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wSex, Tech(s), and Cyborgs |
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This course is an introduction to feminist approaches to the study of texts including (but not limited to), novels, satire, film, and theory. This class examines how gender intersects with sex, class, sexuality, and technology in shaping authorship, reading, and representation.
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I know this has nothing to do with our reading, but did anyone watch the MTV movie awards tonight. The opening secquence was a Matrix theme as well as the set. They also gave a the first award for a virtual performance. Gollup from Lord of the Rings won. They also showed past virtual characters, remember Gizmo from Gremlins and Johnny #5 from short circut, C3PO. I never really thought of them as virtual characters, so I guess Shrek and Monster's Inc. characters would be too? I just thought it was interesting that this was the theme of a once a year event when we are in this class.
posted by
Emily at 12:21 AM
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wThursday, June 05, 2003 |
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In class today some brought up the different women that Mary saw when looking at Ernest's statue. A connection that was mentioned has to do with Margaret Sanger. Not only was she an economist and theorist, she is also the one who made the connection between reproductive rights and women's economic and social equality. I could go on and on about the wonderful things she has done but I will focus on my point for now. She opened the Birth Control League with later would become the Planned Parenthood Association. I find it interesting that Mary saw her because with her augmentation Mary can now control her reproductive system which is something that Margaret Sanger encouraged.
posted by
Shana at 6:03 PM
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Loretta gives us some great insight on the "Black marks on white eRace back to white" statement. It is fascinating to look at this from a writer's perspective. I think we can maybe even extend this to a metaphor for Goldsmith. He claims that he has a white soul although he has black skin. So, it almost like he has "black marks on white." If his color were erased, we would only see his "white" soul. It seems that Bear is making some sort of a statement on the Westernization and assimilation of cultures. If we are all assimilated into one homogenous Western culture, then we will, in essence, have "white," or Western, souls, despite our colors on the outside. Thus if we are "eRaced" we will all still be the same underneath.
This reminds me of the _HMT_ in that there is a fear of creating a society composed of people who are the same as everyone else. Handmainds had to go through "therapy" to change their own thoughts and opinions, just as the therapied in _Queen of Angels_. I think like Atwood, Bear is sending us a wake-up call. Authenticity, originality, difference are in danger.
posted by
Tory at 3:26 PM
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I don’t have too much to say this morning/afternoon. The book is getting more interesting now that Goldsmith is physically in the narrative. I don’t quite understand all of the political tension in the novel especially with Hispaniola…I hope this will become clearer. Like Abby and Laura I see race as being an issue but am not sure what the author means to say about it and society. Richard is a very interesting character. It seems he’s losing his sanity as the book progresses. Abby was wondering about eRace and what it meant. Lillian quoted the line, one of Richard’s thoughts: “+Black marks on white eRace back to white” (104). I didn’t understand this at first but then reading it again in Lillian’s blog, I had a realization. I think Richard is referring to writing. We write words with a pencil and they appear black on white paper but these words can be erased and we are left with the white paper again.
posted by
loretta at 1:02 PM
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The further we read into the novel, the more complex it becomes. Race had certainly become a very important issue. Goldsmith considers himself a white man in a black skin while Yarley a black man in a white skin. The significance of Guinee, the paradise of black people of Africa before the slavers arrive, is no longer possible in Goldsmith's idea. He, a white man in black skin, can no longer establish the connection between himself and nature on the American soil. Although he is alive, he considers himself dead. He is resigned. The sacredness of his black culture nature is robbed away. Just like the sacredness of one mysterious - dark - imagination should not be violated. That's why when Nadine probes Ricard's memory, Richard entertains the idea of strangling her. She is using her sympathy as a way to explore him, which she has no right to do. Richard makes up a story to fend her off. I am not sure whether that predicts Goldsmith's strategy of enticing those intruders of his mind in with his answers to their questions.
The constructedness of Mary's skin color and her cutoff situation in Hispaniola are very intriguing. I don't know what they symbolize yet. Does Mary's voluntary skin color indicate there is the possibility of constructing that imagined paradise for African people? Does Mary's journey to Hispaniola means there is a way to render her constructed blackness into true blackness by immersing her into the black culture? Does her cultural cyborgness, her Asian, White, and Black connections would make her succeed in the end? I want to know how three threads of the story - Mary's journey, Richard's journey, and Goldsmith's fate - would join together in the end.
posted by
xianfeng at 1:02 PM
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Lillian Liang
Professor Blackmon
English 360K
5 June 2003
My role is to jog the connections and because this article is about cosmetic surgery, I will focus my analysis on Mary. This article speaks directly to Queen of Angels, though often times Mary seems to provide a counter example to what Balsamo argues. Let us back track a little bit. We have spent two classes on QOA and a lot of questions have been brought up and two questions related to this are: First, why Mary undergoes augmentation and accordingly what kind of augmentation she receives? For the first question, we are told that she does this “to get advantage, or to match inner her with an outer appearance that had never satisfied” (8). The interesting thing is that her reason does speak to, though not directly support the reasons Balsamo gives in her article about why women choose to have cosmetic surgery.
In her article, Balsamo argues that women get surgery to increase their gender female, to fix the physical abnormality or physical flaw, and to achieve “normalcy” (63). So “women’s choice for cosmetic surgery” is “normal” and “natural” (69). All this talk is about women trying to conform to normal gender roles, to achieve the cultural ideals of the female body. But the beauty achieved in this way is “assembly line beauty” (58), based on Balsamo, because “difference is made over into sameness” (58).
But the surgery Mary receives, on the contrary, makes her distinct from, instead of similar to conventional beauty type. And this makes her an alien. On page 8 her friend Theo says to her “You are a fapping alien”, a metaphor of alienation. Later on Ernest says to Mary that “you tell me she [Theo] is your friend, but I never saw such a friend. …Wants to be like you, but hates you for being different” (86). And we also know that Mary is cut off from her mother and her family.
So the question arises, why Mary is regarded as an alien after receiving surgery, if we accept Balsamo’s view that surgery can make us a piece of work in the assembly line. This goes back to the question what kind of surgery she receives. And we know she gives herself “an exotic design” (8). Her skin, her face color, her biological clock, her birth control ability, her smell, her nipple, etc erode the gender boundaries and make her gender neutral instead of feminine. And this is regarded unreal (Richard believes Mary is unreal) because society accepts that surgery is a “technological elimination of facial “deformities” and it will enhance a woman’s “natural” beauty, so if the surgery Mary gets makes her distinct, or deformed, she is an unreal person. I agree with what Balsamo says here “We encounter one of the more persistent contradictions within the discourse of cosmetic surgery: namely, the use of technology to augment “nature” (60).
But another question arises, if people around regard her an alien after the surgery, what about herself? Does she feel comfortable about all this? Has she ever regretted? We are told that often times she undergoes struggles between the present self and original self on both physical level and social level. For instance she is quite a couple of times concerned about “the crease of her buttocks was turning gray” (3). She seems to be irritated about the blanching (120) and she believes it is silly to be seen by others (132). This relates to the race issue we are going to talk about today.
Balsamo argues that “Cosmetic surgeons demonstrate an unshakable belief in a Westernized notion of “natural beauty” (Balsamo 79). So her argument is that if you don’t have western beauty, you need to change your self and conform to that standard. Say, like in The Handmaid’s Tale, Japanese women made eye surgeries that their eyes look more Western. But we see a different picture in Mary’s case. Ernest says to Mary that “You are truly a dark woman. Not just nature’s halfhearted night; you are dark where sun never dares inquire” (132). So what does “half-hearted dark” mean? I think it means what Balsamo comments about the dark women who undergo or may want to undergo surgery to change their black color. So Mary is different from them. She doesn’t need to change the black color to “improve self-esteem, social status” as argued by Balsamo (58). But why then, Mary is so concerned about that gray blanching? Is that because she is worried about not being black enough? Why does Greg Bear purposely leave Mary a scar, trace, mark, vestige after the surgery? Furthermore, why Mary uses “vinegar bath”? Does this relate to her dissatisfaction about the decoloration, because we also find the sentence “race is like acid in a tight metal groove; we etch” appearing quite a few times also. It is interesting to note that Balsamo points out that “It is a basic belief that “white, symmetrical faces” “heal (apparently) without scarring” (Balsamo 60) and “it is true that black patients and patients with dark ruddy complexions have a greater prosperity to form keloids or hypertrophic scars than do Caucasian patients” , though “many physicians argue that black patients who are shown to be prone to keloid formation in the lower body are not necessarily prone to such formations in the facial area and upper body” (Balsamo 61). And “incision lines are much more visible in many black patients and races of color than their Caucasian counterparts” (Balsamo 61). Balsamo uses these facts to support her argument that “regardless of race” is not a widely shared assumption among cosmetic surgeons. Xian feng talked about this already, but I want to ask whether we can read this as a footnote for “the crease of her buttocks” (3) thing.
Balsamo also argues that males who receive cosmetic surgery tend to explain this “as a shrewd business tactic: a better looking body is better able to be promoted. In this case, cosmetic surgery is redefined as a body management technique designed to reduce the stress of having to cope with a changing work environment, one that is being threatened by the presence of women and younger people” (Balsamo 67). What we see in QOA is just the other way round, that Mary does the surgery for her career enhancement. Examples include she can “coast for many hours without sleep” (48), her camouflage skin, etc.
Summary. We know that gender is a socially constructed thing. Like Molly, Mary constructs herself through surgery and both of them use their bodies to “stage cultural identities” (Balsamo 78). Balsamo argues that “The female body comes to serve as a site of inscription, a billboard for the dominant cultural meanings that the female body” (78) has. Then both Molly and Mary’s bodies are super inscribed. But what is significant is that in both cases we see a reverse or a flip of gender roles. Both of them are gendered active. They reconstruct their female bodies as a power. This goes back to our frequent issue that what role technology plays in all this? On page 78, Balsamo concludes that “cosmetic surgery illustrates a technological colonization of women’s bodies; others see it as a technology women can use for their own ends”. In his summary Balsamo is reluctant to accept that cosmetic surgery is simple one more site where women are passively victimized. In other words, cosmetic surgery is both a form of oppression and a resource of empowerment, but whatever it is, she argues “Cosmetic surgery is a practice whereby women consciously act to make their bodies mean something to themselves and to others” (78). There are 3 kinds of people in this world: people who wonder what happened, who watch things happen, and who make things happen. Molly and Mary belong to the third. While some women use cosmetic surgeries to reconstruct their bodies as a signifier of ideal feminine beauty, Molly and Mary make them mean a lot more.
Works Cited
Balsamo, Anne Marie. Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women. Duran:
Duke UP, 1996.
Bear, Greg. Queen of Angels. New York, A Time Warner Company, 1990.
posted by
lillian at 12:55 PM
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who owns art? i think art is owned by the artist, but appreciated (or not) by the person looking at it or interacting with it. obviously, art is owned by the purchaser as well.
why does mary respond to ernest's art in the way she does? mary is surpressing memories of her past, especially about her parents and when those are brought to the surface, so to speak, it disturbs her. also, she's not sure if ernest can see what her memories are. if he can, he may think she is not as strong of a woman as she seems to be. she wasn't warned about what would happen and like i think marcus said, she was robbed of choice. that would piss anyone off.
as far as mary's sexual augmentation goes, i think it should be a device we use today. of course it wouldn't prevent std's, so we'd still have to use pesky condoms, but women would feel a lot safer and many would able to prevent pregnancy from rape or abuse. mary's body is altogether exotic - the color of her body, her sexual scent, her retractable nipples - and now this gate she can deactivate at any time. i think it's awesome that she has almost total control over her body. it prevents her from getting distracted by men or motherhood and helps her to concentrate on being a police woman.
race doesn't seem to be a huge issue thus far. we know the races of some characters, but it doesn't seem to be dwelled on or attempted to be wiped out, like in hmt.
posted by
jamie at 12:43 PM
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Cosmetic Surgery:
It seems that whenever someone talks about cosmetic surgery, they discuss the concepts of beauty and society as if there is some ultimate mastermind controlling these things. WE are society and therefore WE are the ones who decide what is beautiful. Beauty in definition is a subjective thing. Of course in the US, beauty is a Western look because that's where we are. And the advertisers and media are not some evil force that we are subjected to. We are the ones controlling them. If Abercrombie all of the sudden started putting its clothes on fat, acne-ridden, [insert other undesireable traits] models in their commercials, most likely they would lose a lot of business to the other stores whose commercials are full of "gorgeous" bodies.
One large sector of the media is the motion picture industry. Typically, just about every PG-13 or R rated movie will have some sort of nudity scene most likely featuring some unrealistically skinny actress. We then complain that they are setting these standards and causing us all to feel worthless and have horrible self esteem. Yet, when a movie shows some non-standard appearance actress nude (like for instance Cathy Bates in About Schmidt) the comments I hear aound me are those of disgust for seeing her nude body on screen. Why? She's older, larger, and not the typical Hollywood beauty.
Where am I going with this? Cosmetic surgery, makeup, eating disorders, fad diets, etc really shouldn't be our central focus. These are simply the outlets for the insecurities of people who are the ones setting the standards too high themselves. People shouldn't be attacking the cosmetic surgery industry. If someone is going to pay a lot of money to a surgeon who is going to cut them down and use derogatory terms about their desire for their services, I really don't think the surgeon is the one with a problem. Those who want to make a difference in this respect should focus instead on the people who are subjecting themselves to this. Start with educational programs to the youth. Establish healthy self-esteems to start with. Yes it can be done. There are quite a few people walking around who are not anything near the Western standard of beauty who have very high self esteem and self confidence and believe themselves to be absolutely great just the way they look. I happen to be one of them. For those of you who can't connect the name with the face, I'm the "girl" with the buzzed hair who is overweight, doesn't wear expensive or trendy clothes, and doesn't spend any money on beauty products.
I think we put way too much emphasis on the body and not enough on the mind. This whole course we have been discussing the body over and over again: how it is constructed, how it is augmented, how it reacts with technology. The body is just a lump of flesh. The mind is what gives us self-awareness. The mind uses the body as a tool to explore its world. And our brains all look pretty much the same.
posted by
Sarah at 12:23 PM
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The issue of race is obviously prevalent throughout the story and Goldsmith is the character who makes it so. In his poetry he is always making reference to his heritage and to Africa itself. I think it was Richard who pointed out that Goldsmith liked to use coffee metaphors to distinguish between how blacks are perceived in that society versus whites. The race issue also comes up in Choy's line of thinking as she is trying to find out the motive behind Goldsmith's murdering. So, in QoA, race is something that cannot be avoided and to have Goldsmith be a black man only adds to the controversy of the murders. Also, it seems that the idea of the transform is itself another race that society has to deal with. So not only are the racial issues of the past not dealt with but the new society has created another race (or color) for people to pass judgements on.
posted by
Nicholas at 12:23 PM
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If all people were therapied, society would be extremely boring. I feel as though the society they are living in has no sense of "color" not in the sense of the word, but in the sense of "character." It is true that someone's pain makes them who they are. Who are these people, do the they have any character? It remind's me of the movie "A Beautiful Mind," the main character has schizophrenia...sp? With his medication he cannot adjust his mind to solve these impossible puzzles. So he discontinues his medication in order to do his work. In discontinueing his medication he also suffers from hallucinations, and becomes paranoid. In choosing pain or no pain he chooses pain in order to continue his work, to continue who he is.
posted by
Lauren at 11:54 AM
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I find it interesting that Goldsmith's character is a black male who also happens to take part in a horrendous murder. In today's American society, it sometimes seems like the main evil or the main type of person who commits crime is a black male. Or at least these are the types of criminals commonly mentioned in the news. This just enforces the stereotype that all black males are thugs, criminals, and want to rape white women. For example, the woman who drowned her 2 kids inside her car a few years ago, lied and said that a black male had kidnapped her kids and did those horrible things. And the police didn't even bother to question or suspect the mother at all. And if this society in Queen Of Angels, wants to eradicate all evil, it seems like black males might be the target audience for the source of evil.
The book also mentioned how Hispaniola is becoming "white". White is the cultural standard. It's the cultural standard in the USA. Like white culture, can't lower itself to black culture. But they expect black culture to rise up to white standards and to accept the white way of life. And to relate that to gender, like if a woman wants to become successful in business or whatever, she often has to take on male characteristics such as aggression. Like women are expected to conform to the needs of men. But men can't do the same for women. Why should a woman have to become more male-like in character, just to get ahead in the world? Or is it even possible to remain "feminine" and still be able to get ahead?
posted by
Amanda at 2:33 AM
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wWednesday, June 04, 2003 |
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Along with Abby, I also wonder why the issue of race seems to be such an important factor. Since he is white, it makes me wonder where his motivation comes from to make such a big effort to focus on race. I also think that our discussion today about Mary's sexual power as well as her ability to choose whether or not she wants to be an active sexual being and she has the option of stopping her reproductive system by choice is important. I think the fact that she has that control over her sexual body (including the retractable nipples) just gives her even more power over men. This gives her the ability to be absolutely not interested in sex in any way when she is not willing to be. I think it is true that women have sexual urges just like men do, and perhaps through an increased ability to control such urges, a female has even more power over men. Men are constantly thinking of sex and would probably jump on any opportunity to engage in sexual activity. If their partner has absolutely no interest in sex, can retract her nipples, can stop her reproductive system, this gives her an increased power to deny the man sex. I think Mary's control over sex is similar to Molly's. Both women are portrayed as being strong women with huge sexual power over men. This sexual power is something that a man can never control, which probably makes it that much more gratifying for the woman.
posted by
Laura at 8:51 PM
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I am interested in learning more about the issue of race in this novel. I did look up the author and he is white. He also has done some traveling in Japan. I am not quite sure why race comes up so much in the novel. It definately seems like Africans are struggling to be certain things in this society, such as poets. I was also a little confused when they talk about e race. I also think that because Mary can control her sexuality she is even more sensual to her man.
posted by
Abby at 8:27 PM
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Yesterday in class we discussed the issue of the therapied vs. the untherapied in Queen of Angels, and how this distinction related to those who have mental problems but often refuse to take their medicine, arguing that it stifles creativity. While medication might cause a bipolar to gain lucidity, it might nonetheless numb the creative impulse. I myself take anti-depressants to regulate the level of serotonin in my body; without this neurotransmitter, I find it difficult to function. But there is a certain trade-off: while my mind gains clarity from the medication, my emotions lose much of their former intensity. Sometimes I go off my medication for a few days so that I don't feel so emotionally numb . . . In regard to the novel, I understand the resistance of the untherapied, who don't wish to stifle their creativity by undergoing the numbing force of therapy. The untherapied have no desire to rid themselves of their personal pain. Perhaps this is because pain is a prime impetus and source for creativity . . . and pain is also part of one's identity. This reluctance to part with pain reminded me of one of the old Star Trek movies, in which Spok's half-brother was playing therapist by evoking the painful memories of his subjects in order to cure them. Defiant, Captain Kirk resists, insisting, "I need my pain," and claiming that his pain has made him who he is. It is this sort of resistance to pain-relieving therapy and elimination of personal flaws that we see in Queen of Angels. As Richard explains, "+To love one's self is to be therapied. Self-hatred is freedom" (11).
posted by
Jane at 3:34 PM
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As I read on, the novel becomes more complex. I am intrigued by one sentence which says that Richard's inner voice is Goldsmith. Then in a certain sense, Goldsmith is cyborg in nature. The intalicized sections between chapters first strike me as of the voice of Gold smith. Yet when Richard does become able to write, what he produces matches the intalicized sections in voice and theme. Since both of them are naturals and Richard is the closest friend of Goldsmith, I guess Richard's voice represents Goldsmith's. The reader gets to know some of Goldsmith's thoughts in the early part of the novel, though Goldsmith is absent.
I am puzzled by Richard's explanation of Goldsmith's motive for the mass murder. We are sort of sure that Goldsmith did that, and the novel proceeds to unravel the mystery. When Mary Choy puts the question to Richard, Richard replies that Goldsmith killed them to save them from the forsaken future where no colorfulness exists. Yet, in his mind, Richard tells himself that Goldsmith kills the victims not for their benefit for his own benefit. The part of the novel I have covered does not give the answer. At one point, the novel tells us that Goldsmith considers himself thoroughly culturally white, though he is, I assume, African American. Does he kill to have some evil in himself, or because of the despair he felt at his rootlessness? In his interview which Martin has viewed, Goldsmith believes that the skin color of African Americans in the States to Africans on the African continent. Is he in despair at that?
I did not detect the role of gender so far. However, I am surprised by the hellcrown that Earnest displays to Mary. That image acts kind of like an imperceptible thing able to invade into a person's dreamstate. But I guess it is more dangerous than the Country of the Mind Martin is doing, because hellcrown is only an image may or may not exist. It does not need computers to invade into a person's mind. Is it cyborg in natre? If yes, if is scaring.
posted by
xianfeng at 1:00 PM
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Lillian Liang
Professor Blackmon
English 360K
4 June 2003
I will share with you here my thoughts about gender issues at play in the novel thus far. The teacher asked us to notice that at the very beginning Mary’s body color is mentioned. And “discoloration”, “stress”, and “the crease of her buttocks” are linked together, and we are told “her buttocks was turning gray in the universal deep black” (3). On page 8 we are told she has “black fingers”. (I am not sure whether this echoes the mentioning of her hands being detached page 85.) And a few lines down, we learn that this “exotic design” (8) is her own choice. On page 13 there is a metaphor. “Race is like acid in a tight metal groove. We etch”. So race marker cannot be easily erased. This speaks to the reason why Mary has de-coloration on her buttocks and may imply why Mary has to use “vinegar bath”. On page 120, when she is alone, she is “inspecting the crease of her buttocks” and finds it “still blanched”. And she thinks about reverting back to the state before therapy. So her crease is the undesirable after effects of the therapy.
Therefore therapy and racial marker are closely related. At the beginning we are told Theo even doesn’t “want to see” her (8) in person. This may suggest her disgust at seeing Mary’s body. On page 132 when Mary is having sex with Ernest, she herself also doesn’t want him to see her buttocks. But her darkness---the color of her body and of several parts of the body are commented upon by Ernest and we know that Mary wants her robe to be “green” (135) and “brown” (135) instead of black. (I am not sure here whether the dragon design has something to do with the traditional image of a dragon lady, but “Queen” (132) is first time mentioned in the book.)
I like the way the race issue being brought up in this novel. For instance, we know until one third of the book that Goldsmith is also a black. If we say Mary and Martin are two primary cyborgs in the novel, on page 108 we are told explicitly Goldsmith is another one. Why his first love affair is in his senior year? And why one love affair ends “in the suicide of a woman” (100)? Therefore, not only therapy and race is involved, sex jumps in also. I believe this has something to do with his theory about coffee and cream, because right after we read “+Goldsmith could not tolerate cream milk and dairy but delact
+Black marks on white eRace back to white” (104).
And for the first time we are told “the black transform woman Lieutenant Choy”. Black is not only related to her body parts, but her body as a whole this time, though the contrast between “white teeth” and her “black skin” becomes the focus again. But to Richard, “she cannot be real none of this is real” (105). It seems that beauty is skin deep applies to Mary perfectly here because Richard only sees her real or beautiful behind her skin. Richard also has a theory about people who have undergone transformation, because he still delights at seeing Mary behave and sound feminine and warm. This again relates to the conventional image of gender roles.
I agree with the class discussions about what does “transform” or “therapy” signify. I noticed that when these two words appear, they are often times collocated with various words, including “misfits” (4), “edge” “compete” (7), “alien” (8), “natural”, “help” (35), “passions” (50), “stylish” (51), “antisocial offenders” (53), “stable” (61), “well adjusted” (84), “surgeon” (84), “different” (86), “health” (97), “sane” (126), “capture and torture” (129), “being in the clamp” (129), “restrictions” (130).
A “transform” is “exotic and protected” (7) as seen from Theo’s eyes, but on page 51 Mary also mentions that by being “stylish” (51) she has “only eight lives”. So on the one hand, she is more “protected”, because she has eliminated human flawnesses, but on the other, she has used human potential to the full and only leaves herself 8 lives, which means she is more vulnerable than others.
I feel like the techniques Martin has also relates to this therapy issue. I hope we can talk a little bit about his techniques, especially on page 92-95. Because here “therapy” has distinctions between “suppression of unwanted or defective subpersonality” and “the stimulation of discarded rountines”, though both having the purpose of achieving “balance” (95).
Works Cited
Bear, Greg. Queen of Angels. New York, A Time Warner Company, 1990.
posted by
lillian at 12:57 PM
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Our discussion yesterday and the blogs about cosmetic surgery bring up good points. I also think it is quite sad that many women and even men displace their personal insecurity as body flaws and then go through surgery to become more “perfect” but end up even more unhappy. In general I think the commercial attitude of pointing out flaws and then offering products to correct the problems is very annoying given its basis of making money by deceiving people. Luckily, I don’t have tv so I am spared from all the stupid commercials.
About QoA, Lillian asks some interesting questions in her blog. I believe the italic sections between chapters are the words of Emanuel Goldsmith. On page 3 the italicized section is quoted as being Goldsmith’s and what we learn about him seems to support these sections as being his work. This is stylistically interesting on Greg Bear’s part. He is allowing us to form an impression of Goldsmith outside of what other characters say about him. And since the sections are his poetry we are given an intimate point of view. There is another, block type font that is related to axis, artificial intelligence, and litvid. I’m not sure yet about the significance of these sections. The concept of “Fausting” is interesting. I have not personally read Faust but my boyfriend did a term paper on Faust so I asked him about it. It seems that Faust was tempted by the devil and gave in to temptation thus Martin is tempted by Albigoni and he gives in. If anyone else has read Faust they’d probably be able to better explain the significance of this term but I though I’d try since Lillian mentioned it.
Amy drew a connection between the selectors and the eyes from HMT. This seems really interesting. I’m still not sure what role the selectors play in this society but that insight puts a new spin on what I understand so far.
posted by
loretta at 12:39 PM
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In response to what Jamie said...The westernized eyes is not the only surgery that people of another race are getting...I know that in Africa, it's popular for women to use a bleach made of quinine (it may be a different poison, but I think that's it...I know it starts with a "Q") to lighten their skin tones so they aren't as dark...and I know that in some Asian countries it's popular to literally stretch the legs to add inches of height...These types of surgeries are grotesque and even more risky than the typical lipo-suction or breast augmentation...It's really sad that women, even men too, believe themselves to be less than beautiful just because their skin may be different...or they aren't "westernized" in appearance...or that their breasts are too small...This is how I see Mary's transformation...I don't mind it when people have surgeries to make themselves feel better...for example an implant for a woman who has had a masectomy, or breast reduction due to back problems...etc...but when someone does it for the public...it's a bit of an off decision in my eyes...
posted by
Eileen at 12:25 PM
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I was thinking, once products are on the market for a period of time, their price generally drops. In a futuristic society, I believe that cosmetic surgery will be affordable for all people. Who knows, they may have do-it-yourself packs!
Another thought, in a world where cosmetic surgery is easily accessible to everyone, and everyone looks beautiful and somewhat the same, is it possible that looks will finally not become important in society? If all of society is beautiful and perfect, what would be considered attractive? Who would be the top supermodel? I feel that society places beauty on things that most people do not have, exotic features, things that stand out, things that a "normal" person could not easily achieve. For instance, most women are a size 12-16, supermodels being a size 0-4. This body type is abnormal, and in most cases achievable only if one were to starve themselves. Plus how many women do you know that are 6 feet tall? Not too mention, in America, a strong beauty trait to us is a European accent. Giselle, the top supermodel has this accent, this seems to add to her beauty, because it is unachievable for us Americans to just pick up this accent! In a futuristic world, where everything is acheivable, what beauty characteristic won't be?
posted by
Lauren at 12:22 PM
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the whole cosmetic surgery fad has always astounded me. i admit that i have some insecurities about aging, but sticking a needle in my forehead or vacuuming out the insides of my thighs just doesn't sound comfortable or worthwhile to me. i think that type of surgery should be saved for people who really need it, not given out like candy at halloween. xianfeng's presentation was really interesting. she brought up a lot of good points about cosmetic surgery as a mask for women's insecurities. i found it odd that women of oriental ethnicity would reconstruct their eyes to better resemble western culture. that, to me, is the ultimate slap in their culture's face! Molly and Mary are two characters that alter their appearances surgically, but in their worlds it doesn't seem odd or sick. i think that because they do it in a way that will be used as protection and offense, like xianfeng says in her blog. i really appreciate the fact that their motives do not lie in male appreciation, like today's women's sometimes do.
posted by
jamie at 11:24 AM
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I completely agree with what Amanda said. Society dictates what is "beautiful" and everyone fallls victim to it. Even those who you may not think have any imperfections probably see something you don't when they look in the mirror. Advertising capitolizes on this. It plays on our fears and insecurities, then sells us solutions to these "problems." While video games and the likes are not necessarily things you see all the time. Advertising, however, is hard to escape. Magazines, TV, Internet, radio, billboards. These ideals of beauty are thrown at us over and over throughout our day. Unless of course you never leave your house and don't own a tv or radio, don't subscribe to magazines or internet access. Then maybe you could escape all these images. Cosmetic surgery is a quick and easy (although not cheap) answer. While there are some surgeries that are necessary (like breast reductions and some weight reduction surgeries) to improve health related problems, most are done for purely cosmetic purposes. Many times the person undergoing the surgery thinks that it will solve all their other problems when really it's something internal. It's easy to see how someone could become addicted to being online where they can change their appearance to fit whatever they want it to be. It would be cheaper than the surgery and they could change their body whenever they wanted to as many times as they wanted to.
posted by
Shana at 12:48 AM
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After reading Balsamo's article on "The Virtual Body in Cyberspace", made me think about how I would make my virtual self appear. I could remain just how I look now, make myself a man, something that isn't even human, but I decided that I would probably make myself appear as I do now, but with a few changes. I'd take off a few pounds here and there. Make my tits a little perkier. Fairer skin. Different hairstyle, etc...I would probably conform to Western beauty standards, rather than just accept myself for who I am. And this relates to Balsamo's article on Cosmetic Surgery and how people will change their looks to become the ideal beauty. Like in cyberspace, traditional ideas of beauty/gender/sexuality/race/etc are supposed to be non-existant. But really how many people in cyberspace would keep their looks exactly the same as they are in real life? Most people probably would change themselves to fit whatever they find beautiful and attractive. Which most likely would be Western beauty ideals. At least in America, Europe, and some Asian countries. So would cyberspace really be an escape from these things? And after reading the Cosmetic Surgery article, it reminded me of this special MTV aired about cosmetic surgery. Two girls featured in it, were going to get liposuction, their lips filled, and one was getting a nose job. First of all, I saw nothing wrong with the looks of these 2 girls. I'm sure most males would have found them attractive. They were pretty, had good sized boobs, and small waists. But one of the girls didn't like the fact that her thighs touched. I thought most people's thighs touched each other. And then the MALE cosmetic surgeon who was examining them, noticed and pointed out some fat she had on her hips. It wasn't even that much fat or anything. Not even a handful. So she decided on getting that fat removed as well. There was nothing wrong with this girl's body. But in her mind she was completely flawed. The only reason why these girls were getting cosmetic surgery, was so that they could get into Playboy, which was one of their major goals in life. I just find that pathetic. So after they go through tremendous pain after these surgeries and get pictures taken to send to Playboy, they decide that they hate the way they look in them, and never even sent in the pictures. A male was also featured on this show. He was getting calf implants. He thought his calves were too tiny which made his legs look girl like. I would say that this guy was attractive, in a Western sense. But he thought that his calves were just horrible and that's why he couldn't get a girlfriend. Like a girl is really going to be like "I can't date you because your calves are too small". Even after his calf implants, he still didn't get a girlfriends. Another person featured on this show, was this woman who was quite obese and had the size of her stomach surgically made smaller to lose weight. She was doing this for both health and cosmetic reasons. Another person featured on this program was a former model, who had liposuction done to remove small amounts of fat that wouldn't go away. After getting her 1st liposuction, she started noticing more and more flaws in her body that she had to perfect. She got another liposuction done, but too much fat was taken out, which caused something in her leg to collapse and she was retaining water in these huge pockets. The pictures of it were quite grotesque. It has taken her like 8 surgeries to fix this. But what this model was saying, is that cosmetic surgery won't fix your body image problems. It's emotions inside that you have to deal with to fix things. I found this MTV show to be quite informative. Cosmetic surgery doesn't fix everything.
posted by
Amanda at 12:21 AM
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wTuesday, June 03, 2003 |
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Abby's and Amanda's posts are interesting in that they bring up the images of women's bodies in video games. Although I am happy to see a few more video games that employ a lead female character, the ways in which these women are constructed say much about how women's bodies are gendered. Even going as a far back as Ms. Pac-man, we still had to give her a pink bow in order to differentiate her from Pac-man. Her name itself is interesting as well--instead of Pac-woman, she must be Ms. Pac-man. Though the Ms. attempts to free her from patriarchal restraints, the use of Pac-man instead of Pac-woman enforces her inferior social status. When we look at today's video-game women, we see the scantily-clad and curvaceous Laura Croft. Other video games use women as minor characters that are there to help the males. For instance, I have hear about a game called Grandtheft Auto in which the male characters use prostitutes to gain energy. These gendered constructions reflect the demographics of video game consumers: teenaged males.
These gendered female body types also remind me of those found in comic books as well. I think there is a clear connection between these types of characters and Molly, as well as Mary, to some extent. Their transformations make them seem like comic book or video game action heroes.
posted by
Tory at 3:23 PM
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Lillian Liang
Professor Blackmon
English 360K
3 June 2003
Continue yesterday’s discussions, I think we need to look sci fi the genre, as a whole. A great thing about this course is that we learn that non-mainstream works, like sci fi, are so interesting and so social, I mean something profound can come out of them. So I did preliminary researches about this genre after yesterday’s class. I learned that sci fi often uses novelette or novella as primary forms and it has certain techniques, images or patterns. For instance, in Neuromancer, the name Wintermute immediately creates visual images in our minds. But the option is endless. I mean, there are definitely no modules, master copies to adapt from. Yesterday we talked about the ethnic background of the characters in Neuromancer. These are crucial to our understandings of sci fi. First, sci fi is basically still white, I mean not only the writers are whites, the characters are also white, which is at least true for the two sci fi we have learned so far. Last week we watched the movie The Matrix and one of the basic themes is to free our minds, go beyond boundaries, borders, distinctions, and don’t be a slave anymore. So on one hand, we could argue that there are no, say Asian voices in sci fi, but on the other, a world without borders, boundaries, where everything is possible, is maybe the world sci fi writers aim for. Secondly, I kind of agree that male voices still dominate in the technology world, as seen not only from the relationship between naming and power as pointed out in our discussions, but also from the fact that sci fi writers are still basically male. I still have one question about this genre. While I read criticisms, I see people use “cyberpunk” a lot. I don’t think sci fi and cyberpunk are the same and I believe different sci fi writers have different opinions about this, but what are their basic distinctions? Bear with me for using boundary thinking again.
I finished one third of Queen of Angels and I found it pretty interesting, though for the analysis’s sake, I need to read carefully and that is why I didn’t finish it in one go. I would say this is a thriller and also a sci fi. Bear’s style is straight and forward. Although there are more characters than in Neuromancer, and it is a little dense, it is enjoyable to read and the plot works well. Actually it looks like it is simpler than Neoromancer to me.
A couple of major questions from the reading I have done so far inlcude: (1) the significance of using italics between chapters and also using different font types in some chapters; (2) The significance of being “therapied” and “transformed”, because I believe this relates to one of the course themes---the human-machine interface. What is the risk of being “untherapied”? What is the danger of being “too therapied” (40)? (3) The significance of using “Faust” (42) and how does this relate to the mad / bad scientists formula that often frequents sci fi? (Opps, I am using formula thinking again.) (4) What is so special about “Selectors”? What does “Selector philosophy” (51) signify? (5) I haven’t read really important passages about sex or sexuality so far, though passages about Martin and Carol could be counted.
Balsamo’s article about virtual body continues the concept of “virtual reality” and focuses on the role of body in the formation of virtual reality. Her basic argument is that “The repression of the material body belies a gender bias in the supposedly disembodied (and gender-free) world of virtual reality” and “VR technologies have the effect of naturalizing a gendered body phenomenon” (123). I find the issue of “internalizing the technological gaze” (125) ties pretty well with her other articles. Things I am pretty interested in this article include: (1) The reason why “the best (mythical) cyberspace events have all taken place” (119) are in the “wild West” (119); (2) I agree that “There is a lot of money to be made in the development and marketing of cyberspace” (122), and I find the product examples given on page 121 pretty precise, but I believe there should be a lot more; (3) On page 121 Balsamo says “Members of the cyberpunk subculture---who are also the programmers, designers, and technicians”, so my question is that if “programmers, designers, and technicians” “also” belong to cyberpunk subculture, then what does the main population of this subculture consist of? (4) The “juxtaposition of technology and the counterculture” (122) is an interesting phenomenon. It is also worthy to note that on one hand, “virtual reality technologies are implicated in the production of a certain set of cultural narratives that reproduce dominant relations of power” (123); and on the other, “the use of such technologies, are determined by broader social and cultural forces” (123).
Works Cited
Balsamo, Anne Marie. Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women. Duran:
Duke UP, 1996.
Bear, Greg. Queen of Angels. New York: A Time Warner Company, 1990.
posted by
lillian at 12:51 PM
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"Cosmetic surgery" reminds me of the scene in Neoromancer where Riviera imagines Molly into being. Riviera first fragements Molly's body part by part, and makes changes like larger breasts. The fragmentation is in fact surveillance and those changes reflect his desire and ways of and inscription. Only at the last stage does he wills her head into existence. That may reflect the male assumption that a woman's head, her thoughts, is the least important. But the imagined Molly proves contrary. Once her head comes into being, she attacks Riviera with blades hidden in her nails.
Confession works from the women's perspective. When a woman internalizes and accepts the "flawed identity" of her body, she actually confesses her physical abnormality in need of "fixing" (Balsomo "Cosmetic Surgery," 56-57). Therefore her body is transformed into an object of technological reconstruction, hence a site of cultural signification. But, in Neuromancer, Molly reverses the cultural assumption. She adopts technological reconstruction of her body not for the enjoyment or appreciation for the males, but for her own benefit of preotection and offensive capability. As we have discussed, she augments her eyes to prevent others from probing her and at the same time subject others to the passive position with her sunglasses. Her implanting of razor blades under her fingernails strengthens her capability to attack, or at least intimidate the males. Gibson's rewriting of Molly's intention, in my opinion, reflects his realization that women's adoption of technological surgery may run contrary to the cultural expectation. Women may use this retreat as an offensive strategy to control men.
posted by
xianfeng at 12:44 PM
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Queenm of Angels seems to be an easier read that Neuromancer so far. However, I'm having a hard time keeping track of all of the acronyms and computer gibberish going on. Hopefully we can clear all that stuff up in class.
posted by
Russell at 12:24 PM
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I can't help but read sci-fi without my preconceived notions of the type of guys who are computer oriented. And I'm talking about the ones who get really into it. I've been surrounded by them all my life. And I really don't think that "computer geek" is a stereotype because it is inherent in the nature of being one. If you are going to be online and/or playing video games extensively, you are stuck in one room without a lot of real human to human interaction and definitely without a lot of physical exercise. To me, these are the people who these video games and sci-fi novels are marketed toward. Therefore, I would argue that reading these for a look into gender roles cannot occur from a common American culture frame of reference. The market for these types of materials is sort of this counter-culture of computer geeks. And most of them don't interact with girls all that often. And the girls who are part of this world aren't your typical girls either. Sci-fi to me is fantasy land. The guys reading it are typically not your All-American muscle-bound guys. They therefore either identify with the weak hero or long to be the super-strong hero. And perhaps to them women are these mysterious, powerful beings. Women do hold a certain power over guys in that the boys are trying to get a piece and women are often the ones who determine whether they do or not. Yes this is all very stereotypical, but stereotypes often have a base in reality. Therefore I wonder if Gibson actually analyzed any of the things we talked about in class when he wrote this novel. I have a feeling he was more geared toward the computer stuff and actually trying to make the novel seem a lot like a video game because thats what the consumer likes. The Matrix, Tomb Raider, and many of the movies which have come out in this genre have a definite video-game feel and that is what their target audience seems to like. And in video games, things aren't like they are in reality. Just like Balsamo talks about: this counter-culture likes to claim it is very different than reality but the gender norms are the same if not exaggerated. This makes me think about our very first class discussion about gender. People seem to like gender...it is one of the things that will probably never be irradicated. We may eventually become one race, but we will always want our different genders. Therefore in fantasy worlds gender is often exaggerated. The men are fantasizing about being the ultimate man or the geeky guy who gets the hot chick. And they are fantasizing about the hottest women they can create based on what their dominant culture says is desireable. Sci-fi, video games, and the computer world are very male dominated, and this is something that must be taken into account when we read and analyze these books.
posted by
Sarah at 12:21 PM
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queen of angels is ceratinly a change from neuromancer but there are some similarities. i liken mary to molly, in that they are "transforms", i've also seen some of gibson's language pop up in qoa. we get a better picture of the society as a whole in qoa than in neuromancer, i'm really enjoying reading about day to day life in 1100-10111-11111111111. i want an arbeiter and home manager!!! the concept of therapied, untherapied, and natural individuals is very interesting to me and i want to learn more about these classifications. i am also intersted in the role of the Selectors, they are like the Eyes in hmt, but seem more feared by the citizens.
posted by
amy at 12:16 PM
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Our discussion yesterday cleared up many cloudy feelings I had felt for Neuromancer. The matrix was another major help for me, although I have seen it many times before, I could now grasp ideas that were in the movie to better understand the book. Last night and this morning I finished up the reading due for today's class. It has a much different style of writing and the "mumbo jumbo" in Neuromancer is not as present, or at least it is explained thoroughly within the book. I am wondering if I enjoy this book more because the main character, Mary, is a woman. Because of this I may feel that I relate to her more easily.
posted by
Lauren at 12:11 PM
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I want to start out with something funny that goes along with our discussion yesterday. Some guys were playing one of those video games with the "hot" girls and one of them said, "Oh my god she is so hot." I could not believe that he thought a cartoon character was hot. It really does not matter if the women is real or not if she has the right physical assests the man starts to have some kind of sexual fantasy about her. I also thought that watching the Matrix helped me to understand what was going on in the book. I got a much more visual image. I do think that Molly plays a male stereotype role in the novel, but I do not think that Case is a manly man. He seems very weak and dependent on people to guide him through everything that is happening. I would have to read this book again to understand the whole sci fi plot, but I could definately see gender issues in the novel.
posted by
Abby at 9:45 AM
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Watching the Matrix in class Friday helped me to develop an appreciation of the movie itself - which I had only seen once when it first came out, and did not fully understand - as well as an added appreciation for the book. The movie helped me to visualize the rich and elusive description of Gibson's virtual world, while the book - with its own apt definition of the matrix as a "consensual hallucination" - helped me to grasp the concept behind "The Matrix" movie.
Quite a few similarities stood out for me. I was better able to visualize the concept of "jacking in," and "flatlining" became more fully explained. I liked Morpheus' explanation of cyberdeath: that if you die in virtual reality, you die in cold harsh reality as well - the body cannot survive without the mind. Perhaps the only way Neo overcomes his physical death is when he realizes that his virtual death was only as real as his mind chose to conceive it. His death is psychsomatic. Choosing to believe that the bullets are real or choosing to believe that the bullets are a mere fabrication of an elaborate computer program means the difference between life and death. Just as the enlightened child informs Neo "There is no spoon," neither are there bullets. Neo thus had to do away with all his preconceived notions of the nature of existence, and undeceive his mind in the matrix. His enlightenment was a triumph of mind over matter, and his resurrection an illustration of the limitless power of the mind.
In Neuromancer, we also see the power of the mind over the body. Case describes the body as "meat;" it is only when his mind transcends its tenement of flesh that he feels unfettered. Reveling in his disembodied consciousness, he feels free.
Another similarity I noticed between Neuromancer and The Matrix was the mention of the place Zion. In the former, it is a spacial colony inhabited by Rastafarians; in the latter, it is the one last human city, situated close to the earth's core. I find it interesting that a biblical reference is used in these sci-fi works; "The Matrix", indeed, is rife with such references. . . I wonder what connection is meant to be suggested by religion and prophecy in a sci-fi world. That humans, no matter how technologically advanced, will never abandon their spirituality? Or their dreams of paradise?
posted by
Jane at 12:01 AM
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wMonday, June 02, 2003 |
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i really enjoyed today's discussion. i didn't get the chance to see the seducity site but i thought it was interesting that you can have your personality and communicative skills but not your body. i once got hooked on a game on the yahoo games site. there was a chat room you could talk in while you were playing and i talked to a lot of people using another name and basically became everything i'm not. even nasty users would ask kinky sexual questions and really get into not being themselves. as for video games the only one i've really gotten into is tekkin which is basically a beat the shit out of your opponent before he gets you. there are only two female fighters and both look how samantha described in class today (big boobs, small waist). i also enjoyed discussing women's empowerment in neuromancer. i saw molly as active and case as passive, like many of you did, and found it interesting that straylight, wintermute and artificial intelligence were developed by a woman. my only question is, who is marcus garvey? the name sounds familiar, but i can't place it.
posted by
jamie at 11:24 PM
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I have not yet finished the reading assignment for the evening, but I can already tell that I like the style that Queen of Angels is written in better than I liked the style of Neuromancer. I was a bit discouraged by Neuromancer, and was thinking that I didn't really like the Science Fiction genre as a whole, but I glad we are reading another book to show that may not b ethe case. It is not that technical or science fiction aspect of Neuromancer that I didn't like, but the language in the book was a bit hard to follow for me. Queen of Angels seems to be more clear, and I can read the text without feeling as though I need to re-read it.
I find the notion of the "therapied" and the "untherapied" very interesting, this is perhaps the way society could eventually become with the development of technology. Although this may be a somewhat perfect world, there is also the risk of all people becoming somewhat the same. Wouldn't that, along with our dependence on the therapy technology make us cyborgs?
posted by
Maria at 10:24 PM
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Lillian Liang
Professor Blackmon
English 360K
2 June 2003
I assume today we will continue the discussion of Neuromancer, so I am going to write something about Case-Molly relation, as it kind of relates to the question the teacher gave as a prompt in last Thursday’s class.
Molly is pretty tough and terrifying. But such women are a mainstay of modern sci fi or action fiction. Do they represent women's liberation? At least, as what we have agreed in class discussions, Molly is dominant, highly competent, and knowlegible (if not more knowlegible than Case). Are this kind of women really popular with readers?
Because the human-machine interface runs through the novel, we see Molly has a characteristic implant. Thus her eyes are inaccessible, masked, and inscrutable, but she can see others. This enrages Peter Riviera. Her fingernails are retractable, made of steel, which suggests her profession of “razor girls”.
If we compare Case with Molly, it is interesting to note the sex Case experiences differs from that Molly does, though she and Case have something important in common. What does Molly like about her relationship with Case? And after Case jacks in, he can experience the world from inside Molly's body without leaving cyberspace. So Case's mind is using Molly's body. So can we say Molly is a "meat puppet," because her conscious mind is disconnected from her body? And actually the story makes clear what Molly has to gain by remaining an outlaw. Molly has a theory about how Wintermute is manipulating her.
Why then Molly finally leaves Case? I read some criticisms recently which argue that male authors frequently imagine highly desirable but dangerous women who get devastatingly involved with their protagonists and then leave. There is, to be sure, something bittersweet in the final sentence: “He never saw Molly again”. Does this mean that Case will revert to his older self, or unromantic self? Then Molly isn’t as dominant in the end as she looks like all through the novel. But Molly and Case at least survive and they can live happily, though separately.
posted by
lillian at 12:56 PM
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Okay, so as I fumbled through this text, I really didn't understand very much along the way. The material was very dense and i think I would have to read it another 5 times in order to understand it. I also think that if you want to find the topic of gender in this novel you really REALLY have to dig for it. I saw no overt references to gender in this book. I mean, it CAN be argued that Molly possessed characteristics that are more masculine than feminine, but she also possessed characteristics that were more machine than human. How can we assume that someone who is machine-like could even have feminine or masculine characteristics? I did notice her power through sexual attraction (you go girl) and I mean come on, as women we all know we have it in some way, shape or form. This definitely characterizes her as a woman. I mean, it's one of the FEW advantages we have over men these days. We may not be able to get the salary we deserve in the real world, but we have the ability to flirt our way up the payroll. Sure, this isn't the most respectable way to do it, but it's not like being qualified has anything to do with how much we get paid. Anyway, off of that, Molly does have some female characteristics as well as masculine characteristics, but perhaps her masculine characteristics stem from her mechanical side....Think about it....machine vs. man.....i'm sure we could find more than one similarity.
posted by
Laura at 12:29 PM
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Neuromancer, it seems to me that it is some ways an idealized society where gender and sexual preference are no longer issues. Case for example seem to be largely desexualized, due mostly to his passivity throughout the book, also he seems preoccupied with things like jacking in and doing drugs. But then again with all the meat puppets and thing perhaps I am wrong about there being a desexualizing trend this book. There does seem to be a lot of escapism, for everybody through implants, the matrix, and drugs. What are these people escaping from is it generissues or is it some other source of pain?
posted by
wendell at 12:25 PM
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To be honest this is the first true science fiction novel I have ever read, and it was a little tough for me to get through. However, I did think that some of the characters were very interesting and that there were some good things happening in the plot. It seems like two stories almost, one which is real life, and I can get through that easily. But when they delve into the technical aspect, I am reading and re-reading the text to get any understanding. I did find that I was a little bit disappointed by the ending. It seems like they were working towards something that didn't serve much purpose. This novel reminded me of the movie Citizen Cane. While I didn't like th eplot that much, it was probably so ahead of it's time that the concepts and the foresight are probably more important than the story itself.
posted by
Maria at 11:46 AM
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I must admit I am not a fan of science fiction. I have finished Neuromancer. But I find myself rather confused. How does it address the issue of gender and technology? Is it the imagination that all characters are living more than one life - one in the real world and another in the virtual world - that connects the novel to cyborg feminism? Or that, the protagonist, Case, cannot hold one woman when Zone said, "You can't keep too good track of your women, can you, Case. Keep losin' 'em, one way or another" (Neuromancer 144). When the author states through Zone's mouth again that "Lindas are a generic product in my line of work… She loved you. I know that. For the little she was worth, she loved you. You couldn't handle it. She's dead" (Neuromancer 144), is Gibson suggesting that love in the virtual world is real, and that it defines existence of a virtual character? I doubt that, because it would go against the concerns of cyborg feminism?
When we consider the difference between Neuromancer the boy and Riviera, the only difference is the virtual boy has a personality - "I need no mask to speak with you. Unlike my brother. I create my own personality. Personality is my medium" (Neuromancer 259). Here the virtual personality defines the virtual figure. Does this reflect the issue of warranting that Balsomo points out regarding Gibson's first sf novel, like the issue of warranting in The Matrix - death in either world brings death to the character, both the physical and the virtual part of its existence? Though Linda is a construct placed in the virtual world, the boy tells Case he could not control the virtual Linda's thoughts - "I do not know her thoughts. You were wrong, Case. To live here is to live. There is no difference" (Neuromancer 258). Does this imply virtual existence has empowered women? If so, it goes against the boy's words in the next page - "You won when you walked away from on the beach. She was my last line of defense. I die soon, in one sense. As does Wintermute. As surely as Riviera does…" (Neuromancer 259). Is the author suggesting that the ability to tell the real world from the constructed, virtual world make Case win in his battle of wisdom against the powerful AI? Does that also inform the film The Matrix? But again, that would be contradicting the idea of cyborg feminism which celebrates the extended existence of human beings. You see, the novel and the movie are both very puzzling to me.
The only feminist connection that I can pick out of the novel is the fact that Molly has been an active actor. She physically goes into the dangerous sphere to kill Riviera and search for the ultimate code. And the supposed hero is always carried within Molly's body. So we can say Case is always passive. And the designer of the powerful AI is a woman - 3Jane's mother. 3Jane knows the secret code. The fact that a woman, not a man, creates and maintains the powerful AI tells the feminine nature of fluidity of our life, and that women's innate ability to grasp the essence of communication technologies. Viewed against the condescending belief of women's incapacity in mastering technologies, Gibson's creation and ideas carry great importance.
posted by
xianfeng at 9:30 AM
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After reading Balsamo's article on The Virtual Body in Cyberspace and her describing female characters in cyberspace as being "beautiful, sexualized, albeit sometimes violently powerful women", reminded me of how females are portrayed in video games. The first person to pop into my mind, was Laura Croft of the Tomb Raider games. Her body is definitely sexualized. Her body is as unreal as a Barbie doll's is. And she is scantily dressed as well. Such trends are also seen in games such as Mortal Kombat and other fighting games. All the females have extremely large breasts and small waists. They're overly sexualized. Molly is definitely sexualized as well. She is seen as wearing tight, form fitting clothing to show off her sexuality. And besides this, she is portrayed as being sexually aggressive and a tease. Both are qualities that many men find sexually attractive.
posted by
Amanda at 4:51 AM
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Although Neuromancer was a difficult novel to get in to, after a few chapters, when Armitage and Molly appear and the action starts to pick-up, things get more interesting and it becomes fun to read. I began to understand some of Gibson's terms as the novel moved along. Examples: a "coffin" is a small room and "ice" is an encrypted security code. Although I still don't have a complete mental picture of what Freeside or the Villa Straylight look like, I was able to piece together a good enough image to flow with the narrative.
The novel has an interesting ending. Molly and Case are back where they started: alone. I find it significant that Gibson doesn't go in to detail about Case and Molly's relationship after the job is done. This seems to imply that Case and Molly are cyborg selves incapable of "true love." I say this because it seems that as the action progresses Case is very concerned with Molly's wellbeing although the reverse of that is not really shown.
Sandy Stone's idea of "technosociality" definitely applies to Gibson's novel. This is "the state in which technology and nature are the same thing," (36). Molly and Case are technosocial beings since Case is usually jacked in to the matrix and Molly's body contains electronic technologies (glasses and razor nails). With regards to today's reading by Balsamo, her discussion of gender in Neuromancer on page 129 was helpful in sparking my thought on the subject. Also, There seem to be more VR products on today's market such as digital cameras, game cubes, and medical equipment. Although I still think the Web is the largest virtual environment/cyberspace I don't think of it as a product. To me it is more of a virtual entity accessed through and constructed by computer based products (ex. Internet access, programs).
posted by
loretta at 4:11 AM
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Watching The Matrix made it a little easier to read/understand Neuromancer for me...I feel it's a little shameful that it takes a blockbuster to make a book written years before less difficult to read, but I do feel that it made the book read quicker and a little less stressed...When it comes to the gender issues within this book, I suppose I'm a bit naive...In response to what Shana said...I see Molly as being assertive, strong, and knowing what she is doing...I guess I see it as this...in any situation where there is something shady going down, there has to be people in the dark...certain people shouldn't be aware of what all is going on...this is true for either sex...not just women though...maybe I'm just applying this too much to a "real" situation...but I feel that if I were in a situation like her, I wouldn't really want to know everything...I would rather rely on my own decisions...But, that's just me I suppose...
posted by
Eileen at 1:27 AM
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so, in reading this book and watching the matrix i have noticed myself suspecting small things, like deja vu. i question my world and if i would choose the matrix over the free world. and, because of case and molly i have a strong urge to smoke! like shana, i haven't really thought of gender because no one really seems to be fully human like case is. everyone is physically altered in some way and for me that blocks any female/male issues i have. i'm almost finished with the book. i find reading it for hours at a time helps me to understand it better than reading pieces of it. i am really anxious to learn if armitage is a good or bad guy. i'm really enjoying the book, although it's slightly difficult to understand at times. watching the matrix really helped visualize what happens to case when he jacks in to the simstim. i think trinity and molly are similar characters. they both play important roles, mentally and physically for their story's main characters and extreme leather wearing ass kickers. i think we don't notice their femininity because they act more masculine because they fight and kill and remain basically emotionless. i agree with shana that they are dependent but on the other hand they are independent because they chose to be who and where they are.
posted by
jamie at 12:47 AM
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wSunday, June 01, 2003 |
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Well I have now finished reading Neuromancer and while I can't say i understood it all I can say that I did find it interesting. Before our writing excercise in class on thursday about the role of gender in this book I can honestly say I had been spending all my time on trying to figure out what was going on in the novel that I hadn't payed much attention to the role of gender. However, as I got towards the end of the novel and it was revealed that 3Jane's mother is the one who designed the program (for lack of a better word) that Case and Molly and that crew were trying to break into, and 3Jane is the one who held the password. In this way, women played a powerful role in the novel, it's just hidden throughout most of the story.
In response to Tory's question I feel that the misconceptions she was addressing come mainly from the media. "Bra-burning bitches" are a lot more "entertaining," it's what sells. Additionally, just like racism, it is learned from parents. I really don't know a good way to "shatter" these myths. People with one-sided views tend to be the hard to convince otherwise. I guess all I can say right now is to educate them about other views in a way that doesn't offend them and hope that it sinks in one day. Not the most optimistic view I know, but it seems to me to be one of the things you have to realize on your own. :-)
posted by
Shana at 10:58 PM
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Samantha makes a good point in saying that "homemakers can be feminist, too." It is a common misconception to label feminists as "man-haters" who do not want to have married partners or children. Additionally, a woman (or man for that matter) can be both feminine and feminist. I have a hard time getting past this misconception with my own students. They automatically want to label feminists as "bitches." In fact, one of my freshman classes told me the two words were synonymous. Where do you think these misconceptions come from? What are some good ways to (painlessly) shatter these myths when talking to those who have a one-sided view of feminism? I would love to hear what all of you think about the subject.
posted by
Tory at 8:21 PM
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More block responses :-)
I am glad that people are getting more understanding of Neuromancer after discussion. I hope that there is more understanding after watching the film on Friday.
Sarah wrote:
I have gotten a litle behind with missing class and being sick, but I am curious as to why it seems we have skimmed over Balsamo's article about public pregnancies. Both of the presentations on Wednesday were about the article, but then the class discussion was almost entirely about HMT. And it seems the blogs have pretty much jumped from HMT to Neuromancer...but here's what I think and it will probably offend some...I have a huge problem with the common feminist trend to only fight for reproductive freedoms that involve the block of reproduction or the end of pregnancy. All women are not the same as we have been reading. There are many women who desperately want to have babies and feel they will be complete as mothers and housewives. The feminist movement should not only fight for the career women who want pills and abortions. It should also be fighting for the mothers and caretakers of our children. Personally I think the women fighting for the insurance companies to cover their fertility treatments deserve more of our support than the crack head who doesn't care about her baby at all.
Yes, and you missed a great discussion :-) I think that far from skimming over Balsamo's article we have given it more attention than some of the other articles. Unfortunately, with a Maymester course we have very little time to spend on any one piece. We only spent 3 days on the HMT all together so I thought 2 days on Balsamo was extraordinary. The critical pieces that we read are serving to contextualize the literature and that's probably why more people are focusing on the fiction in the blogs. Unfortunately with an abbreviated schedule we rarely have all of the time that we would like to focus on everything that we would like to.
I have to disagree with two notions here, 1. that there is a "common feminist thread" and 2. that it is more concerned with birth control. Isn't the main idea behind feminism equality. While I think that the more controversial issues like birth control and abortion rights come to the fore more often, they are not the focus (as such) of the movement. There are so many veins of feminism/womanism in the world that I think that it is impossible to say that they are all concerned with reproduction and not with supporting women who want to be mothers and homemakers. Feminism is more about the freedom to make that choice . Homemakers can be feminist too :-)
I think that we also need to be careful of making generalizations about people. Just because a woman uses drugs (and drug addiction like alcoholism is a disease) doesn't mean that she is not concerned about the fetus she is carrying. Unfortunately, society tells us that women who do drugs, drink alcohol, caffiene, smoke, work too much, don't rest enough, eat enough (or well enough) must not care about their fetus. This is something that is heavily influenced by our current hegemonic patriarchial society. One question we might want to ask is if we (as a society) are so concerned about (pre)natal health why all of the welfare and health care cuts. I think Cat made a good point when she said South Carolina chose to imprison rather than help Ms. Whitner.
posted by
Samantha at 11:44 AM
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I am slowly but surely making my way through this book. As I've moved along in my reading I've noticed that there are less and less women present in this story. In fact Molly is the only one i remember encountering for quite awhile. I also found it interesting that while she is very strong physically and emotionally and seems to play a large role in the novel, she, like everyone except Armitage are left in the dark about what much of the plan of action is or who is really running the show. This lack of knowledge could, on some levels, make her weak. She has to put all her trust in whomever is in charge and believe that what they are telling her to do is right. I just found it really interesting that on one hand she can be seen as a very strong and independent woman but on the other had she's not because she has no idea of what the plan involves except for what they are doing at that time and is dependent on Armitage to tell her what's going on.
posted by
Shana at 10:20 AM
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