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Bridging the Gap We Imagined: Deconstructing Human/Non-Human Binaries in Science Fiction Film
thesis
posted on 2021-11-15, 18:48 authored by Wayne SidesSince Frankenstein (1931) and through Blade Runner: 2049 (2017), cinema has found a form of
expression and success through the science fiction genre. By introducing its audiences to a form
of “cognitive estrangement” (Suvin), science fiction forces consumers to re-evaluate themselves
and reflect on who they are; what they are. It “has simply proven to be one of our most flexible
popular genres” (Tellote) because it can become any situation and still reflect our own. While
incorporating aspects of the marvelous, fantastic, and uncanny (Todorov), we are able to imagine
the supernatural or spiritual “as it intrudes into and challenges our everyday world” (Tellote).
But these forces acting in opposition to our society reveal deeper truths central to mankind’s
position and self-image: those of insecurity, unease, and play through methods developed by the
theorist Jacques Derrida. Through Derrida’s theories on Structure and Deconstruction, it is
possible to analyze science fiction film in an attempt to uncover why humans always position
ourselves opposite to these mysterious, “uncanny,” never-human forces. Why are we obsessed
with not being them when they are always almost human and even sometimes post-human?
Analyzing the structure of human/non-human relationships in science fiction can help to reveal
our own anxieties regarding existence, especially as we approach a future that seems more and
more like science fact than science fiction. After all, what better way to question “who we are
and what is life all about” (Bywater, Subchack) than through a genre founded by questioning
“what if” in our own futures?
History
Advisor
Konesko, PatrickISO
engLanguage
EnglishPublisher
University of Wyoming. LibrariesCollection
Honors Theses AY 18/19Department
- Library Sciences - LIBS