Nerwowy uśmiech Meduzy. Tożsamości rodzicielskie w pierwszym sezonie serialu „Wychowane przez wilki”

Artykuł jest analizą pierwszego sezonu serialu HBO Max Wychowane przez wilki (Raised by Wolves, prod. Aaron Guzikowski, 2020) w kontekście sposobu przedstawienia tożsamości rodzicielskich. Autorka koncentruje się na sposobie ukazania rodziny i postaci matki (centralnej w opowiadanej historii) oraz problemie reprodukcji i jej wpisania w konstrukcję fikcyjnego, serialowego uniwersum. Badając wytwarzane w serialu (i przez niego) wyobrażenia, zwraca uwagę na ich zakorzenienie we wcześniejszych, XX-wiecznych wizjach rodziny, kobiecości, macierzyństwa, nauki i technologii. Analiza serialu pozwala zaobserwować przemiany niegdysiejszych projektów emancypacyjnych (szczególnie tych związanych z feminizmem) oraz sposób, w jaki popularna narracja science fiction oddaje współczesną wrażliwość związaną z wyobrażeniami rodzicielstwa i jego roli społecznej.

Acts of Becoming

This article examines the rich historical subtext in the future-focused storylines of Quantic Dream’s 2018 release Detroit: Become Human (PS4) and illuminates many of the thematic continuities in racial issues between the past and the future. Much of the subtle historical symbolism appears to have went unnoticed by many reviewers who maligned the videogame and its creator David Cage for relying on lazy tropes that clunkily connect the African American civil rights movement to the narrative of woke androids engaging in a struggle for greater equality in society. Following scholarship that has examined the development of racialized thought in the past, this essay recognizes “race” as a powerful, yet malleable social construct, that sometimes changes over time. Racial concepts in the game do not perfectly align with historical or contemporary understandings of “race” in the United States. Androids, in short, all belong to the same “race.” This article then contends that the storylines of all three playable characters in the game resonate with well-crafted historical parallels and that the narrative geography in the gameworld often closely tethers to the historical geography of Detroit. The characters Markus, Connor, and Kara have intertwining stories that represent different elements of minority life in the United States with the clearest parallels to the historical experience of African Americans. Detroit: Become Human, nonetheless, is a science fiction game about androids. Framing the struggle for equal rights in the future with a group of beings that do not yet exist has the potential to disarm gameplayers of latent biases that may otherwise color their view of contemporary racial issues. The article asserts that the wedding together of past and future through experiential gameplay nurtures an empathic understanding of minority concerns that may carry over to the present to impact understandings of contemporary racial issues.

MITOLOGÍA Y CIENCIA FICCIÓN: EL CASO DE MYTHS OF THE NEAR FUTURE DE JAMES G. BALLARD

La relación entre mitología y ciencia ficción es paradójica: si, teóricamente, la ciencia ficción se presenta como opuesta del mito; en su producción narrativa recurre frecuentemente a personajes y esquemas míticos, materializando su dimensión prospectiva a través de la actualización evemerista o alegórica de mitos. Este trabajo revisa críticamente los presupuestos teóricos que escinden la literatura de ciencia ficción de los relatos míticos y la literatura fantástica. A continuación, analizaremos el modo en que James G. Ballard afronta esta cuestión en su narrativa breve, particularmente en Myths of the Near Future, que sobrepasa estas diferencias y plantea un nuevo marco teórico común entre literatura fantástica y mítica y la ciencia ficción. Abstract: The relationship between mythology and science fiction is paradoxical: if, theoretically, science fiction is presented as the opposite of myth; in its narrative production, science fiction frequently resorts to mythical characters and schemes, materializing their prospective dimension through the evemerist or allegorical updating of myths. This work critically reviews the theoretical assumptions that divide science fiction literature from mythical stories and fantasy fiction. Next, it analyzes the way in which James G. Ballard addresses this question in his short narrative, particularly in Myths of the Near Future, which goes beyond these differences and raises a new common theoretical framework between fantasy and mythical literature and science fiction.