The art series A Sexual Series is based on posthumanist theory and asexual experience. Shapes of performative alter egos materialized from a queer cyborg position of technologically enhanced crip experiences (the strong symbolical constructing process of straightening scoliosis surgery). From the position of a glitch reflecting a postindividualist future, the AI sexbot is a metaphoric, elevated cyborg drag version of the artist to embody asexuality and queer Otherness. Based on multitudes of contradictions to encourage self-reflection, the series explores the complexities of ob/scene and on/scene performances; the position of a sex positive asexual as well as questions of belonging as a naturally artificial rebel. This essay touches upon rituals as well as performative methods of disidentification as a tool to reimagine shame, to ghost the own body and to stop being a pleaser.

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This essay discusses the becomings of the character Saya in the visual novel Saya no Uta (2003), developed by Nitroplus. Being perceived as either girl or monster, Saya is trapped between these notions, within the endless becomings of her conceptualisation. Using the idea of becomings developed by Gilles Deleuze in Logic of Sense (1969) this essay aims to understand how Saya could be perceived through her becomings. Compared to the character of Alice from Alice in Wonderland, which is a prevalent subject through Logic of Sense, Saya shows many similarities with Deleuze's unofficial heroine. Donna Haraway's A Cyborg Manifesto (1985) is used to understand the underlying machinic desires of Saya, and how she becomes a productive force through consumption of the notions that try to define her. The dichotomy of girl and monster is further explained using Rosi Bradiotti's Nomadic subjects (1994), where the monster not only becomes a manifestation of the grotesque, but also a subject of the monstrosity within its discursive concept. The ambivalence of the monster is the duality between the abhorrent and the adored. The analysis shows that Saya, whether she is released to the world or not, renders the dichotomy useless in relation to the force of the materiality that somehow persists through, whatever its meaning, and what it ultimately is subjected to.

Denna studie syftar på att analysera Coca-Colas reklamfilm Taste the Transformation för att förstå dess visuella språk, design och visuell strategi. Genom en semiotisk retorisk analys undersöks vilken typ av visuell kommunikation och visuell strategi Coca-Cola använder i reklamfilmen samt varför den attraherar publiken. Resultaten visade att Coca-Cola fångar publikens uppmärksamhet genom sin visuella kommunikation, inklusive animation, visuella effekter och cyborg-karaktärer som riktade sig till en ung publik. Reklamfilmen använder retoriska grepp som ethos och pathos, förstärkt genom inkluderingen av en känd person och skapandet av en musikvideoliknande atmosfär, vilket bidrar till att göra reklamen engagerande. Studien identifierade också en betydande sexualisering av artisten Rosalía, vilket belyser komplexiteten i representationens betydelse inom den visuella tolkningen av reklamfilmer. Coca-Cola strävar efter att fånga målgruppens uppmärksamhet genom att använda riktade bilder och visuella element.

本論文以「賽伯格閱讀」的方式在台灣當代小說中「讀取」三種賽伯格主體，並且展望賽伯格閱讀批判當代科技社會的可能性。賽伯格閱讀意指將文本中的人事物讀出賽伯格的意味。也就是說，賽伯格閱讀所分析的文本不必然、也不需要是容易讓人直接聯想到賽伯格理論的科幻文本，而能是更寬泛的、各種形式的文本──包括不是科幻小說的文本。重點不在於有沒有，而在於如何；不在於文本「本身」有沒有賽伯格主體的再現，而在於如何以賽伯格閱讀去讀取文本當中的賽伯格主體，並且探討該賽伯格主體如何構成，終而批判科技和特定權力位階的共謀。本論文盡量選擇科幻小說以外的文本作為分析對象，藉此挑戰「賽伯格理論通常連結到科幻文本」的刻板印象。此外，本論文也以「拼裝」這個詞彙思考混雜各種異質元素的賽伯格主體構成。本論文所提出的「義肢人」、「遊戲人」、「動物人」這三種賽伯格主體，是受哈洛威（Donna Haraway）的〈賽伯格宣言〉中「三種關鍵的界線破裂」之說所啟發。三種賽伯格主體各自對應、補充三種界線的不穩固──義肢人體現了「有機體和無機物的混淆」、遊戲人呼應「物質和非物質的曖昧不明」、動物人則為「人類和動物的難以區別」。本研究聚焦於1990年代以後的非科幻文本，並在分析其中賽伯格主體及處境時，納入身心障礙研究和生態女性主義的批判方法。本研究並非藉著後人類和賽伯格鼓吹單純地擁抱科技、宣稱人類已非人類，而是要藉著後人類和賽伯格來再次警惕科技的利弊、鼓勵各界在不同脈絡中「重新發明人類」──意即，重建一種更不具排斥性、更為寬廣的對於人的想像。 / The current study suggests that the reinvention of the human stands as a potential field for future Taiwanese literature. This thesis attempts to conceptualize the subjectivities of the posthuman even beyond the field of science fiction. This thesis labels the literary practices outside science fiction as “non-science fiction.” The focus lies on non-science fiction for two reasons. One, this study attempts to challenge the assumption in Taiwanese literature that associates the concept of the posthuman only with science fiction. Second, this study finds that the presupposed literary category of science fiction limits the imagination of cyborg- or posthuman-related subjects in Taiwanese literature. Inspired by the work of well-known cyborg theorist Donna Haraway, this study notes that non-science fiction texts present three kinds of posthuman existence. According to Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto,” “three crucial boundary breakdowns” make the cyborg possible. The three kinds of posthuman in this thesis correspond to Haraway’s three boundary breakdowns. The man of prosthesis corresponds to the blurred boundary between organism and non-organism, the man of video games to the physics and non-physics, and the man of animal to the humans and animals. This analysis focuses on Taiwanese non-science fiction texts from the 1990s onwards and applies concepts from disable studies and ecofeminist criticism, in addition to posthuman and cyborg theories. Situated within posthuman/cyborg studies, this thesis does not celebrate the breakdown of boundaries but points to the redefinition of the human which reduces and deconstructs hierarchal oppressions.

I propose a theoretical framework that describes how avatars incorporate media as an inherent part of their nature and find a hosting body in cyborgs to navigate and spawn in media. I propose the birth of a new scion that combines avatar, medium and cyborg into a conceptual being that I call “ICEVORG.” The ICEVORG expands beyond representation into the actual physical world by means of media transgression—more specifically, by the use of the Strange Loop also known as Metalepsis ICEVORG find an effective soil to thrive and interrogate our ideas of reality by means of iteration, expansion, fragmentation and naturalization. The development of the framework that explains the concept of ICEVORG happens in the interstices between fiction and reality. The ICEVORG transgresses boundaries to reach and transcend the concepts of the avatar and cyborg in order to generate meaning and pursue relevance in contemporary society. By dissecting the ICEVORG under the light of metalepsis that I am able to elaborate a framework to explain the world of post-hyperrealism and how ICEVORGS have become agents of change. Finally, in order to construct my argument, I employ autoethnography, a research methodology that allows for a more personal voice to be included as part of the research process.

Artificiella kvinnor har porträtterats efter vissa tematiska utgångspunkter genom kulturhistorien, där Ovidius Pygmalion-myt varit en dominerande tematik. Frågan om artificiella människor är också tätt förknippad med science fiction-genren, och även där har bilden om den ensamme mannen som skapar sig en kvinna ofta återkommit. I denna uppsats jämförs tre science fiction-filmer från 2010-talet - Her (Spike Jonze, 2013), Ex Machina (Alex Garland, 2014) och Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017) - för att utröna hur artificiell femininitet konstruerad av män tar sig uttryck: vilken tematik som är jämförbar med äldre porträtteringar av artificiella kvinnor, och vad dessa samtida inkarnationer kan säga om heteronormativitet inom science fiction-genren i dag och i framtiden. Denna analys görs dels mot bakgrund av nyckelverk inom litteratur och film, delvis genom begrepp som performativitet och andrafiering inom genus- och queerteori.