Journal article
Android matters: Apocalyptic technology and hegelian dystopia in Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner (1982).
Journal of the Humanities and the Social Sciences, Vol.4, pp.17-32
2017
Abstract
This essay critically evaluates the present moment of representation in social media of various subjects by looking back and interrogating past representations of technology and otherness in Hollywood cinema. Specifically, I argue that Ridley Scott’s cult classic film Bladerunner (1982) offers us a window into thinking about technology -as-other as portrayed in a historical moment that charted out the rise of neoliberalism under Ronald Reagan in the USA and Margaret Thatcher in the UK. I draw on G.W.F. Hegel’s theorization of human subjectivity and power relations in his master -slave dialectic to analyze the relationship between humans and synthetic androids, also known as replicants, in the film. In engaging Hegel’s analysis of power and servitude, I reveal myriad discourses of gazing that structure power not only within the narrative of the science fiction film, but moreover between the audience and the images. I conclude that the network of gazes between androids and humans highlight the ways in which human consciousness too is fabricated as well as mediated in and through the other(s).
Details
- Title
- Android matters: Apocalyptic technology and hegelian dystopia in Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner (1982).
- Authors/Creators
- R.K. Gairola (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Journal of the Humanities and the Social Sciences, Vol.4, pp.17-32
- Publisher
- The Delhi University
- Identifiers
- 991005540878907891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Arts; Asia Research Centre
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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