Essay Instructions: Chose ONE of the questions bellow and write a 2700-3000 word essay.
#1
Contrast the relationship between the human and the post-human characters set out in the novels, in either Philip K. Dick, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" or Paolo Bacigalupi, "The Windup Girl" with the interpersonal and interplanetary relationships embraced by the Ekumen in Ursula Le Guin, "The Left Hand of Darkness" . Why does the first type of relationship and treatment of the other lead to war and the on-going destruction of almost all living things while the second encourages human growth, discovery, and friendship?
#2
In the book Bodies of Tomorrow: Technology, Subjectivity, Science Fiction (Toronto: U of T Press, 2007), Sheryl Vint argues that ?[d]isembodied consciousness lacks a connection to material reality and material reality is the space of ethics? (122). Discuss, choosing two or more of the following: H. G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau , William Gibson, The Neuromancer , Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness , and Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl to explore the ways in which their authors suggest that ethics must be guided by considerations of material reality, particularly the physical body itself.
#3
Eco-feminism explores the ideological links between the exploitation of nature and the subjugation of women, arguing that the values of a patriarchal society legitimate the exploitation of both nature and women. Choosing two or more relevant texts, discuss how the stories? novums and/or their depiction of their central female characters enable the writers to undertake an eco-feminist critique of modern capitalist society and the purposes to which it puts science.
#4
Analyze the ways in which H.G. Wells? novel The Island of Dr. Moreau anticipates the concerns raised by Paolo Bacigalupi?s The Windup Girl. In what ways do both explore the implications of biological and genetic engineering? In what ways do they interrogate the mindset that gives rise to such experimentation?
#5
What are the consequences of being divorced from a sense of place in two of the following: Eugeny Zamyatin, We, Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and William Gibson, The Neuromancer? Why does this divorce from the physical world threaten to strip the characters of their humanity? OR Contrast or compare the attitude expressed toward the physical body expressed in The Neuromancer with the emphasis on the importance of physicality expressed in either We or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Why does Case the cyber cowboy find liberation within his virtual reality and spurn his physical body in disgust, while the characters of We and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? lose their humanity as they lose their connection with their physical world?
#6
What happens when scientific study and/or technology?s principle purpose is advancing the goals of capitalism? Discuss, analyzing two of the following: H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, William Gibson, The Neuromancer? And The Windup Girl. OR Discuss the ways in which William Gibson, The Neuromancer? and Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl explore the intertwining of capitalism and science. In what ways does each ideology, in turn, validate and legitimate the other? In what ways do the novels strive to expose and question this inter-twining?
#7
Contrast the knowledge sought by the Ekumen in The Left Hand of Darkness with the knowledge striven for by Dr. Moreau and/or the gene scientists Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl. What makes both their definition of knowledge and their understanding of its ultimate purpose radically different?
#8
In what ways do two or more science fiction texts explore humanity?s relationship with the other through their depiction of an alien species or the creation of an artificial or genetically altered life form? In what ways do these beings come to represent the disowned, devalued, or unknown parts of the human self? The mysterious and unknown aspects of the external world? What results from accepting the other? Of continuing to devalue and disown it?
#9
Provide a careful comparison of the novels H. G. Wells, The Time Machine and Eugeny Zamyatin, We with the early SF classic Metropolis. In what ways does Metropolis?s expressionist style bring to eerie life some of the central concerns of the two literary texts, providing powerful visual images that symbolize the fears set forward in these two novels?
#10
Choose (at least) two film versions of any of these two novels H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, H.G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Eugeny Zamyatin, We, Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness , Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, William Gibson, The Neuromancer, Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl carefully analyze what allows their directors to successfully translate the text to the screen. In your discussion, please don?t focus on whether or not the films are literally faithful to the books (and keep all the same characters, dialogue etc.). Instead, consider whether or not the films are successful in using their different medium to convey the texts? themes and concerns. For example, are they are able to cognitively estrange their audiences through an unsettling blend of the familiar and the strange? Do they create a visually disturbing future world that comments powerfully on our own? Do they push us to consider what constitutes reality, and/or to blur the line between material reality and the world and images of the mind? Do they awaken similar anxieties and fears to those stimulated by the novels? Etc.
Sources:
Use two (or more) additional sources in developing your response to the question.
