Being Bionic: The World of TV Cyborgs

ISBN-13: 9781784536480 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 256 str.

Bronwen Calvert

Opis

Technologically-enhanced human bodies can be the stuff of dreams, but also of nightmares. The contradictions and complexities of the cyborg therefore hold particular appeal to programme makers of dramatic TV narratives. Bronwen Calvert examines the uses and representations of the cyborg in this ground-breaking text, by looking at its frequent appearance in a wide variety of popular and cult shows: from the iconic Daleks of Doctor Who and bionic female empowerment in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, to the duality of humanoid and distinctly robotic cyborgs in Battlestar Galactica. In doing so, she reveals how television's defining traits shape our experience of cyborgs and help us as viewers to question contemporary issues such as surveillance and terrorism, as well as the function of simulation and ultimately what it means to be human.

Spis treści

Chapter 1: Introduction: Troubled Boundaries and Transformative CyborgsChapter 2: Exterminate, Upgrade: Doctor WhoChapter 3: Resistance, Assimilation and the Collective: Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: VoyagerChapter 4: Toasters and Replicas: Battlestar GalacticaChapter 5: Cyborg Embodiment and Virtuality, 'Between Life and Death': Caprica Chapter 6: The Cyborg As Action Hero: Bionic Woman Chapter 7: Us and Them: Terminator: The Sarah Connor ChroniclesChapter 8: Hacking the System: DollhouseChapter 9: Complete Control: FringeConclusion: Cyborg Futures

O autorze

Bronwen Calvert is Associate Lecturer at the Open University in the North of England.