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1

Ambiguous Bodies, Biopower and the Ideologies of Science Fiction

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Flynn S., University of the Arts L., Dr. Susan Flynn lectures in media and cultural studies at the University of the Arts L.

Analyses/Rereadings/Theories: A Journal Devoted to Literature, Film and Theatre

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2016

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vol. 4

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issue 1

EN

Contemporary Hollywood film narrates the fear of monstrous science; attending to the modulations of medicine, capital and the body. The filmic body is employed to illustrate the power of the new biotechnologies to create and sustain life and the new sets of social relations which are a consequence of the marriage of capital and medicine. In the Hollywood film, persons who do not fit the ideal healthy persona have a moral duty to pursue repair and transformation. Constructed as inherently lacking, the unhealthy body becomes a repository for social anxieties about control and vulnerability, vis-à-vis the enormous and exponentially expanding science and technology fields. Hierarchies of embodiment are played out on the Big Screen as imperfect bodies are excluded from public life, power and status and urged to strive for “optimization”. Late modern societies present the possibility of new technologies which have the potential to radicalize bodies. However, these potential modulations are ultimately derived from a set of ideologies around the body and the power of the individual to enact an individualized solution. Contemporary narratives circulate around ownership of capital and the price of “repair.” This marriage of science and capital in popular narratives may be indicative of concerns for our future, as the power to make and repair life seems to rest increasingly in the hands of an elite.

2

Matrix jako cykl intertekstualny

86%

Franke A.

Przegląd Humanistyczny

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2015

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vol. 59(3 (450))

145-153

PL

The text is an attempt to present lesser-known plot interpretations of the Matrix series (both film trilogy and anime Animatrix) movies. The author uses various research perspectives (religio-mystical, political and socio-economic ones) to present possible ways of interpretation of particular motifs and characters, referring among others to mystical beliefs, Gnostic ideas and the tradition of initiation novel, but also to contemporary popular culture regarding films and science fiction novels. The analysis contains as well socio-political issues touched upon in the movie; moreover on the example of Anonymous Group activities the author reveals the way Matrix series still influences contemporary culture.

3

Kino trzeciej kultury. Nowe inspiracje współczesnego amerykańskiego science fiction

86%

Andrzej G.

Kwartalnik Filmowy

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2016

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issue 93-94 Kino amerykańskie

100-113

PL

Przez ostatnią dekadę amerykańskie kino science fiction przeszło drastyczną zmianę konceptualną. Ekspansja wysokobudżetowych adaptacji komiksów superbohaterskich doprowadziła w efekcie do konieczności tematycznej i formalnej redefinicji samego gatunku. Przełomowe dokonania współczesnej nauki okazały się świeżym punktem odniesienia dla filmowców północnoamerykańskich. Czerpiąc inspirację od współczesnych popularyzatorów nauki działających pod egidą Trzeciej Kultury, starali się podejmować w swoich dziełach problematykę odnoszącą się do bieżących dyskusji fizyków, filozofów i neurobiologów. Autor stara się wyodrębnić główne wyróżniki amerykańskiej kinematografii Trzeciej Kultury oraz prześledzić istotne intelektualne koncepcje w nich zawarte.

EN

Over the last decade American science fiction cinema underwent a drastic conceptual change.The expansion of big-budget adaptation of super hero comic books led to the need for thematic and formal redefinition of the genre itself. Groundbreaking achievements of modern science proved to be a fresh point of reference for North American filmmakers. Drawing inspiration from contemporary science popularizers working under the aegis of the Third Culture, filmmakers tried to consider in their works issues relating to the ongoing discussions of physicists, philosophers and neuroscientists. The author tries to extract the main distinguishing features of American cine - ma of the Third Culture and track important intellectual concepts contained therein.

4

Do Androids Have Nightmares About Electric Sheep? Science Fiction Portrayals of Trauma Manifestations in the Posthuman Subject in Frankenstein, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and ‘Nine Lives’

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Olsen I. M., Okuń-Jaśkowiak A., Głaz A., Kniaź-Hunek L., Bendrat A., Prażmo E., Terejko P., Szczypa P., Czemiel G., Antoszek E., Galant J., Komsta M., Frelik E., Waszkiewicz A., Oleszczuk A., Waszkiewicz A., Okuń-Jaśkowiak A.

New Horizons in English Studies

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2018

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issue 3

EN

This essay draws upon the contention that posthuman subjects, such as androids, clones, and robots, can experience psychological trauma. The aim of the paper is to examine this notion in three science fiction texts: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and Ursula Le Guin’s short story ‘Nine Lives’. What these narratives illustrate is that trauma manifestations contribute to a disruption of ontological frameworks that regard categories such as ‘human’ and ‘non-human’ as permanent and distinct. As a result, it might be argued that these texts undermine anthropocentrism and invite a reconceptualising around the term ‘human’, but also around trauma as an experience that is conventionally understood as a primarily human experience. Science fiction is thereby a significant genre when it comes to debunking anthropocentric perspectives. Using posthuman theory and trauma studies, I argue here that these three texts portray their respective posthuman subjects as trauma victims, and further that they demonstrate how the experience of trauma carries with it the potential to bridge the gap between human and posthuman through the act of bearing witness to one another’s trauma.

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1 Analyses/Rereadings/Theories: A Journal Devoted to Literature, Film and Theatre

1 Kwartalnik Filmowy

1 New Horizons in English Studies

1 Przegląd Humanistyczny

1 Andrzej G.

1 Antoszek E.

1 Bendrat A.

1 Czemiel G.

1 Dr. Susan Flynn lectures in media and cultural studies at the University of the Arts L.

1 Flynn S.

1 Franke A.

1 Frelik E.

1 Galant J.

1 Głaz A.

1 Kniaź-Hunek L.

1 Komsta M.

1 Okuń-Jaśkowiak A.

1 Oleszczuk A.

1 Olsen I. M.

1 Prażmo E.

1 Szczypa P.

1 Terejko P.

1 University of the Arts L.

1 Waszkiewicz A.

1 2018

2 2016

1 2015

Ambiguous Bodies, Biopower and the Ideologies of Science Fiction

Matrix jako cykl intertekstualny

Kino trzeciej kultury. Nowe inspiracje współczesnego amerykańskiego science fiction

Do Androids Have Nightmares About Electric Sheep? Science Fiction Portrayals of Trauma Manifestations in the Posthuman Subject in Frankenstein, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and ‘Nine Lives’