I was asked to write an article for the online publication Impakter. I thought I would link to it here. Impakter has decided to break the article into two parts. The link below is for part 2. (You can access part 1 here.) Here is the opening section for part 2:
For the five science fiction films I focus on here (Ex Machina, Never Let Me Go, Moon, Sleep Dealer, and Children of Men), these affective progressive films strikingly interrogate the self/other dynamic that is at the heart of our history of exploitation, enslavement, wars, and other crimes against humanity. In short, as our history shows, othering other people (people of color, LGTBQ people, women, working class, alternative belief systems, etc.) — instead of seeing other people as our selfs — is a core contributing factor to dehumanizing people, which, in turn, invariably leads to heinous acts of degradation. As I show below, I contend that science fiction powerfully reveals this (self) destructive self/other dynamic, especially in terms of using clones and AI as a metaphor for others. (Note: Science fiction also interrogates this self/other divide via aliens, which I have touched on elsewhere. See my blurb on the science fiction/superhero film “Guardians of the Galaxy” for more.)
For the rest of the article go to the published piece in Impakter.