Biopolitics of Popular Culture – December 4, 2009.

Biopolitics of Popular Culture – December 4, 2009

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?

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

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

Positive vs. Negative Images

Historical Trends io9.com

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 trendsAnxieties about immigrants, minorities, foreign

threatsAnxieties about technology and personal identity The expansion of liberal democratic citizenship

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.

SF Consumers are Different SF consumers were more opposed to animal

experimentation especially for “higher” mammals

Figure 1: Science Fiction Consumption and Opposition to Use of Animals in Medical Experimentation

fish rats birds cats dogs wolves chimps bears dolphins

High SF Consumers

Low SF Consumers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80% Hughes, James. Aliens, Technology and Freedom: Science Fiction Consumption and Socio-Ethical Attitudes Futures Research Quarterly, Winter, 1995, 11(4): 39-58.

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:

US Imperialism & Prime Directive Annalee Newitz’ study

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

Technology & Identity

Should be steadily increasing

Evil robots Confused Identity

“Hidden among us”Engineered memory

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

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

Five Categories of Other

Aliens Machine minds Animals modified for

intelligence Post-humans Other intelligent

species from Earth

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

+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.

+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

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

-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

-2 Very Bad

The creatures have very evil intentions toward humanity and must be destroyed

Surveys of Students

Hundreds of students recruited to code images on scale

1950s 1958 Film flyman,manfly The Fly -1.40 1960s 1968 Film ghouls Night of the Living Dead -1.40 1970s 1970 Film Bomb mutants Beneath the Planet of the Apes -.30 1970 Film computer boy Computer that Wore Tennis Shoes 1.00 1971 Film ghouls Omega Man -1.40 1974 Film Frankenstein monster Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein -.30 1975 Film Frankenstein monster Young Frankenstein .29 1975 TV Steve the cyborg 6 Million Dollar Man 1.50 1975 TV Jaimie the cyborg Bionic Woman 1.50 1976 TV Steve the cyborg 6 Million Dollar Man 1.50 1976 TV Jaimie the cyborg Bionic Woman 1.50 1977 Film Darth Vader Star Wars -1.20 1977 TV Steve the cyborg 6 Million Dollar Man 1.50 1978 Film Darth Vader Star Wars -1.20 1979 Film vampires Love at First Bite -.25 1980s 1980 Film Darth Vader Star Wars -1.20 1980 Film Darth Vader Star Wars 2 -1.20 1982 Film Khan's supermen Star Trek 2 -1.00 1983 Film Darth Vader Star Wars 3 -.40 1984 Film vampires The Vampire Lestat .20 1985 Film immortal elderly Cocoon 1.44 1987 Film Robocop Robocop .44 1988 Book vampires Queen of the Damned .20 1989 Film Joker Batman -.80 1990s 1990 Film mutants Total Recall .70 1992 Film Jobe Lawnmower Man -.80 1992 Book vampires Tale of the Body Thief .20 1993 Book various Nightmares & Dreamscapes -1.20 1994 Film vampires Interview with a Vampire .00 1995 Film waterman WaterWorld .95 1996 Film Buddy The Nutty Professor .35 1996 Film superTravolta Phenomenon 1.44 1997 Film Darth Vader Star Wars 2 -1.20 1997 TV mutants etc. The X-Files -1.00 1997 Film Darth Vader StarWars3 -.40 1997 Film cloned Ripley Alien 4: Resurrection .95 1998 TV various The X-Files -1.00 1998 Book vampires Vampire Armand .20 1999 Film Inspector Gadget Inspector Gadget 1.20

Trends by Decade

Not much trend on film

But more negative on TV and in novels

Trends by Type Most depictions have actually become more negative

Recent Depictions

Aliens in the 1960s-1980s

1964 MyFavoriteMartin-TV 21968 2001-F 11970 2001-F 11972 2001-F 11977 StWars-F 11977 Close Encounters-F 21978 StarWars-F 11978 Close Encounters-F 21978 SuperMan-F 21978 Mork&Mindy-TV 21979 Alien-F -21979 StarTrek-F 11979 SuperMan-F 21979 Mork&Mindy-TV 21980 StarTrek-F 11980 StarWars-F 11980 11981 -21981 01982 21982 2010 01982 11982 21983 11983 01983 11984 11985 21985 21986 1

1964 21968 11970 11972 11977 11977 21978 11978 21978 21978 21979 -21979 11979 21979 21980 11980 StarWars-F 11980 StarWars2-F 11981 FlashGordon-F -21981 SuperMan2-F 01982 E.T.Stbk 21982 2010 01982 StarWars2-F 11982 ET-F 21983 StarWarsbk 11983 DarkCr-F 01983 StarWars3-F 11984 StarTrek3-F 11985 Contact 21985 Cocoon-F 21986 StarTrek4-F 1

Aliens in the 90s and 00s1987 Tommyknockers -21987 Aliens-F -21987 Predator-F -21987 ALF-TV 21988 ALF-TV 21989 StarTrek5-F 11989 Abyss-F 21995 Species-F -11996 ID4-F -21996 MeninBlack-F 01996 ST6-F 11997 Aliens4-F -21997 StarTroop-F -21997 X-Files-TV -11997 Contact-F 21998 X-Files-TV -11998 01998 11999 11999 11999 11999 22001 -22001 -22002 -22002 02002 12005 -22006 0

1987 -21987 -21987 -21987 21988 21989 11989 21995 -11996 -21996 01996 11997 -21997 -21997 -11997 21998 -11998 Lost In Space-F 01998 ST7-F 11999 StWarsPM 11999 Galaxy Quest-F 11999 StarWarsPM-F 11999 Pokemon-F 22001 Dreamcatcher -22001 JimmyNeutron-F -22002 Signs-F -22002 MeninBlack2-F 02002 StWars-Clones-F 12005 WaroftheWorlds-F -22006 SupermanReturns-F 0

Insurmountable Problems Boundary definitions

(supernatural creatures, talking cartoon animals)

Minor characters versus major characters (Gremlins)

Plot twists (silvers in Sarah Connor Chronicles)

More Problems

Cult favorites (Lord of the Rings, Evil Dead)

Elite vs. mass influence (Lovecraft)

Cumulative down list volume (monster movies)

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

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