Cyborg Goddesses: The Mainframe Revisited

Abstract

In current popular film media, human technology interface representations are often characterised through the female gender in the role of both creator and terminator, lending an omnipotent attribute to this gender. The use of godly female images in the service of human-to-machine technology interfaces is also reminiscent of both major technological innovations and well-known vessels in history and literature, all of which took names with feminine qualities. Thus, the mythological goddess cult’s manifestations evident in Anatolia and neighboring regions inspired echoes in classical American literature as well as in current popular films. This affords a comparative cultural perspective evolving towards futuristic openings. Current science fiction movies employ the omnipotent female image with a dual capacity of realizing good and evil combined into one, as evinced in several well-established works, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Lara Croft: the Cradle of Life, Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction, Minority Report, I Robot and Ghost in the Shell. These movies incite critical questioning of faith, science, technology, self and identity formation in race, class and gender from a feminist perspective and as an alternative to conventional codifications of power.