English 3720 - Literature, Science, and Technology: Frankenstein’s Future: Robotics and Cloning in Science Fiction and Film Dashboard
Description
English 3720, Vanderbilt University (Spring 2017). “Literature, Science, and Technology: Frankenstein’s Future: Robotics and Cloning in Science Fiction and Film.” TR 9:35-10:50 (ESB 320). Professor Jay Clayton.
How do the futures literature and film imagine shape public attitudes toward science and technology? What is the human in an age of artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons, and synthetic biology? How do science fiction and films influence public policy concerning scientific research? This course focuses on fictions and films about artificial life from Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and James Whale’s iconic 1931 film of that novel, through Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), to classic robot stories by Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and others, to twenty-first century dystopias such as Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (2003) and David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas (2004). Films will include adaptations of many of these novels, as well as Blade Runner (1982), A.I. (2001), Her (2013), and Ex Machina (2015).
Galleries, Timelines, and Maps
This timeline features robots, clones, and posthumans from our syllabus.
Individual Entries
The base and superlaser of the Galactic Empire. Destroyed by the end of the film.
Luke Skywalker's home and the planet that the robots R2D2 and C3PO escape to.
Luke Skywalker's home and the planet that the robots R2D2 and C3PO escape to.
Ambrose Bierce's 'Moxon's Master' was first published here in the The San Francisco Examiner
Birthplace of Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991), creator of Star Trek.
In A.I Artificial Intelligence, David and Joe travel to Manhattan in search of the Blue Fairy who David believes will make him a real boy.
Location where "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" and other episodes of The Twilight Zone were filmed.
The location of one of Tesla's most famous laboratories, where the inventor planned to develop the ability to wirelessly transmit electricity, telegraph signals, and images using a large metal tower. This location is likely an inspiration for Tesla's workshop as seen in The Prestige
The setting for Christopher Nolan's The Prestige. Nolan's depiction of the city draws heavily on steampunk influences, combining traditional costumes and scenery with fantastic technologies.