Thursday, April 9, 2009

Final Project

For my final project, I will examine the nature of robotic animals, and also androids/cyborgs to a lesser extent. I will make a comic based on the script I submitted for my midterm, though there may be some modifications to the script. In this comic, my main argument will be that robotic animals would coexist with, rather than supplant, organic ones. I will also explore how others view Robocat, and how he views himself. He is more than simply an electronic replica of an animal, as he is capable of doing more and thinking more. He is more like a cat-shaped android, and in that sense embodies Haraway's conception of a cyborg as being a human/machine/animal hybrid. Robocat is thus an animal, but not an animal, but real nonetheless. Others learn to relate to him as something real, though they are not so accepting at first. Though I agree with Philip K Dick that robotic animals are real too, I am not so sure that they are only animals. Robocat does not need to be turned into a 'real' cat, but he is also at the same time a cat and not a cat. He is a feline cyborg breaking and transcending such definitions. Thus, in my comic I wish to explore this apparent contradiction of cat and not-cat, and how Robocat deals with the issue and defines himself, as well as how others seek to define him.

1 comment:

Adam Johns said...

I like this version of the project - I especially like that you're starting to address the significance or meaning of Robocat. A deeply sick part of me wants to see this be simple a comic-book adaptation of Haraway, but I'm probably a minority of one in that regard.

Obviously you intend to stick at least roughly to the script/plot you created before, while adding an additional level of focus to the ways in which Robocat is more? other? than other beings are. I have one cautionary note, or one cautionary thought, on this front. It can be a challenge to capture *interiority* in comics - which is one reason so many comics focus on either action or comedy. Representing the mind itself can be a tricky thing...

What I'm trying to say is that I'm very interested in what it means *to* Robocat to *be* Robocat, and I think you are too. Your art is going to need to grapple with that issue, though, and that won't be easy.