Science Fiction Film. How does science fiction’s depiction of non-human or semi-human characters challenge and redefine what is meant to be ‘human’?.
Main focus question:
How does science fiction’s depiction of non-human or semi-human characters challenge and redefine what is meant to be ‘human’? Basic overview: I am going to be exploring the different ways in which American, Science Fiction film use the technological form of a human i.e. Clones, robots and androids to replicate the human form. I will be specifically looking at the way they portray and convey emotions. In order to look at what it means to be human I will need to look into social construct and deviant behaviour within societies and groups. This will hopefully help me draw upon human experiences and the emotions they create and how we then convey those feelings into practise
. I will then compare and contrast this to the artificial human portrayal. I am aware that some of the difficulties I will face are that everyone has different human experiences meaning there are many ways to interpret what it means to be human. This is why I have narrowed the subject down to ‘emotion’ as the core element of ‘being human’. Emotions are what we rely on to form opinions, thoughts and motivations. In most science fictions, robots are shown as high-tech slaves or are designed to have a specific role within the universe. Human slavery is considered wrong within our community but to what extent is it wrong for robots to be slaves if they have thoughts and feelings. My main focus film as a case study will be Blade Runner and Ex-Machina as the premise of these films are focused around a group of artificially made humans who long for freedom because of false memories that they have imprinted in their brains. Blade Runners characters, for example, are no two alike either which allows for a more diverse look at artificial human’s thoughts. A few questions I shall be asking and answering throughout my essay are; Can robots be considered humane if they do have their own thoughts and feelings? Does our capacity for empathy correlate with our humanity? Are we the sum total of our memories, or something more? Do our lives have meaning if we experience nothi
