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ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0845-2517

Access Type

Open Access Thesis

Document Type

thesis

Degree Program

Japanese

Degree Type

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Year Degree Awarded

2019

Month Degree Awarded

May

Abstract

This thesis is an exploration of the relationships between humans and mechanized beings in Japanese science fiction anime. In it I will be discussing the following texts: Ergo Proxy (2006), Chobits (2002), Gunslinger Girl (2003/2004), and Mahoromatic (2001/2002). I argue that these relationships in these anime series take the form of master/slave relationships, with the humans as the masters and the mechanized beings as the slaves. In virtually every case, the mechanized beings are young females and the masters are older human males. I will argue that this dynamic serves to reinforce traditional power structures and gender dynamics in a posthuman landscape. Additionally, I will argue that by enforcing a dynamic of human-male as master and nonhuman-female as slave, science fiction anime works to fortify the “human” as the primary subject of society. This is done to preserve humanism in the overpowering wave of posthumanism.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/14280113

First Advisor

Amanda C. Seaman

Second Advisor

Bruce Baird

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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