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Surfaces of science fiction : enacting gender and “humanness” in Ex Machina
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Constable, Catherine (2018) Surfaces of science fiction : enacting gender and “humanness” in Ex Machina. Film-Philosophy, 22 (2). pp. 281-301. doi:10.3366/film.2018.0077
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3366/film.2018.0077
Abstract
This article explores two different conceptions of the postmodern surface and their take up in relation to mainstream science fiction cinema. Each offers a rather different genealogy for considering the surfaces of the science fiction film. The first traces Frederic Jameson's conception of postmodern superficiality and its dual role as a mode of reading texts and an aesthetic paradigm. The second traces Judith Butler's conception of gender performativity, its application to technology, and the expansion of performativity as a key mechanism for the enactment of “humanness”. The reading of Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014) will explore the aesthetics of film's mise-en-scène with its plurality of textured and reflective surfaces. It will trace the performative constructions of gender and humanness that intersect across the film, before finally focussing on the ending as a way of addressing key issues at stake in the conceptualisation of surface readings.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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| Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1993 Motion Pictures | ||||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Arts > Film and Television Studies | ||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Ex machina, Androids, Garland, Alex -- 1970- -- Criticism and interpretation, Artificial intelligence -- Experiments, Turing test, Internet industry -- Employees, Science fiction films, Postmodernism, Performative (Philosophy) | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Film-Philosophy | ||||||
| Publisher: | Edinburgh University Press | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1466-4615 | ||||||
| Official Date: | 1 June 2018 | ||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 22 | ||||||
| Number: | 2 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 281-301 | ||||||
| DOI: | 10.3366/film.2018.0077 | ||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Open Access | ||||||
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