sci-fi genre and sociohistorical context

Allegory= a media product that can be interpreted to revel a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Zeitgeist= the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time. "The spirit of the time."


 Godzilla 
Godzilla represents the Americans bombing Japan. The dinosaur was used as the evens were too raw only 5 years ago.

 Invasion of the saucer-men
Russian spies infiltrating American society. Aliens represent the Russians.

 Independence day
Global terrorism associated with the middle east. White house represents all of America.


"Humans" Sci-fi conventions:

  • blue eyes.
  • robots- robotic speech.
  • themes of artificial intelligence.
  • synth factory, clean, blue lighting.
  • robots have a stiff performance.

Why its unconventional:
  • very realistic real world setting (only difference is that there are robots).

In what ways does "Humans" use genre conventions to explore real world issues?
Allegorical aspects of humans:
  • Sexualisation.
  • Sexual exploitation.
  • Modern slavery.
  • Capitalism and the nuclear family.
  • Prostitution and the rights of sex workers.
  • Racism.

Sexualisation in "Humans":
  • Female synths used around the house, in the kitchen.
  • Male synths picking oranges.
  • Anita holds a blanket like it a child (maternal).
  • Anita checks on Sophie at night.
  • Anita can be used as a sex robot.

Ethical considerations to do with using sex robots:
- A robot is a depiction/ representation of a person.
- Anita is a representation of a woman.
- Starts to make boundaries go down of what is right and what is wrong.
- The show is also about pornography.
- Gives an idea of what sex is like (cultivating the idea), it cultivates the ideology that its okay to be like a woman.


Key theory 3- 
Steve Neale, theories around genre.
Why does genre exist?
- to set a theme.
- so the audience can see what exactly they're watching.


Laura meets Anita:
- zooming slow on both Anita and Laura's face.
- reverse shot.
- binary opposition- one is human, one is a robot. Laura looks older, Anita looks younger. Laura is white, Anita is East Asian.
- Anita could be Asian for a reason? To represent fast growing technology in places like China.

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