Superbodies : between freedom and subjugation

In a time where technology practically develops itself, it is up to us to define and re-define our bodies. When technology successfully melds with biology, cyborgs exist – not only as fictitious beings, but also within our own reality as well. Undoubtedly, the cyborg conjures up various fantastic im...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pang, Natalie
Other Authors: Sean Jeffrey Miller
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/46390
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author Pang, Natalie
author2 Sean Jeffrey Miller
author_facet Sean Jeffrey Miller
Pang, Natalie
author_sort Pang, Natalie
collection NTU
description In a time where technology practically develops itself, it is up to us to define and re-define our bodies. When technology successfully melds with biology, cyborgs exist – not only as fictitious beings, but also within our own reality as well. Undoubtedly, the cyborg conjures up various fantastic images in the minds – they can be human-like and organic like the replicants in Blade Runner, or they can be mechanical like in Ghost in the Shell. However, Donna Haraway argues that the cyborg is not merely a simple “hybrid of machine and organism” (149), but a “kind of disassembled and resembled, postmodern collective and personal self” (163). Also more importantly, it also introduces a post-human, post-gendered idea of a cyborg that liberates the woman who is chained to identity politics. The Harawayan cyborg is at the same time, a promise for and a threat to the liberation of the woman. This essay will aim to show how the body can be liberated and yet at the same time still be bound by patriarchy, using the cyborg and the human in Mamoru Oshii’s Gōsuto In Za Sheru (1995, Ghost in the Shell) and Ryu Murakami’s Ōdishon (1999, Audition) respectively.
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spelling ntu-10356/463902019-12-10T14:16:39Z Superbodies : between freedom and subjugation Pang, Natalie Sean Jeffrey Miller School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films In a time where technology practically develops itself, it is up to us to define and re-define our bodies. When technology successfully melds with biology, cyborgs exist – not only as fictitious beings, but also within our own reality as well. Undoubtedly, the cyborg conjures up various fantastic images in the minds – they can be human-like and organic like the replicants in Blade Runner, or they can be mechanical like in Ghost in the Shell. However, Donna Haraway argues that the cyborg is not merely a simple “hybrid of machine and organism” (149), but a “kind of disassembled and resembled, postmodern collective and personal self” (163). Also more importantly, it also introduces a post-human, post-gendered idea of a cyborg that liberates the woman who is chained to identity politics. The Harawayan cyborg is at the same time, a promise for and a threat to the liberation of the woman. This essay will aim to show how the body can be liberated and yet at the same time still be bound by patriarchy, using the cyborg and the human in Mamoru Oshii’s Gōsuto In Za Sheru (1995, Ghost in the Shell) and Ryu Murakami’s Ōdishon (1999, Audition) respectively. Bachelor of Arts 2011-12-05T08:01:36Z 2011-12-05T08:01:36Z 2011 2011 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/46390 en Nanyang Technological University 30 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English
DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films
Pang, Natalie
Superbodies : between freedom and subjugation
title Superbodies : between freedom and subjugation
title_full Superbodies : between freedom and subjugation
title_fullStr Superbodies : between freedom and subjugation
title_full_unstemmed Superbodies : between freedom and subjugation
title_short Superbodies : between freedom and subjugation
title_sort superbodies between freedom and subjugation
topic DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English
DRNTU::Social sciences::Mass media::Broadcasting::Motion pictures and films
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/46390
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