Kenji Leung, 10461362

3. If science fiction is a genre that imagines our future, what happens to gender and race?

To a larger extant, science fiction is an imagination of future. Although it does not real, it shows the expectation of human. As we can see that, there are many cyborgs in the future life of science fiction. In the science fiction, cyborgs are still made by human, but they are having their mind. If they have their mind, how do they define themselves on gender and race? Moreover, if a human using mechanical body is he or she remains he or she? If there are no national bloods, what will they belong to? In science fiction, we can see two views; having or have not concept on gender and race.

1. Pimley Daniel, Cyborg Futures: Cyborgs, Cyberpunk and the future of the body, 15-3-2011.

http://www.pimley.net/documents/cyborgfutures.pdf

To divide how the science fiction show the changes on gender and race in the future. Gender is a characteristic of person. Biologically, sexual organs are also one of the methods to make a divide on gender. Moreover, we are also having different expectations on males and females. If a person who are masculinity, we will say he is male. It will be the same if people who are femininity. In the reality life, we only need to divide males and females. But in the science fiction, there are many cyborgs in the society. Those cyborgs are made by human. Biologically, they have not sexual organs. They are not masculinity or even femininity. But as Daniel Pimley finally says, the cyborg offers us hope not as a ‘thing’, but as a ‘he’ or a ‘she’. As a result, they are not one of the genders in our traditional concept.

2. Bell David, Barbara M. Kennedy, The cybercultures reader, chapter 29, Sadie Plant, Coming across the future. 15-3-2011.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MKtr_svfY1kC&oi=fnd&pg=PA291&dq=cyborg+race+gender&ots=9eryoQY7EG&sig=ullXP2HO0Y4__wxnZIzusIXs8vM#v=onepage&q=cyborg%20race%20gender&f=false

Race is a group with same nationality, culture, language, or even religion. The people who are same race, they will group together or overthrow the original authority usually. Similar with gender, those cyborgs are made by human; which nations are they belong to. Different with human, race is born. It base on blood and lineage. We cannot choose our race because of blood and lineage. But cyborgs do not have their blood and lineage, they are machines only. As Sadie Plant said, “The cyborg has no history, but that of the human is rewritten as its past.” If the cyborgs do not have their own mind, they belong to their owner. If they have their emotion, they belong to themselves like many science fictions.

3. A Critical Analysis of Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell, 6-3-2008, 12-3-2011.

http://jprokay.blogspot.com/2008/03/critical-analysis-of-mamoru-oshiis.html

 

“Ghost in the Shell” is a very famous Japanese cartoon in Asia. “Ghost” represents the soul of human, and “Shell” means the body which made by machine. The story of “Ghost in the Shell” happens in 2030. There have been many biochemical people and network a new type of hacker crime so directly under the Prime Minister set up the “Public Class Nine” to fight against crime. In the story of “Ghost in the Shell”, science and technology is better than now. At that time technology has advanced most of the human body can be replaced with chemical and biological body, and buried in the brain through the lines, human consciousness can enter the digital network. The main character of the story, Kusanagi is filled with artificial limbs since childhood. Not only the main character; the members of “Public Class Nine” are also filled with artificial limbs. But different of the characters are having their own mind on gender. Like Kusanagi, she is not only look like female, having sexy body sharp, long hair; but also having personal identity. She knows she is Japanese and she is used to protect Japanese society. But it is possibly because she is still having human brain and having her own mind. There are many scenes showing her sexy body sharp which focus on her buttocks and breasts. Similar with the writer said, “Kusanagi seems to still be attached to certain gender stereotypes and ideals”. Even the body of Kusanagi is machine, she was still considered as a female. And it is the first kind of science fiction view on gender and race.

4. Aitken Joan E., The role of language and gender in The Transformers; An analysis of message in cartoon for children, 10-1986, 12-3-2011, http://eric.ed.gov:80/PDFS/ED293187.pdf

Different with “Ghost in the Shell”, “Transformer” is another kind of cyborgs in the science fiction. Transformers is not a reformed human, they are aliens with high technology. They have they own place to live. To find new resources, they come to earth. The “Transformers” are also different with other cyborys, they have not smooth skin. All the machines are show out. But same as the author think, “The Transformers uses nearly all male characters”. Even they are having males’ sound. In the movie version “Transformers” in 2007, the main character Optimus Prime said, “Fight like a man”. They are wearing suit of armours and carrying guns in not only the movie versions, but also the cartoons. This kind of appearance would be makes us think they are male. Similar with “Ghost in the Shell”, Kusanagi is having a female’s body sharp. We will sure Kusanagi is a female. Moreover in “Transformers”, people always think about their race. Before they know they come from their hometown, Cybertron, people thought they come Japan, China or others else. The place they were made become their race or which nations they belong to. Similar with other science fictions, cyborgs belong to where they are made. Although it does not mean race, it show the ownership of the cyborg.

5. Brayton Sean, The Post-White Imaginary in Alex Proyas’s I, Robot, 14-3-2011.

http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/104/Brayton104.htm

 “I, Robot” is another kind of view about cyborgs. “I, Robot” is a fiction which wrote by Isaac Asimov before. In this fiction, it talks about the moral issues between human and robot. And it became movie later. Different with “Ghost in the Shell”, the robots in “I, Robot” are made by human and used to service human. As the view of Sean Brayton, he thinks the cyborgs in the film are slave. Moreover, the robots in the fiction are having mathematical analysis and traditional psychology; just like human being. In this situation, the robots are seeking their identity. Like the movie version of “I, Robot”, although the robots are made by human, they have their own mind. They think they are not belonging by human, they belong to themselves. They fight against human and want to independence from human, like slaves fight against owners. These kind of robots are not male or females, they are only robots. And they are not under any nation, they are only robots. They are not belonging to any one or social rules. As a result a new gender, “Robot”; and new race, “Robot” come out in these kind of science fiction.