Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Response: The Cyborg


The idea of the cyborg being outside of Freud, and being outside of the creation of man is in essence true.  It is, as has been stated, still a creation of militaristic capitalism, yet isn't a Frankenstein monster that needs to be saved, its it's own functioning individual self.  Feminists, especially second-wave, see these cyborgs as a metaphor for their struggles and an excellent way to break away from the Stigmas of Freud.
yet they fail to take into account the fact that they are both human and machine.  Through out history the "other" has stood for what is not the majority (the white male), and a mixing of the other and the majority has lead not to cyborgs but to individuals with out a creed of definition in the other.  Like Wikus Van Deburg in District 9 when he become a cyborg like being caught in between the prawn and his own race he is shunned and hunted.  Even in BladeRunner the individual hunted is the cyborg, the new "other".  It is not human and it is not machine so it does not have a home, yet it still struggles for that which all humans want, to be remembered.  It is the reason for the final scene of Bladerunner, he has seen things that no one else will see, he has lived a life that no one will remember, so he saves Harrison Ford so that he can be a testament to the life and death of the cyborg.  The cyborg is still seeking acceptance in society, it has not broken away from the norms but is seeking out the norms.

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