Is There a Pro-Mutant Trend in Popular Culture? J. Hughes Institute for Ethics and emerging technologies

1. Biopolitics of Popular Culture – December 4, 2009 Is There a Pro-Mutant Trend in Popular Culture?J. HughesInstitute for Ethics and emerging technologies

2. First Thoughts • Anne Rice’s vampires seemed much more attractive than previous versions • Was there a trend of increasingly positive images of “intelligent Other” in popular culture? • Did SF fandom have different biopolitical attitudes than the general public?

3. The Biopolitics of Pop Culture • Myths and stories reflect our hopes and anxieties • The tropes of fantastic fiction shape our consideration of emerging technologies • Frankenstein, Brave New World, Gattaca, Terminator • Fantastic fiction depictssocial and philosophical issues in abstracted form

4. Tropes • The racial Other: Alien races as implacable threat vs. opportunity for trans-racial solidarity • Our relationship to technology: Robots as Terminators vs. helpers and friends • Anxieties about identity: Cloning, transporters, memory modification

5. Positive vs. Negative Images

6. Historical Trends • io9.com

7. If Trends, Wither? • The audience • The evolving demographics of fantasy, SF, horror fans • The expanding demographics of fantastic fiction in television, film and games • Socio-political trends • Anxieties about immigrants, minorities, foreign threats • Anxieties about technology and personal identity • The expansion of liberal democratic citizenship

8. Fantastic Fan Demographics • Traditionally distinct demographics for fantasy (young white women) and SF (young white men) • …not the case any more • Fantastic film and television has a much broader audience than fantastic literature • Fantastic film and television would better reflect mass taste and fantastic literature more reflects subcultural taste.

9. SF Consumers are Different • SF consumers were more opposed to animal experimentation especially for “higher” mammals Hughes, James. Aliens, Technology and Freedom: Science Fiction Consumption and Socio-Ethical Attitudes Futures Research Quarterly, Winter, 1995, 11(4): 39-58.

10. Political-Economy Cycle • Kiser and Drass (1983): # of utopian novels goes up with depressions and “hegemonic decline” in UK & US, 1883-1975. • Io9 analysis of Dr. Who’s revolutionary aspirations:

11. US Imperialism & Prime Directive • Annalee Newitz’ study

12. Immigrants, Racism, Foreigners • If negative Other images reflect xenophobia we would expect them in more xenophobic groups and times • Since SF fans are more liberal, more positive depictions in lit than film and TV

13. Technology & Identity • Should be steadily increasing • Evil robots • Confused Identity • “Hidden among us” • Engineered memory

14. Expansion of Citizenship • Liberal democracies define citizenship based on psychological capacities, not physical characteristics • This expands citizenship to non-human persons • Withdraws citizenship from embryos and the brain-dead The Measure of Man

15. Data Points • Top ten best-selling novels per year,1895-2008 • Top thirty grossing films per year,1947-2008 • Top ten Nielsen-rated television shows per year, 1950-2008

16. Five Categories of Other • Aliens • Machine minds • Animals modified for intelligence • Post-humans • Other intelligent species from Earth

17. Coding +2 – The Creature(s) are Very Good +1 – The Creature(s) are Generally Good, But Sometimes Not 0 – The Creature(s) are Neither Good nor Bad, or as Good as they are Bad -1 – The Creature(s) are Generally Bad, and Humans and the Creature(s) are in Conflict -2 – The Creature(s) are Very Bad, and Intrinsically Hostile to Humans

18. +2 Very Good • The creature(s) are friendly, cute, lovable, humane, embraced as family members, and/or • persecuted unjustly by humans, and/or • heroic servants or saviors of humanity, and/or • they are wiser, happier, more compassionate, more ethically advanced than humanity.

19. +1 Good • The creature(s) are sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile to humanity, but it is possible for humans and the creatures to peacably coexist

20. 0 - Null • There are as many hostile creature(s) as there are friendly ones (often the case in fantasy) • The creature(s) are generally a threat, but that is balanced by some extraordinarily good, sympathetic members • The intent of the creature(s) is mysterious, and not obviously good or bad

21. -1 Bad • The creature(s) are a competitor to humans, but not evil, just trying to survive • The creature(s) have been created by humanity, so they are dangerous, but its really humans’ fault

22. -2 Very Bad • The creatures have very evil intentions toward humanity and must be destroyed

23. Surveys of Students • Hundreds of students recruited to code images on scale

24. Trends by Decade • Not much trend on film • But more negative on TV and in novels

25. Trends by Type • Most depictions have actually become more negative

26. Recent Depictions

27. Aliens in the 1960s-1980s

28. Aliens in the 90s and 00s

29. Insurmountable Problems • Boundary definitions (supernatural creatures, talking cartoon animals) • Minor characters versus major characters (Gremlins) • Plot twists (silvers in Sarah Connor Chronicles)

30. More Problems • Cult favorites (Lord of the Rings, Evil Dead) • Elite vs. mass influence (Lovecraft) • Cumulative down list volume (monster movies)

31. IEET Bioculture Program • But still, let’s talk about the issues • ieet-images mailing list • Popular culture criticism • Ben Scarlato’s series on True Blood and Battlestar Galactica • Kristi Scott’s essays on Jon & Kate plus 8 • Kyle Munkittrick on Glee, Venture Brothers, District 9 • Images Database – interactive tagging and discussion of biopolitics of images

32. What Kind of Images Do We Want? • Orginal vision of cyberpunk: to break with utopian and dystopian visions, and depict a gritty future • Beyond the demonized or valorized Other to the complex and gritty Other • For culture creators and audiences to be as sensitive to biopolitical tropes as they are now to racist images