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Sci-Fi Gothic. Variations on a theme: From Frankenstein to Blade Runner. Popular Culture. Gothic and Sci-fi are thought of as “pop” fiction May provide commentary on current issues reflecting the “fault lines” in contemporary culture Scientific issues often explored.
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Sci-Fi Gothic Variations on a theme: From Frankenstein to Blade Runner
Popular Culture • Gothic and Sci-fi are thought of as “pop” fiction • May provide commentary on current issues reflecting the “fault lines” in contemporary culture • Scientific issues often explored
Issues of public concern: • The creation of life
Birth of a scientist • “I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life . . . What glory would attend the discovery, if I could banish disease from the human frame, and render man invulnerable to any but a violent death.”
Reanimator • “After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation on lifeless matter.” • “. . . with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding places.”
Moment of (re)creation • “I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burned out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open.”
Abandonment “Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing my bed- chamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep.”
Be careful what you wish for • The creature begins to take his revenge • “How dare you sport thus with life? Do your duty towards me and I will do mine towards you and the rest of mankind. If you will comply with my conditions, I will leave them and you at peace; but if you refuse, I will glut the maw of death, until it be satiated with the blood of your remaining friends.”
The creature’s story • Learns to speak and read • Identifies with humans • Grows in self-awareness • Agonizes about his identity • Rejected by humanity • Vows eternal vengeance on mankind
Gothic vengeance • Frankenstein loses Henry and Elizabeth • Vows revenge • “By the sacred earth on which I kneel, by the shades that wander near me, by the deep eternal grief that I feel, I swear; and by thee O Night, and by the spirits that preside over thee, I swear to pursue the daemon, who caused this misery, until he or I shall perish in mortal combat.”
Hey, monsters have feelings too! • As the novel nears the end, we hear the creature confess to Robert Walton, the arctic explorer: • “My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy; and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture, such as you cannot even imagine.”
Brief overview of Blade Runner • Earth is a dystopia • Replicants do the “heavy lifting” for mankind • Dekard’s job is to “retire” renegade replicants • “I want more life, f***er!”
Exiled from the garden • Both the creature in Frankenstein and the replicants in Blade Runner are expelled from the world of their creators. This action reflects one of humankind’s most ancient and enduring myths: the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. They are forbidden to enter Paradise.
What makes these works Gothic? Key words: Excess Ambiguity Transgression
The counter-narrative The gothic is often a counterpart or antithesis to the human sense of progress—a kind of check or counter narrative to boundless optimism
Transgression!!!!!!!!!! • The Gothic often focuses on the negative, the irrational, the immoral, and the fantastic • transgression (you could say, sin) • anxiety over cultural limits and boundaries • darkness • desire • power
Concerns of the present Whether set in the past or the future, the gothic is really concerned with the time contemporary with the work
Imagination and emotion overwhelm reason “Passion, excitement and sensation transgress social proprieties and moral laws. Ambivalence and uncertainty obscure single meaning”
The Sublime “As opposed to beauty (based on an overall sense of proportion which can be perceived by the viewer), the sublime is associated with an overwhelming sense of grandeur or magnificence which leaves the viewer with a sense of his own significance in the grand scheme of things.”
The Uncanny “Mysterious or unfamiliar, especially in such a way as to frighten or make uneasy; preternaturally strange; eerie; weird.”
A central topic • The Gothic is often concerned with the disruptions and uncertainties brought about by science and industry
Scientific issues at play during Shelley’s time • Electricity • Magnetism • Vivisection • Polar exploration • Evolution • Vitalism and Mechanism
Electricity By 1800, Alessandro Volta has devised a “voltaic pile” which produced an electric current. It was used for research on the mechanics and electrical properties of muscles and nerves.
Vitalism The theory or doctrine that life in living organisms is caused and sustained by a vital principle that is distinct from all physical and chemical forces, and that life is, in part, self-determining and self-evolving. Advocated by John Abernathy, of London’s Royal College of Surgeons.
Mechanism The theory or doctrine that all phenomena of the universe, particularly life, can ultimately be explained in terms of physics and chemistry, and that the difference between the organic and inorganic is only in degree. Advocated by William Lawrence, of London’s Royal College of Surgeons. (Shelley seems to be of Lawrence’s mind).
Science and Industry also concerns in Blade Runner • Manipulation of DNA codes • Cloning • Artificial intelligence/cybernetics/robotics • Humankind’s despoiling of nature • The concern that our morality cannot keep pace with our technological development
An enduring theme: What makes us human? “Frankenstein can be seen to set out for the first time the concern that dominates Gothic’s engagement with both science and industry over the following centuries: the disruption of accepted notions of the human.”
Empathy • VOIGHT-KAMPFF MACHINE -- A very advanced form of lie detector that measures contractions of the iris muscle and the presence of invisible airborne particles emitted from the body. The V-K is used primarily by blade runners to determine if a suspect is truly human by measuring the degree of his empathic response through carefully worded questions and statements.
In the creature’s own words “The gentle manners and beauty of the cottagers greatly endeared them to me: when they were unhappy I felt depressed; when they rejoiced, I sympathized in their joys.”
Roy gets the last word “I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. . . . . . Time to die.”
