Projecting the Shadow: The Cyborg Hero in American FilmPart human, part machine, the cyborg is the hero of an increasingly popular genre of American film and, as Janice H. Rushing and Thomas S. Frentz so provocatively suggest, a cultural icon emblematic of an emergent postmodern mythology. Using the cyborg film as a point of departure, Rushing and Frentz examine how we rework Western myths and initiation rites in the face of new technologies. Through in-depth examinations of six representative films—Jaws, The Deer Hunter, The Manchurian Candidate, Blade Runner, The Terminator, and Terminator 2—Rushing and Frentz track the narrative's thread from the hunter to his technological nemesis, demonstrating how each film represents an unfolding hunter myth. For each movie, Rushing and Frentz show how uninitiated male hunters slowly lose control over their weapons. In Jaws, a 'soft' man, dominated by technology, can re-acquire the heroic hunter qualities he needs by teaming up with a 'savage' man and a 'technological' man. In doing so, he can still conquer the prey. The Manchurian Candidate charts how technology can turn a human into a weapon; Blade Runner perfects the artificial human with its manufactured replicants who are "more than human"; and The Terminator introduces a female hunter who leads humanity in its struggle against technology. |
Other editions - View all
Projecting the Shadow: The Cyborg Hero in American Film Janice Hocker Rushing,Thomas S. Frentz Limited preview - 1995 |
Projecting the Shadow: The Cyborg Hero in American Film Janice Hocker Rushing,Thomas S. Frentz Limited preview - 1995 |
Projecting the Shadow: The Cyborg Hero in American Film Janice Hocker Rushing,Thomas S. Frentz No preview available - 1995 |
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Ahab American anima archetypal Baudrillard become Blade Runner Brody C. G. Jung collective unconscious consciousness critics culture cyborg Deckard Deer Hunter dreams dystopian Eleanor Iselin father feminine feminists film Frankenstein frontier hunter Hagan hero heroic Hooper human hunt hunter myth Indian individual inferior shadow Iron John Janice Hocker Rushing Jaws Jean Baudrillard Jocie John Connor Johnny Joseph Campbell Jung's Ken Wilber kill machine Manchurian Candidate masculine men's movement Michael Moby-Dick Modern Art modernist monster mother Museum of Modern mythic narrative Nick Nick's perfection person phase photograph courtesy Museum postmodernists prey Princeton University Press/Bollingen profane psyche psychological Quint Rachael Raymond Shaw Reese replicants repressed ritual Robert Bly sacred Sarah Connor savage scene science fiction shark Slotkin Sobchack soul spiritual Stan Stevens story symbol technological hunter Terminator Terminator's tion trans transformation transmodern tribe Tyrell University Press/Bollingen Series Vietnam warrior weapon woman women York