Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture

by Elaine L. Graham

Microchips. Genetic modification of plants. Cloning. Advances in technology promise to shape our lives more profoundly than ever before. Exciting new discoveries in reproductive, genetic, and information technologies all serve to call into question the immutability of the boundaries between humans, animals, and machines. The category of the “posthuman” reflects the implications of such new technologies on contemporary culture, especially in their capacity to reconfigure the human body and to challenge our most fundamental understandings of human nature. Elaine L. Graham explores these issues as they are expressed within popular culture and the creative arts. From the myth of Prometheus and the Gothic horror of Frankenstein’s monster to contemporary postmodern science fiction, a gallery of fantastic creatures haunts Western myth, religion, and literature. They serve to connect contemporary debates with enduring concerns about the potential—and the limits—of human creativity. This book breaks new ground in drawing together a wide range of literature on new technologies and their ethical implications. In her explorations of the monstrous and the cyborg, Graham covers the Jewish legend of the golem, the Human Genome Project, Star Next Generation, Star Voyager , Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Donna Haraway’s cyborg writing, and many other related topics. This book will interest students in cultural studies, literature, ethics, religion, information technology, and the life sciences.

Genres: Nonfiction, Theory, Philosophy

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more enjoyable and not too-complex works on posthumanism and monstrosity

[Rachel Mckoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Elaine Graham’s book The Representations of the Post/Human: Monsters, Aliens and Others in Popular Culture the author looks to discuss what it means to be human by examining the ‘impact of twenty-first-century technologies-digital, cybernetic and biomedical.’ Elaine Graham has a degree in social science, a master's and a PhD in which her study was based on ‘the impact of gender theory on the discipline of pastoral studies within the Western Christian tradition’.

I started to think about how popular culture and scientific discourses provide the Western cultural imagination with all sorts of depictions of what it means to be human in a digital, biotechnological and cybernetic age.

Graham uses a range of references to provide explanations and examples of monstrosities; creatures that don’t fit easily into contemporary societies' prejudices. with a particular focus and in-depth look at popular culture figures. This book discusses modern technologies and their ethical implications and focuses on advances in medical, reproductive, genetic and information technologies. She relies heavily on writers such as Foucault, Haraway and Latour and uses their writings to frame her arguments. This is more apparent at the beginning of the book while Graham develops the basis of her theme from a sociological point of view.

The book is original in the sense that it gives a full picture with a detailed analysis of existing literature and opinions/findings of writers within the field while drawing together popular culture and technologies and assessing their ethical implications. The book is more of a culmination of ideas than a ground-breaking research piece. Nevertheless, the book provides good background reading for persons interested in the subject of transhumanism or those interested in the subject of post/human. It gives a clear overview of what has been said previously in the discussions while also looking forward and seeing what ethical considerations there are for post/humans.

Graham's main argument in the book is based on humans' preconceived constructs and what is socially accepted as normal, through this she explores the structures of power and oppressive systems which dictate what is truly ‘monstrous’. In part one Graham sets out the reasons why what it is to be human is subjective, she draws from the history behind myths and monsters ‘as an embodiment of the unknown’(p52) and ‘consider who and what counts as ‘human’’ (p33). Part two ‘develops on key themes of monstrosity, genealogy and representation’ which develops these themes through existing literature paying close attention to Frankenstein, the golem and has a closer look at the political aspect. Part three focuses more on the technological and biomedical aspects with an extensive look at star trek and the character Data and links it together with the Human Genome Project. Part three also looks more closely at post-humans with a chapter devoted to ‘cyborgs writings’. The book takes the reader on a journey from the past with a focus on older texts and then to the present with the two approaches to two Star Trek series and finally towards the future looking at what popular culture examples there are of the post-human. This clear chronological flow enables the book's themes and discussions to be easily understood.

A critique of the book is the strong feminist tone that is apparent while reading and if this adds to the rich considerations within the book. Graham is a socialist feminist and throughout the book themes of gender and perceived inferiority in representing females are suggested. These views are interwoven throughout the discussions of the chosen texts and attention is drawn to this view. For example, the argument of Frankenstein not wanting to create a female version could be down to the context of the time. Older texts such as these weren’t written for women at the time, so it was aimed at men and mostly mentioned men. The texts chosen to discuss nature being female yet God with all power and might is presented as male.

The book met its purpose and gave a full and well-balanced discussion of what it means to be human based on popular culture. The book was very coherent with a clear unity of thoughts throughout. The ideas presented were well and elucidated the subject presenting a discussion of monsters and aliens by using ideas that are familiar to most individuals. The book is academic with a personal tone shown with links to her Christianity and feminist perspectives. Overall, the book is well written and can be understood with minimal participation in the subject before reading. She explains and provides examples of different post/human behaviours using familiar characters.

Rachel Mckoy Spurgeon’s College

[Rainboe Sims-Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book documents an intensely researched study of technology, science, literature and art and how they all convalesce to inspire contemporary human culture in Western society. More specifically, Graham attempts to show how science and technology own an equal part in the role of humanity's development of monster lore as literature and art do. Graham draws on parallels between Frankenstein's creature and the Golem legend to show how humanity's fears have evolved through ideas brought on by science and are reflected by the automatons or robots which are now our monsters created by technoscience. She furthers her argument with analysis of cyborgs and androids as outcasts (monsters) within the utopic concepts embodied by the Star Trek television series and how this new, futuristic monster reflects the enhancement of modern ideas and fears involving machines, humans and artificial intelligence. Considering the work of the performance artist Stelarc, Graham shows how the definition of human nature is being challenged in art, as artists implant or graft mechanical enhancements and reconfigurations to the biological body. Finally, she examines how classism and sexism are sustained in the digital age, bringing into question whether the newly improved, evolved, perfected “post-human” of the future will bring any improvement to society's problems today. This source is incredibly unique and contains important concepts not evaluated in other sources, making it extremely valuable for a well-rounded view of humanity and monsters. With a bibliography of over sixteen pages it is undoubtedly well-researched and the information presented is reliable and completely objective. The goal of this book is not to draw its reader into the technophilic or technophobic viewpoints, but simply present the possibilities of technoscience's impact on humanity now and in the future. Unfortunately, the entire book is written in such convoluted academese that reading about these interesting possibilities becomes laborious. It often takes several readings of a passage to be able to understand and translate it into plain speak.