Facing Familiar Fears: Race, Gender, and Technology in Frankenstein

人类是天生的，还是后天培养的？ 你的出身必须决定你的未来吗？ 你是命中注定要成为你自己，还是你可以选择？ What lessons does Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein have to teach us about Black Lives Matter and the role of science and technology in shaping our concept of who counts as human? What can we learn through Shelley’s novel about extending human rights–including the right to reproduce–to synthetic, artificial life forms?

Though it was first published more than two centuries ago, Shelley’s groundbreaking narrative is as relevant and provocative today as it was in 1818. Its blend of science fiction, horror, and gothic drama provide a phantasmagorical laboratory in which progressive generations of scholars, writers, and artists continue to test what it means to be human. This talk will explore Frankenstein’s implications for modern autonomy and identity issues by analyzing the original text with an eye toward science’s impact on racial, sexual, and gender-based discrimination. Topics will range from incest to artificial life, and slavery to the singularity.

This illustrated lecture for the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies will show clips from classic Frankenstein films and some NC-17/unrated versions.

Date and time
Tue, May 17, 2022
7:00 PM – 9:30 PM EDT

Location
Film Noir Cinema
122 Meserole Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11222

Register here