GIST Web Paper 4

I have a strange sort of relationship with online gaming. 

I’ve always wanted to get more into gaming than I am, and have suffered short self-competitive bursts with games from Super Smash Bros. Melee to Farmville to vocabulary quizzing games. My drive was always based on trying to improve myself—trying to become faster, better, higher-leveled, unlocking achievements, rewards and items.

So far in this class we have discussed the different ways in which we decipher gender, among many other topics. We constantly talk about the gender binaries we encounter in real life and online, how people generally do not fit cleanly into one idea of gender, and how this binary has been extended to the animal kingdom. I would like take these discussions and extend them into the representation of people in recent popular films. I am specifically looking at TRON: Legacy and Avatar.

The technology is there, the good clinics are safe, and I applaud women who think it’s worth spending money on cosmetic surgery. It’s money spent on themselves and their happiness. –A woman who had surgery on the face

(Open the attachment for a bigger, clearer image. In Word, zoom in for a closer look)

“Call centers are like a secret society behind closed doors.” –Chris, 30 Days: Outsourcing

 The Creations and Creators of Frankenstein, Conceiving Ada, Teknolust and Tron: Legacy

In an attempt diverge from the habitual research/thesis papers, here is a picture representing some scenes and elements that stood out to me from the three films and one novel we have looked at in the duration of this Gender and Technology course.

At the top, Frankenstein, On the right, Conceiving Ada, on the bottom, Teknolust and on the left, Tron: Legacy.

 Originally for this webpaper, I intended to write about how the films Tron Legacy, Teknolust, and Conceiving Ada incorporate themselves into and challenge the theories discussed about the intra-actions of gender, information, science and technology. However, such a focus could manifest itself into a thesis/ dissertation, and I unfortunately do not have the immediate time to achieve that project on a quickly approaching deadline. Nevertheless, I am happy to have settled down into analyzing and theorizing how GIST intersects indirectly using Karen Barad’s concept of entanglements.

“Bloodchild:” A Story of Humans and Technology?

            This interpretation of Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild” is really interesting to me. After voicing this interpretation, Hilary asked whether this story might show a deeper bond between humans and technology. That is, do humans develop feelings and love for their own technological tools?