Gender, Suffering, and Humanity in Westworld

Abstract

This paper examines gender, suffering, and humanity in the HBO series Westworld. I use Dolores, the female robot protagonist of the show, as a case study to explore gender performativity, narratives of suffering, affective agency, cyborg feminism and the uncanny valley. By analyzing the intersections of these theories in Dolores’s story, I illustrate how people and cyborgs alike are both humanized and dehumanized through their gender expression.