This thesis examines romantic relationships between human and artificially intelligent characters in the science-fiction films Ex Machina (2014), Her (2013) and “Be Right Back” (2013) from anthology series Black Mirror. The purpose of the thesis is to examine these relationships in relation to norms concerning corporeality, gender, sexuality and romance, exploring how the portrayal of these relationships and the characters in them subvert and/or reinforce those norms. A descriptive coding method was used followed by analytical coding to determine which theoretical concepts would be applied to which scenes. The theoretical framework consists mainly of Judith Butler’s theories on gender-performativity and Donna Haraway’s cyborg-figuration, and other theoretical concepts that were not used as extensively. The analysis showed that the films occasionally reinforce the norms in question due to cis- and heteronormative tendencies within the romantic relationships and due to normative aspects within the construction of the characters. A few examples of this is depicting a heteronormative, vocalized femininity and sexualized, normatively female bodies as well as partly establishing stereotypical, gendered dynamics in the romantic relationships. However, the study also showed that these films construction of the characters and their romantic relationships manages to subvert the above-mentioned norms. They do so by highlighting how corporeality is integral to the social construction of gender and not separate from that process, by critiquing monogamy being the normative type of romantic relationship and by exposing the male characters’ objectifying gaze towards female characters’ bodies. Through these transgressive examples and several others like them, the films display the subversive potential of science-fiction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-384619 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Herbert, Nadim |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Centrum för genusvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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