Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

It was an interesting movie and I can now see how it has affected many movies that came after it. Dr. Strangelove is one of the movies that seems to draw a straight line back to Metropolis.  The doctor in Metropolis has a hand in a black glove that he lost to the creation of the robot.  In Dr. Strangelove, Dr. Strangelove has a black-gloved hand that he has no control over and randomly snaps into the Hitler solute.  Whether this was done out of a sign of respect or if it was done to lampoon Metropolis I’m not sure, but it was defiantly a reference to the older film.  There are also other links that can be drawn to countless other Sci-fi movies that use (better quality) but essentially the same effects as they used in the libratory.  When Rotwang was coping Maria the light that covered her body and transferring energy to the robot has been used for years in similar situations.

         So in Beauty Parlor one of the groups went over Facebook and how it tries to digitally represent a body.  One of the options that it has is the relationship status option.  This function has now defiantly one of the steps on courtship.  A relation ship is not final until it is declared on Facebook.  And it is officially over when it is taken off.  Its just interesting how important it has become, or at least amongst the younger generations.  It has even interred into the culture, every so often the term “facebook final”.  Meaning that its something is final once it is posted.  Even beyond just that one function it is a way to catch up on people with out even talking to them.  It is just interesting how much it is affecting how we interact.

         In our conversation this week on Brecht and his method of making the audience uneasy as to get them to think harder on the messages of his pay.  He does this through having his characters brake out in song and other tricks that disconcert the viewer.  One of the things that disconcert me when reading the play was the language.  Though the play is set in china, the dialogue is notably British.  Every so often there will be a word or phrase that links in my mind to the British pattern of speech from the early 20th century.  The thing is, I’m not sure is this was intentional or, if Brecht just couldn’t be bothered to do the dialogue to mach the setting.  Or did he write that way so the pattern of speech in the play would be easier for his British audience to understand.  If so, that would be a very anti Brechtion thing to do.  I jess I just always find it hard to tell when subtle things like that are intentional, especially when it is an older work.  Because I don’t know how the audience would have responded to it.  And how the audience responds defines how successful a technique is.  So I’m still undecided to whether or not the odd chose in dialect in the dialogue was intentional or not.

So this week we have been talking about some of the different styles of acting.  One of the styles is method acting, which is where the actors put themselves in the poison of the character they are playing and tries to play them as accurately as possible.  This week I was listening to the NPR show This American life, which is a show where they have different, stories often around one theme.  And this week they had just one story that was about a group of maximum-security prisoners who where pouting on a production of Act 5 of Shakespeare’s famous Hamlet.  This is an interesting look into character acting because the characters in Hamlet are contemplating committing a murder, and several of the people performing the play actually had murdered someone.  What a unique insight they must have had into exactly what their characters must be going though.

         The thing about this week of the class is, it seems to have glorified the celebrity body instead of looking at them with the contempt they disserve.  I’m just frustrated that in class the tone was more reverential than skeptical.  The discussion seamed to go more in the direction of gossip.  I just don’t understand why we give celebrities so much credit.  I was proud that I didn’t know who most of the celebrities where who we talked about, and if I did know their names I knew none of the other details of their life.  I was also proud that I had never seen a Michael Jackson video before.  I think that speaks well of my character.  My opinion of them is that they are just ridicules people who aren’t that good at what they do, but just have good publicists.  We shouldn’t be giving them more attention and power by talking about them, we should just ignore them and hope they will go away.

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This week we watched the movie Southern Comfort, which Ithought was a good film even though the production value was low budget.  What struck me particularly was howRobert and company where able to built such close community even it a part ofthe country that is not know for its tolerance.  I assumed that people in the trans community would chouse tomove to a city where the trans community is stronger.  But they didn’t move, they made there own community wherethey lived.  It’s amazing that theynot only lived in a rural aria but that they blended in so well.  I find it incredibly funny that Robertwas even asked to join the KKK. Despite how well they where doing in their own tight group, as soon asRobert needed medical care he was turned down because he was trans.  When Robert is diagnosed with ovariancancer he continually turned down because the doctors don’t want him sitting intheir waiting rooms, they are afraid that the other clients will feeluncomfortable.  Now this is what Idon’t get, if the doctors where just saying that they didn’t want it to lookodd to their other clients, why didn’t Robert just go with someone who dididentify as female?  Then Robertwould have a reason for being there; he would be there to support the femaleidentified person.  Then once theygot behind closed doors they could do the procedure.  I don’t know but it seems like that would have worked as away the doctor could have saved face and Robert could have receivedtreatment.  I don’t know I justcan’t believe that they couldn’t find treatment for him.  Though this is probably not the case,it felt like they could have done more. Even if they had just made the appointment and tolled the doctor oncethey got there that Robert was trans, and had brought the camera.  After being tolled that they where onfilm, and meeting Robert face to face, I bet not nearly as many would haveturned down treatment.  I justcan’t believe that a doctor would not treat some one, regardless of what they looked like.

Hay every one, here it the link to the Bush gets a MySpace videos. It manages to lampoon Bush, Chaney, Carl Rove, Britney Spears, Kevin Federline. I can't figure out how to make the link a hipper link so just copy it, it should take you to YourDailyMedia.com.

http://www.yourdailymedia.com/media/1145188343/President_Bush_Gets_A_Myspace_Profile

Is sci-fi an extension of technology?  And if it is (which is my argument) then shouldn’t we discarded old sci-fi as we discarded old technology.  Old sci-fi is no longer able to give us a glimpse into a possible future or other version of now.  So we should cast it aside and move on looking at what is newly possible.  At the same time is it possible for old sci-fi to become good science based fantasy instead? 

Are we getting past the point where the prevailing question is no longer what can we do with technology, but are we getting to the point where we are asking what should we do with technology.  When we can make anything, should we?

At what point does the body stop being a human body and become a machine?  The Oxford American Dictionary states that a cyborg is “fictional or hypothetical person whose physical abilities are extended beyond normal human limitations by mechanical elements built into the body.”  But I disagree with that I consider a cyborg to be and human body that is augmented with electronic components, that enhance its performance.  Which for me begs the question at what point does a body become a machine with organic human components vs. a highly augmented human body?  Should it be done by prestige, so that if  a body is comprised of lets say, 60-70% of synthetic materials, is it then a machine rather than human?  Or should different organs be waited, so still having a human brain worth more points than say a kidney.  I’m not saying that is the best way to do it but it seams that it would be beneficial to come up with some boundaries of how fare we should augment the human body and have it still considered human.