The Neoliberal conditions for posthuman exceptionalism

dc.contributor.authorSteuart, Lori
dc.contributor.supervisorRoss, Stephen
dc.date.accessioned2012-07-13T15:35:25Z
dc.date.available2012-07-13T15:35:25Z
dc.date.copyright2012en_US
dc.date.issued2012-07-13
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of English
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en_US
dc.description.abstractThis thesis seeks to show that contemporary speculative fiction films both present and act as agents for an understanding of the human as increasingly economically rational. This conception of the human focuses on humanist values that project a vision of human exceptionalism into the future. Expanding on Michel Foucault’s definition of neoliberalism, this thesis follows its connection to biotechnology and the transhuman subject created through biotechnological intervention, arguing that the films Limitless (2011), Avatar (2009), and District 9 (2009) depict a vision of the human as something that can be calculated and therefore optimized, moving toward the transhuman goal of perfectibility.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/4055
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rights.tempAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectneoliberalismen_US
dc.subjecttechnologyen_US
dc.subjectposthumanismen_US
dc.subjectcritical theoryen_US
dc.subjectscience fictionen_US
dc.subjectfilmen_US
dc.titleThe Neoliberal conditions for posthuman exceptionalismen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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