Body, Soul and Cyberspace in Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema

Magerstädt, Sylvie. Body, Soul and Cyberspace in Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema: Virtual Worlds and Ethical Problems. New York: Palgrave Pivot, 2014.

Reviewed by Emily Hegarty, SFRA Review #315 (Winter 2016): pp. 20-21.[1]

The book is short, and Hagarty notes (p. 20) its focus on AEON FLUX (2005),[2][3] AVATAR (2009), EXistenZ (1999), INCEPTION (2010), THE MATRIX (1999), THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR, TOTAL RECALL (2012), TRANSCENDENCE (2014), and TRON: Legacy (2010).

The first chapter, “Body — Cyborgs, Clones, and Automata: The Matrix, eXistenZ, Avatar,” considers postmodern embodiment. Magerstädt follows Vincent Miller in arguing that with the decline of religion and the development of new technologies we are more body-focused and more able to adapt and control our bodies. In some cases, as with the genetic manipulation explored in Gattaca (1997),[4][5] the technologies of SF films have already become real, forcing us to wrestle with their social implications. The second chapter, “Soul — Cyber-Spirituality and Immortality: The Thirteenth Floor, Aeon Flux, Transcendence,” discusses science fiction as a site of religious discourse, drawing on John D. Caputo’s assertion that cyberspace and virtual reality are inherently religious as they require accessing a space beyond or apart from reality. Magerstädt argues that science fiction cinema uses these tropes to valorize a material, organic wisdom over abstract pure knowledge, insisting that human intuition or emotion is a valid way of knowing despite the power of technology. Magerstädt views SF as a series of narratives about transcending mortality, which means becoming other than human. This chapter also considers what moral duty is owed to virtual characters [...]. Later in the book Magerstädt considers the technological sublime as a substitute for religion. (Hegarty, p. 20)

RDE, finishing, 17Aug21