Dylan phelan | University College Cork (original) (raw)
Papers by Dylan phelan
Moveable type, Nov 18, 2022
Fantastika, 2023
Science Fiction (SF) cinema abounds with depictions of the posthuman. While the term posthuman en... more Science Fiction (SF) cinema abounds with depictions of the posthuman. While the term posthuman encompasses a wide array of cyborgs, Artificial Intelligence and androids, the posthuman of SF cinema has largely been portrayed as the female-coded gynoid. In posthuman theory, both Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti describe the posthuman disrupts humanistic hierarchies, due to its liminal existence between human and machine. As a result, the posthuman offers a liberatory potential for marginalised groups. Despite this, the filmic treatment of the posthuman often fails to capture this potential, instead portraying the posthuman in ways which uphold racism and misogyny, through objectification and sexualisation. However, this stereotypical portrayal has been challenged in recent years. Indeed, as cultural attitudes have grown increasingly distasteful of such blatant Othering, particularly over the last decade, recent trends in SF cinema have seen an attempt to refrain from such practices. In theory, this allows for portrayals of the posthuman which remain true to its theoretical potential. Indeed, both Spike Jonze’s Her (2013) and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2014) feature portrayals of female-coded posthumans which challenge the norm of posthuman objectification, by fundamentally altering the expected subject/object relationship of visual narratives. However, due to the conventions of genre fiction, these more recent portrayals remain limited by the conventions of both genre and medium. Indeed, while evoking the tropes of objectification and sexualisation, albeit in an attempt to subvert them, the evocation of these tropes appears to reimpose the restrictive language of psychoanalysis. I incorporate a theoretical framework of posthuman theory from Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti, as well as the schizoanalytic theory of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Doing so, I examine to what degree Her and Ex Machina can accurately portray the liberatory potential of the posthuman while also engaging the tropes of filmic Othering.
The Movable Type, 2022
In both Blade Runner and Westworld, the posthuman subjects appear as humanoid androids or cyborgs... more In both Blade Runner and Westworld, the posthuman subjects appear as humanoid androids or cyborgs and blur the lines between human and technology. This degree of liminality grants the posthuman an inherent ability to challenge the legitimacy of hierarchical binaries. The prominent posthumanist, Donna Haraway, problematises these binaries of anthropocentric thought, stating ‘the relation between organism and machine has been a border war’. Similarly, Rosi Braidotti describes how a posthuman subject’s liminality — that is, their existence between the binaries of human and machine — grants them an inherent ability to challenge and destabilise the hierarchical binaries of anthropocentric epistemology. Their subjectivity is no longer defined in opposition to another but is instead ‘an affirmative bond that locates the subject in the flow of relations with multiple others’. Despite this liberatory potential, filmic treatments of the posthuman often portrays them as unemotional or unfeeling, thereby denying them any association with humanity and re-establishing the binary division between human and machine.
Moveable type, Nov 18, 2022
Fantastika, 2023
Science Fiction (SF) cinema abounds with depictions of the posthuman. While the term posthuman en... more Science Fiction (SF) cinema abounds with depictions of the posthuman. While the term posthuman encompasses a wide array of cyborgs, Artificial Intelligence and androids, the posthuman of SF cinema has largely been portrayed as the female-coded gynoid. In posthuman theory, both Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti describe the posthuman disrupts humanistic hierarchies, due to its liminal existence between human and machine. As a result, the posthuman offers a liberatory potential for marginalised groups. Despite this, the filmic treatment of the posthuman often fails to capture this potential, instead portraying the posthuman in ways which uphold racism and misogyny, through objectification and sexualisation. However, this stereotypical portrayal has been challenged in recent years. Indeed, as cultural attitudes have grown increasingly distasteful of such blatant Othering, particularly over the last decade, recent trends in SF cinema have seen an attempt to refrain from such practices. In theory, this allows for portrayals of the posthuman which remain true to its theoretical potential. Indeed, both Spike Jonze’s Her (2013) and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2014) feature portrayals of female-coded posthumans which challenge the norm of posthuman objectification, by fundamentally altering the expected subject/object relationship of visual narratives. However, due to the conventions of genre fiction, these more recent portrayals remain limited by the conventions of both genre and medium. Indeed, while evoking the tropes of objectification and sexualisation, albeit in an attempt to subvert them, the evocation of these tropes appears to reimpose the restrictive language of psychoanalysis. I incorporate a theoretical framework of posthuman theory from Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti, as well as the schizoanalytic theory of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Doing so, I examine to what degree Her and Ex Machina can accurately portray the liberatory potential of the posthuman while also engaging the tropes of filmic Othering.
The Movable Type, 2022
In both Blade Runner and Westworld, the posthuman subjects appear as humanoid androids or cyborgs... more In both Blade Runner and Westworld, the posthuman subjects appear as humanoid androids or cyborgs and blur the lines between human and technology. This degree of liminality grants the posthuman an inherent ability to challenge the legitimacy of hierarchical binaries. The prominent posthumanist, Donna Haraway, problematises these binaries of anthropocentric thought, stating ‘the relation between organism and machine has been a border war’. Similarly, Rosi Braidotti describes how a posthuman subject’s liminality — that is, their existence between the binaries of human and machine — grants them an inherent ability to challenge and destabilise the hierarchical binaries of anthropocentric epistemology. Their subjectivity is no longer defined in opposition to another but is instead ‘an affirmative bond that locates the subject in the flow of relations with multiple others’. Despite this liberatory potential, filmic treatments of the posthuman often portrays them as unemotional or unfeeling, thereby denying them any association with humanity and re-establishing the binary division between human and machine.