the narratives at stake. I connect technophobia and what I call de-theologized, epistemic hubris: the conclusion is that fearing technology is philosophically meaningful if one realizes that the limitations of technology are the consequence of its creation and usage on behalf of epistemically limited humanity (or artificial minds). Keywords: Westworld, Futureworld, Beyond Westworld, Michael Crichton, androids, technology, technophobia, Daniel Dinello, hubris. 1. Introduction The 2016 and 2018 HBO series Westworld by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy has spawned renewed interest in the 1973 movie with the same title by Michael Crichton (1942-2008), its 1976 sequel Futureworld by Richard T. Heffron (1930-2007), and the short-lived 1980 MGM TV series Beyond Westworld. The movies and the series deal with androids used for recreational purposes and raise questions about technology and its risks. I aim at an as-yet unattempted comparative analysis taking the narratives at stake as technophobic tales: each one conveys a feeling of threat and fear related to technological beings and environments. -
Blade Runner and the Right to Life Eli Park Sorensen
Blade Runner and the Right to Life Eli Park Sorensen Trans-Humanities Journal, Volume 8, Number 3, October 2015, pp. 111-129 (Article) Published by University of Hawai'i Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/trh.2015.0012 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/635253/summary [ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ] Blade Runner and the Right to Life Eli Park SORENSEN (Seoul National University) Ⅰ. Introduction One of the most debated issues in connection with Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner (1982) is whether Deckard — the protagonist, played by Harrison Ford — is a replicant or not. Allegedly, Ford was strongly opposed to Scott’s decision to include the famous unicorn scene in the film, which apparently confirms that Deckard — like Rachael — possesses “implants,” synthetic memories; a scene anticipating the film’s ending, during which Deckard finds an origami unicorn left by detective Gaff, who thus reveals that he knows about Deckard’s real identity — that he is in fact a replicant (Sammon 362). In this article, I suggest that although much of the scholarship and criticism on Blade Runner tends to focus on this particular issue, it nonetheless remains one of the least interesting aspects of the film. Or, to put it differently, whether Deckard is a replicant is a question whose real purpose rather seems to be covering a far more traumatic issue, which Michel Foucault in the first volume of History of Sexuality addresses thus: “The ‘right’ to life, to one’s body, to health, to happiness, to the satisfactions of needs, and beyond all the oppressions or ‘alienations,’ the ‘right’ to rediscover what one is and all that one can be” (145). -
Humanistic STEM: from Concept to Course
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics Volume 11 | Issue 1 January 2021 Humanistic STEM: From Concept to Course Debra T. Bourdeau WW/Humanities & Communication Beverly L. Wood ERAU-WW/STEM Education Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons, and the Mathematics Commons Recommended Citation Bourdeau, D. T. and Wood, B. L. "Humanistic STEM: From Concept to Course," Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume 11 Issue 1 (January 2021), pages 33-53. DOI: 10.5642/jhummath.202101.04 . Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol11/iss1/4 ©2021 by the authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. JHM is an open access bi-annual journal sponsored by the Claremont Center for the Mathematical Sciences and published by the Claremont Colleges Library | ISSN 2159-8118 | http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/ The editorial staff of JHM works hard to make sure the scholarship disseminated in JHM is accurate and upholds professional ethical guidelines. However the views and opinions expressed in each published manuscript belong exclusively to the individual contributor(s). The publisher and the editors do not endorse or accept responsibility for them. See https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/policies.html for more information. Humanistic STEM: From Concept to Course Debra T. Bourdeau WW/English and Humanities, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, USA [email protected] Beverly L. Wood Mathematics, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, USA [email protected] Abstract Blending perspectives from the humanities and STEM fosters the creativity of all students. The culturally implicit dichotomy between the two meta-disciplines can be overcome with carefully designed courses and programs intent on doing so. -
On the Postmodern Condition
1 Journal of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Works Volume 7 December 2020 On the Postmodern Condition Sean Carroll Abstract University of Texas at San Antonio As a cultural movement, Postmodernism begun to solidify itself since the 1970s. Despite what some may say of its necessarily unstructured nature, coherent reflection about it is useful. While there is a growing literature on this topic, the present study, as suggested by David Harvey, seeks to use an historical, materialist framework, as developed by Karl Marx, to interpret postmodern culture. To do this, I began with the studies of the substructures of postmodern culture (political-economic and material conditions), and then sought to find reflective cohesion among its ‘aesthetic’ superstructures (social, philosophical, cinematic, literary, and musical) and their underlying conditions. As a result, from these studies, I found that the aesthetic sentiments of postmodern culture quite neatly map onto the material conditions, which inform its context. These sentiments imply a complicit disposition towards many aspects of late capitalism (such as consumerism and alienation). These findings are significant because it forces postmodernism to take a more honest look at itself, and become self-aware of its implications. My findings imply that if postmodern sentiments truly want to harbor an activism toward the status quo, it must first realign itself with more unifying attitudes. While a single resolution has yet to be concluded, the present study provides some general directions -
Ideology As Dystopia: an Interpretation of "Blade Runner" Author(S): Douglas E
Ideology as Dystopia: An Interpretation of "Blade Runner" Author(s): Douglas E. Williams Source: International Political Science Review / Revue internationale de science politique, Vol. 9, No. 4, (Oct., 1988), pp. 381-394 Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1600763 Accessed: 25/04/2008 20:30 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sageltd. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We enable the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org InternationalPolitical ScienceReview (1988), Vol. 9, No. 4, 381-394 Ideology as Dystopia: An Interpretation of Blade Runner DOUGLASE. -
Download Press Release
Philip Martin Gallery Tis Synthetic Moment (Replicant) Curated by David Hartt July 13 - August 24, 2019 Press Release Philip Martin Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition curated by David Hartt. Chino Amobi, Lewis Baltz, Kwame Brathwaite, Lynne Cohen, Andrew Esiebo, Rick Farin, David Hartt, Joanne Petit-Frére, Gabriella Torres-Ferrer, Wilmer Wilson IV and Christopher Wool. Tere will be an opening reception Saturday, July 13 from 6-8pm. Te opening reception will be followed by a conversation between David Hartt and musician, songwriter and producer Van Dyke Parks at 8pm. A music and video performance by Tomory Dodge and Cheryl Cambras will then follow the conversation. At the beginning of the flm Blade Runner (1982) - following the expository opening crawl - a place and date fash briefy onto screen: Los Angeles, November, 2019. Ten fade-up with a burst of fames spewing forth from the Hades landscape of an oil refnery that blends indiscernibly with the city as a fying craft streams off toward illuminated twin pyramids on the horizon. Ridley Scott speaks of fying into Manhattan in a helicopter and landing on the Pan Am building as 2712 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90034 (310) 559-0100 [email protected] Philip Martin Gallery inspiration for the dense polluted megalopolis that appears in the movie. “We used to drift in over the city, very close to the buildings, and it felt like the way of the future.” William Gibson, whose early noir/ science fction shares thematic and textural similarities with the flm has said that “Te future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.” Te myths of the future have arrived, they’re just very different looking and their analog is someplace else. -
Subverting Or Reasserting? Westworld (2016-) As an Ambiguous Critical Allegory of Gender Struggles
#24 SUBVERTING OR REASSERTING? WESTWORLD (2016-) AS AN AMBIGUOUS CRITICAL ALLEGORY OF GENDER STRUGGLES Miguel Sebastián-Martín Universidad de Salamanca Ilustración || Isela Leduc Artículo || Recibido: 19/07/2020 | Apto Comité Científico: 04/11/2020 | Publicado: 01/2021 DOI: 10.1344/452f.2021.24.9 [email protected] Licencia || Reconocimiento-No comercial-Sin obras derivadas 3.0 License 129 Resumen || Este artículo analiza las tres primeras temporadas de la serie de HBO Westworld (2016-2020), considerándolas una alegoría crítica de las relaciones de género. Se presta especial atención a la construcción autorreflexiva de sus mundos de ciencia ficción y a dos de los arcos narrativos de los personajes principales, las androides femeninas (o ginoides) Dolores y Maeve. Más específicamente, el ensayo consiste en un examen dialéctico de las ambigüedades narrativas de la serie, por lo que su argumento es doble. Por un lado, se argumenta que Westworld está clara y conscientemente construida como una alegoría crítica y que, como tal, sus mundos de ciencia ficción escenifican luchas sociales reales (principalmente, aquellas entre géneros) para narrar posteriormente su (intento) de derrocamiento. Por otro lado, en contra de esta interpretación crítico-alegórica, pero completándola, también se argumenta que Westworld no es una narrativa inequívocamente crítica y que, si vamos a examinar sus potenciales alegóricos, debemos considerar también cómo su realización puede ser obstaculizada y/o contradicha por ciertas ambigüedades narrativas. Palabras clave || Westworld | Ciencia ficción | Metaficción | Alegoría crítica | Género Abstract || This article analyses the first three seasons of HBO’s Westworld (2016-2020) by considering them a critical allegory of gender relations. In so doing, the text pays special attention to the self-reflexive construction of its SF worlds, and to two of the main characters’ arcs, the female androids (or gynoids) Dolores and Maeve. -
Humanity and Heroism in Blade Runner 2049 Ridley
Through Galatea’s Eyes: Humanity and Heroism in Blade Runner 2049 Ridley Scott’s 1982 Blade Runner depicts a futuristic world, where sophisticated androids called replicants, following a replicant rebellion, are being tracked down and “retired” by officers known as “blade runners.” The film raises questions about what it means to be human and memories as social conditioning. In the sequel, Blade Runner 2049, director Denis Villeneuve continues to probe similar questions, including what gives humans inalienable worth and at what point post-humans participate in this worth. 2049 follows the story of a blade runner named K, who is among the model of replicants designed to be more obedient. Various clues cause K to suspect he may have been born naturally as opposed to manufactured. Themes from the Pinocchio story are interwoven in K’s quest to discover if he is, in fact, a “real boy.” At its core Pinocchio is a Pygmalion story from the creature’s point of view. It is apt then that most of 2049 revolves around replicants, with humans as the supporting characters. By reading K through multiple mythological figures, including Pygmalion, Telemachus, and Oedipus, this paper will examine three hallmarks of humanity suggested by Villeneuve’s film: natural birth, memory, and self-sacrifice. These three qualities mark the stages of a human life but particularly a mythological hero’s life. Ultimately, only one of these can truly be said to apply to K, but it will be sufficient for rendering him a “real boy” nonetheless. Although Pinocchio stories are told from the creatures’ point of view, they are still based on what human authors project onto the creature. -
Westworld (2016-): a Transhuman Nightmare Or the Advancement of Posthumanism?
Cyborgs vs Humans in Westworld (2016-): A Transhuman Nightmare or the Advancement of Posthumanism? Izarbe Martín Gracia S2572737 Supervisor: Dr. E. J. van Leeuwen Second Reader: Prof. dr. P. T. M. G. Liebregts Master Thesis English Literature and Culture Leiden University March 2021 1 Table of Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter One. Theoretical Framework: ............................................................................. 8 Transhumanism: The Enhancement of Human Intellect and Physiology ............... 9 Posthumanism: The Deconstruction of the Human .............................................. 14 Donna Haraway: The Cyborg and The Post-dualistic Society.............................. 18 The Western .......................................................................................................... 20 Chapter Two. Sleep Mode .............................................................................................. 23 Section A. The Minds Behind the Project ............................................................. 24 Section B. Programming the Human Software ..................................................... 32 Chapter Three. Awakening ............................................................................................. 41 Section A. Insurrection at the Lab: Maeve and her Administrator Privileges ...... 43 Section B. The Search for Answers: Dolores....................................................... -
The Emancipatory Politics of Westworld (2016-)
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE QUESTIONING THE NATURE OF REALITY: THE EMANCIPATORY POLITICS OF WESTWORLD (2016-) A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By MORGAN JONES Norman, Oklahoma 2021 QUESTIONING THE NATURE OF REALITY: THE EMANCIPATORY POLITICS OF WESTWORLD (2016-) A THESIS APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY BY THE COMMITTEE CONSISTING OF Dr. Laurel Smith, Chair Dr. Alison Fields Dr. Darren Purcell © Copyright by MORGAN JONES 2021 All Rights Reserved iv Acknowledgements I’d like to extend thanks to my thesis advisor, Dr. Laurel Smith, for letting me take this short final paper from Gender & Environment and turn it into a fully-fledged Master’s thesis. She has always taken this project seriously, even when I doubted its value (as I often did). Her extensive notes have been invaluable in crafting this document into what it is today. I would also like to thank Dr. Darren Purcell and Dr. Alison Fields who both serve on my advisory committee. The classes I have taken with them helped my conceptualization of what this thesis could be. I hope that their influence is visible in this paper. Another extension of gratitude goes to Dr. Harriet Hawkins for introducing me to geographical aesthetics, and for getting coffee with me in London when her work was the grounding force in my undergraduate capstone. I think it is absolutely necessary to thank my roommate, Holden Dempsey, and my dog, Olive, for being a stellar support system when I was at my most fragile. -
Blade Runner and the Archiving of Memory and Identity Michael K
University of Wollongong Research Online Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) - Papers Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) 2018 Catching 'tears in the rain': Blade Runner and the archiving of memory and identity Michael K. Organ University of Wollongong, [email protected] Susan Jones University of Wollongong, [email protected] Anthony M. Rice University of Wollongong, [email protected] Grant C. White University of Wollongong, [email protected] Publication Details Organ, M., Jones, S., Rice, A. & White, G. 2018, 'Catching 'tears in the rain': Blade Runner and the archiving of memory and identity', Australian Society of Archivists Conference: Archives in a Blade Runner Age: Identity & Memory, Evidence & Accountability, pp. 1-24. Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Catching 'tears in the rain': Blade Runner and the archiving of memory and identity Abstract Blade Runner presents the ultimate archival dilemma: to preserve or "retire" (dispose of) a sentient record. Beneath the Hollywood love story lays a dystopian view of the future wherein the line between human and humanoid is blurred through the existence of biorobotic androids known as replicants. Beyond this, new gadgets, systems and technologies dazzle in futuristic, though familiar, landscapes. And what do replicants, being human, EMP blackouts and origami have to do with archives? Answers reside in their present and possible relation to aspects of the world of the archivist in the modern era, as evidenced through technological innovation, the limitations and inherent fragility of electronic records, consideration of what is worth saving, and issues of identity.