From balaclavas to jumpsuits: the multiple histories and identities of Doctor Who’s Cybermen
2008; Volume: 30; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1989-6840
Autores Tópico(s)Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction
ResumoThrough a detailed analysis of the Cybermen's narrative evolution and changing cyborg appearance, this essay maintains that throughout the decades that spanned its series' run, Doctor Who addressed key fears present in British society: fear of technology, loss of identity, American economic power and totalitarianism. These fears not only evolved alongside the physical appearance of the Cybermen, but also changed in significance as British television audiences accepted the consequences of technological assimilation and looked to the future in anticipation rather than apprehension. The general field of study on the cyborg in popular culture remains transfixed on the products of the big screen; American cinema is the focus for many works which continue to examine the cyborg as a predominantly American reality, for example Star Trek's The Borg dominate the work done by scholars in these fields. Fear of technology, or fear of the automaton, is thus depicted as somehow an inherently American fear. However, this essay attempts to correct this imbalance and bring close attention to bear on the Cybermen as televisual figures of a technological complexity; one that is not necessarily American or cinematic, but rather British and televisual in origin and nature.
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