Human Cloning in Film: Horror, Ambivalence, Hope

O’Riordan, Kate

doi:10.1080/09505430802062919

Cited by 15 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Despite being used by Monica as no more than a substitute for her comatose son, David has loved her blindly and unconditionally, and his only fear is that of not being loved by Monica. This appeals to the fear of cloning and, mostly, being replaced, given that the context of cloning in American cinematography alternates between horror and ambivalence, and sometimes hope (O'Riordan, 2008). Even before the release of A.I., "human cloning has been traditionally embedded in film through a set of images and stories dealing with horror, abjection, monstrosity and the uncanny" (O'Riordan, 2008).…”

Section: David: Android or Post-human?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This appeals to the fear of cloning and, mostly, being replaced, given that the context of cloning in American cinematography alternates between horror and ambivalence, and sometimes hope (O'Riordan, 2008). Even before the release of A.I., "human cloning has been traditionally embedded in film through a set of images and stories dealing with horror, abjection, monstrosity and the uncanny" (O'Riordan, 2008). Although David is not a human clone in the proper meaning of the word, he becomes a "visual signifier for cloning, " as the twin of Professor Hobby's late son (O'Riordan, 2008).…”

Section: David: Android or Post-human?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even before the release of A.I., "human cloning has been traditionally embedded in film through a set of images and stories dealing with horror, abjection, monstrosity and the uncanny" (O'Riordan, 2008). Although David is not a human clone in the proper meaning of the word, he becomes a "visual signifier for cloning, " as the twin of Professor Hobby's late son (O'Riordan, 2008).…”

Section: David: Android or Post-human?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mirroring Cultural Fear, Anxiety and Dystopia in American Cinematography: The Movie “A.I.” (2001)

Pelea

2022

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Mirroring Cultural Fear, Anxiety and Dystopia in American Cinematography: The Movie A.I. (2001)Through this essay, we aim to provide a sociological and cultural analysis of how the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence, directed by Steven Spielberg, explores the subconscious and culturally specific Western fear of humanoid robots. While the background of the story tackles the problematics of the multilevel emotional relationship between robots and humans, the movie’s dystopian and apocalyptic discourse feeds the Western public’s increasing technophobia, by encompassing “fear” in its philosophical, social and cultural dimensions: “the loss of humanity,” “the imminence of disaster,” and “the apocalyptic and irreversible destruction of Earth.”Moreover, the film goes beyond the mere depiction of technophobia while subtly addressing some worldwide contemporary problems of high interest, such as pollution, starvation, overpopulation, or nature’s destruction on a global scale. In this eschatological, hopeless and post-human scenario, the depiction of David as a robot child expressing his eternal love for his distant adoptive human parents metaphorically illustrates the continuous altering of traditional human kinship, robotization, and alienation of the human race, which is on the verge of being enslaved by the technological wrath. However, David makes an allegorical transition from symbolizing the fearful Otherness to bringing the redemption of humanity’s vestige and marking the survival of the human species, albeit in a radically altered form: He becomes “the new human.” Reflectând frica de natură culturală, anxietatea și distopia în cinematografia americană: filmul A.I. (2001) În acest eseu vom încerca să inițiem o analiză culturală și sociologică a modului în care filmul “A.I. Inteligență Artificială” de Steven Spielberg exploră frica de natură culturală și subconștientă, tipic vestică, față de roboții umanoizi. La nivel principial, narațiunea face referire la problematica relației emoționale și multifațetate dintre oameni și roboți, iar discursul apocaliptic și distopic al filmului hrănește tehnofobia publicului occidental, reflectând și cuprinzând frica în dimensiunile sale culturale, sociale și filozofice: “pierderea umanității”, “iminența dezastrului” și “distrugerea ireversibilă și apocaliptică a Pământului”.Mai mult, filmul depășește limitele descriptive ale tehnofobiei, adresând subtil și alte probleme contemporane de interes global precum poluarea, foametea, suprapopularea sau distrugerea naturii pe o scală planetară. În acest scenariu escatologic și lipsit de speranță, prezența și descrierea lui David asemeni unui copil robot care își exprimă dragostea imuabilă față de părinții săi umani, adoptivi, dar distanți, ilustrează metaforic alterarea perpetuă a relațiilor familiale tradiționale, așadar robotizarea și alienarea acestei rase umane pe punctul de a se converti în sclavul mirajului tehnologic. Cu toate acestea, David parcurge o tranziție alegorică de la a reprezenta simbolul Celuilalt, de care ne este frică, la a fi Cel care aduce izbăvirea omenirii și marchează, într-o formă nonconformistă, supraviețuirea speciei umane: el devine “noul om”. Strach kulturowy. Lęk i dystopia w kinematografii amerykańskiej. Film A.I. (2001) W niniejszym eseju podejmuję próbę analizy kulturowej i socjologicznej sposobu w jaki film A.I. Sztuczna inteligencja Stevena Spielberga wykorzystuje temat typowego dla Zachodu, kulturowego i podświadomego strachu przed robotami o ludzkich kształtach. Narracja filmowa zasadniczo odwołuje się do kwestii wielowymiarowych relacji emocjonalnych pomiędzy ludzkimi robotami, zaś proponowany apokaliptyczny i dystopijny dyskurs podsyca technofobię zachodniej widowni, ukazując strach w jego wymiarze kulturowym, społecznym i filozoficznym: „zatracenie człowieczeństwa”, „nieuchronność katastrofy” i „nieuniknione zniszczenie Ziemi o charakterze apokalipsy”.Co więcej, film wykracza poza granice opisowe technofobii, nawiązując umiejętnie do globalnych problemów współczesnego świata, takich jak: zanieczyszczenie środowiska, klęski głodu, przeludnienie czy degradacja przyrody w skali planetarnej. W tym eschatologicznym i pozbawionym nadziei scenariuszu postać Davida sportretowanego jako dziecko-robot, które niezmiennie deklaruje swoją miłość do ludzkich – adopcyjnych i wstrzemięźliwych – rodziców, jest metaforyczną ilustracją postępującego rozkładu więzi rodzinnych, robotyzacji i alienacji rasy ludzkiej, będącej o krok od tego, by stała się niewolnikiem technologicznego złudzenia. Mimo tych wszystkich zagrożeń David przeżywa alegoryczną przemianę: z symboliczego, budzącego strach Obcego zamienia się w kogoś niosącego ratunek ludzkości i zapewniającego, na sposób nonkonformistyczny, przetrwanie gatunku ludzkiego – staje się „nowym człowiekiem”.

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Section: David: Android or Post-human?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: David: Android or Post-human?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: David: Android or Post-human?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mirroring Cultural Fear, Anxiety and Dystopia in American Cinematography: The Movie “A.I.” (2001)

Pelea

2022

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“…u popularnoj kulturi u posljednjih dvadesetak godina (Badmington, 2005;Bradford i dr., 2008). Tu promjenu Kate O'Riordan označava kao prijelaz od horora, dvojbenosti, do poželjnosti i nade (O'Riordan, 2008). Čini se kako popularnom kulturom (filmovi, serije, knjige i sl.)…”

Section: Zaključakunclassified

Kiborzi i »djeca po narudžbi« 2.0: prihvaćenost koncepcija poslijeljudskog života u hrvatskom društvu

Nikodem

Brstilo

2012

rzs

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Razvoj suvremene biotehnologije i bioznanosti otvara mnoge mogućnosti, pitanja i prijepore, ne samo u smislu općih društvenih, kulturnih i ekonomskih promjena, nego i u smislu promjena u izgradnji ljudskog identiteta i kriterija određivanja samoga ljudskog bića. U teorijskom smislu rad se temelji na teorijskim stajalištima posthumanizma, transhumanizma i biokonzervativizma. U empirijskom smislu rad se temelji na rezultatima empirijskog istraživanja provedenog 2009. godine na reprezentativnom uzorku punoljetnog stanovništva Hrvatske (N = 1000). U radu se analiziraju dvije koncepcije poslijeljudskog života: »kiborg« i »dijete po narudžbi«. Opća hipoteza rada jest da će spomenute koncepcije poslijeljudskog života, s obzirom na pretpostavljenu tradicionalnost sociokulturnog konteksta hrvatskog društva, biti prihvaćene tek u manjoj mjeri. Osim toga, u radu se postavlja i više radnih hipoteza. Dobiveni rezultati potvrđuju opću hipotezu rada, dok dio radnih hipoteza nije potvrđen.

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“…In recent years, particularly through the work of poststructuralist and/or feminist theorists, the genre of science fi ction fi lm (and also that of horror) has been described as the paradigmatic form of refl exive and destabilizing cultural experiences (Creed, 1993;McGuigan, 1999: 80-85;Dimitrakaki and Tsiantis, 2002;O'Riordan, 2008). Such a status is designated by its subject matter, most especially the recurring references to a dystopian future, alien life forms, apocalyptic scenarios and temporal dislocations.…”

Section: Hyperrealities Of 'Risk'mentioning

confidence: 99%

The future(s) of risk: Barthes and Baudrillard go to Hollywood

Campbell

2010

Crime, Media, Culture

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Hollywood cinema is rarely acknowledged as an important counterpublic sphere which not only works to stimulate a critical and inclusive dialogue on the nature of risk technologies, but which also facilitates a deliberative engagement with the politics and ethics of risk management. And yet, it is commonplace for the futuristic films of the science fiction genre to take seriously the implications to ‘justice’ of intensified surveillance in liberal democratic societies faced with different kinds of risk. Filmic representations of ‘imagined’ technologies for responding to crime, especially those based on identificatory and predictive capacity, are typified in box office successes, such as Minority Report (2002), Paycheck (2003) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). These films may (simply) be entertaining as ‘action-packed’ science fiction thrillers. But they also create a Baudrillardian hyperreality which allows us to glimpse alternative frameworks of risk management which, ambiguously, reflect both the horror and the hope for systems of ‘justice’, law enforcement and punishment in a ‘risk society’. Through an analysis of these films, and drawing on Barthes’s notions of jouissance and the enigmatic, this paper explores the critical, subversive and disruptive possibilities of the simulated worlds of ‘Hollywood risk management’, paying particular attention to how they work to destabilize and scrutinize the conceptual scope and empirical instantiation of ‘risk’ as well as challenge its ethico-political meaning in contemporary life.

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Human Cloning in Film: Horror, Ambivalence, Hope

Cited by 15 publications

References 22 publications

Mirroring Cultural Fear, Anxiety and Dystopia in American Cinematography: The Movie “A.I.” (2001)

Mirroring Cultural Fear, Anxiety and Dystopia in American Cinematography: The Movie “A.I.” (2001)

Kiborzi i »djeca po narudžbi« 2.0: prihvaćenost koncepcija poslijeljudskog života u hrvatskom društvu

The future(s) of risk: Barthes and Baudrillard go to Hollywood

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