Technophobia and the Cyborg Menace: Buffy Summers as Neo-Human Avatar
2008; Volume: 19; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0897-0521
Autores Tópico(s)Modern American Literature Studies
ResumoDURING THE POST-COLD WAR 1990S, AMERICAN PARANOIA SHIFTED AWAY from national and individual threats to fear of US governmental conspiracies and technology in general. Popular television shows like Chris Carter's The X-Files (1993-2002) recast the foreign as the literally alien and emphasized the potential destructive power of both shadow-government agencies and new, subversive forms of technology and science. This climate also produced Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), a television program that portrayed the hostile others as vampires and demons and, especially during the fourth season, showed the government to be an irresponsible, militaristic threat. Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a technologically inept teenage girl with supernatural powers, illustrated the need for contemporary, fin-de-siecle Americans to confront the possible hazards of science by re-embracing spiritualism and humanism. These contemporary narratives should therefore be read as examples of a long-established dialectical tradition. For example, in the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, military technology stands in on the one side for the rebellious figure of Lucifer. As depicted by John Milton in Paradise Lost (1667), Lucifer, who was created by God as a potential prince and possible savior of humankind, betrayed his intended role, turning against his creator and pursuing instead a misguided path towards domination. On the other side of the dichotomy stands Buffy, the Chosen One, a clear manifestation of Christ because she lives as a mortal human despite her preternatural gifts and abilities. In addition, Buffy works to maintain balance and stability, to challenge those who would defy the plans of higher authority and upset the natural order. Whedon thus uses his series to present viewers with an updated version of two ancient and oppositional archetypes: the Promethean betrayal of humanity by the very thing designed to aid them, and the necessary arrival of a chosen individual to harness ancient energies for the greater good. In season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy and her circle of intimates take a break from the supernatural to combat a new foe: the scientific military machine of the United States. Efforts to create a new super soldier from human, demon, and machine parts have spawned Adam (George Hertzberg), a cold and calculating cyborg who embodies one side of the reductive dichotomy. Like the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994), Adam's perceived mission is the absorption of the human race, replacing them with the next step in evolution--total cybernetic modification. Whereas Adam represents the potential evils of science, Buffy embodies the virtues of a new-age humanity; as Andrew Milner points out, Buffy is essentially human whereas Adam is essentially posthuman (108). (1) Faced with potential annihilation at the mechanically enhanced hands of Adam, Buffy acts as a neo-human avatar in a post-human world; in other words, she is the physical embodiment of a humanistic ideal, an iconic personification who relies on her physical strength, mystical abilities, and human social relationships to defeat the cybernetic Ubermensch. Ultimately, Buffy's ideology and methodology are a didactic warning against overreliance on machines and technology and a call to return to nature, selfreliance, and human spiritualism. During the first three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, viewers had come to know and love the title character as a deceptively typical high school student in Southern California. When she isn't fighting vampires and the forces of evil, she worries about her social life, making the cheerleading squad, and passing her classes. The metaphor is pretty straightforward: high school is hell. Although Buffy has supernatural strength and heightened senses, she finds school challenging and daunting. She struggles with math and history, fails to use computers correctly for the most basic of tasks, and is harassed constantly by school administrators about her behavior and grades. …
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