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We Have Always Been Posthuman: The Articulation(s) of the Techno/Human Subject in the Anthology Television Series Black Mirror

Ngo, Quang
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1588760350394684

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Mass Communication (Communication).
This dissertation investigates how Netflix’s Black Mirror (2011—) articulates both the technology/human interconnectedness and a varied array of posthuman subjects within the narrative. I engage with posthumanist theory and utilize narrative rhetorical criticism and the method of articulation to analyze a selection of ten episodes. Based on the textual analysis, I contend that each selected narrative reveals a unique hypothetical scenario that questions the humanist conceptualization of human nature in addition to envisioning potentials for challenging the common understanding of self, identity, subjectivity, and agency. With its controversial and multilayered articulations of the posthuman condition, I propose that this quality science fiction television program takes as its central theme the symbiotic technology/human relationship as the kernel of a co-constructed reality between these two actants in the digital age. I suggest that Black Mirror introduces five shades of be(com)ing posthuman: be(com)ing alienated, be(com)ing cyborg, be(com)ing fractured, be(com)ing immortal, and be(com)ing human. Ultimately, I argue for an empathetic techno/human future that recognizes that both technology and humans matter and mutually influence one another in the construction of the techno/human subject that is unapologetically cyborg, hybrid, and posthuman such that it refuses to be categorically unadulterated and pure.
Suetzl Wolfgang (Advisor)
Ng Eve (Committee Member)
Aden Roger (Committee Member)
Sheldon Myrna (Committee Member)
460 p.
Mass Communications
Black Mirror; Netflix; Science Fiction Television; Posthumanism; Articulation; Narrative Rhetorical Criticism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ngo, Q. (2020). We Have Always Been Posthuman: The Articulation(s) of the Techno/Human Subject in the Anthology Television Series Black Mirror [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1588760350394684

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ngo, Quang. We Have Always Been Posthuman: The Articulation(s) of the Techno/Human Subject in the Anthology Television Series Black Mirror. 2020. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1588760350394684.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ngo, Quang. "We Have Always Been Posthuman: The Articulation(s) of the Techno/Human Subject in the Anthology Television Series Black Mirror." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1588760350394684

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.