Studies in Literature and Film (386-0-21)
Topic
Robots Real and Imagined
Instructors
Ilana Vine Larkin
Meeting Info
University Hall 218: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
Will you support our future robot overlords? Robots have long played a significant role in our cultural imagination, from the earliest science fiction to dozens of recent shows and movies. And with recent advancements in robotics and AI, they are playing an ever-greater role in our everyday life. This course will delve into the cultural history of the robot, beginning with the coining of the term in the 1920 play R.U.R. and moving to contemporary depictions from Blade Runner to Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer. How do robots serve as mirrors reflecting our own concerns about our humanity? How do cultural depictions of robots as Others—both monstrous and salvific—meditate on questions of race, class, gender, and sexuality? The course will explore cultural anxieties around AI and robotics, their increasing indistinguishability from humans, our ever-greater reliance on them, and the inevitability of robot world domination.
Teaching Method
Seminar discussion.
Evaluation Method
Presentation, midterm and final papers, participation.
Class Materials (Required)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (ISBN-13: 9780345404473), Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (ISBN: 9780593311295), Blade Runner (dir. Ridley Scott), Star Trek: The Next Generation (selected episodes), Ghost in the Shell (dir. Mamoru Oshii), Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe, and selected fiction by Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury (available on Canvas).
Texts will be available at: Norris.
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area