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Teknolust, the internet, emergence and crazy thoughts..

MSA322's picture
Submitted by MSA322 on Fri, 04/15/2011 - 10:26pm

Teknolust had a lot of themes that are worth discussing. However, a couple of them stuck in my mind. One was the repeated comment about the dependency of women on men. Where is it true that the SRA's needed men's sperm to "re-charge", men also needed women to have intercourse with. I think this only shows the importance of both genders to the survival of humankind, one can't survive without the other, and this was shown through the virtual SRA's. The movie showed the binary of reality and virtuality.

One other thought I had was about the ending of the movie. There seems to be a repetitive theme in movies including cyborgs that is humanity and human kind will always be the "winner", but what if this movie was made in our time now, not almost 10 years ago, I wonder if the end would be different, if the humanity of the movie was dominated by the virtual world, by the SRA's. Technology nowadays is continuously improving, evolving, and emerging. I wonder if it would ever come true where technology and especially the internet would become smart enough, even smarter than us, our dependence on it would increase even more, how would our lives change? How would the SRA's end up living? Would they be able to simply spread a virus that would wipe the intelligence of the humans, and would result in their own benefit, living off of men sperm, recreating humans, and recharging off of them? Would humanity fail and lose control? I know these thoughts might sound crazy, impossible and ridiculous, but who ever thought we would have such a smart thing, a brain-like as the internet to begin with? you never know what might happen next..

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Julie-MIT's picture

RE: the dynamics of men vs. women

Submitted by Julie-MIT (guest) on Mon, 04/25/2011 - 11:36pm.

I also saw the portrayal of men falling victim to women as a pretty negative image. It almost seemed as if they couldn't be blamed for their sexual promiscuity--Ruby the "vixen" conned them into each act. What I found even more amusing was the fact that they eventually were "numbered" through the virus. It was an interesting take on Ruby's exploits by showing that they were no more than just numbers to her--even when she stored their "tea" by date and picture (an image common to explaining men's sexual exploits). Also, the fact that the men became infertile with the virus almost seemed like a hidden message to men about the dangers of just acting upon their sexual desires.

It was also interesting to see who Ruby pursued--never the strong men who seemed confident in themselves--rather those who were more nervous and unsure/less experienced. It didn't mean, however, that she didn't want to pursue more "dominant" men--she tried in one point in the movie but was rejected and had to go back to the more nervous man.

While Ruby did have some agency by exerting control over men, she did not have complete control to choose exactly those she wanted. In the end however, she was able to find the perfect man for her--almost showing that even beyond her dependence upon sperm, she also had a natural dependence to be loved by a man.

I also found it quite strange that they used old black and white romantic movies to ready Ruby each time before she went out. Almost allegorically showing that she would eventually search for true love of sorts and that she also was still under the power of men. When considering Ruby, or Rosetta, singularly, they seem to be dependent upon a man's love--either through passion first or lust after.

The only way that I can see the SRA's as being independent and having agency is when considering them as extensions of Rosetta's personality--they show the desires that she often quells and is unable to act upon within her constricted role as a woman and also a research scientist.

MissArcher2's picture

the dynamics of men vs women

Submitted by MissArcher2 on Sat, 04/16/2011 - 4:54pm.

 I'm glad you brought up the point about the theme of women's dependence on men. While it's definitely true that the SRA's need for sperm to recharge indicates that women will always need men, I thought the fact that so many men were willing to have sex with some random woman they hadn't even talked to or kissed painted the men in a pretty bad light themselves. This dynamic left the women in charge because even though they needed sperm to survive, they could always get it so easily. 

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