Robotic Emotion: An Examination of Cyborg Cinema

ABSTRACT : We live in a world of cyborg poetics, a world in which we constantly dance with technology. Our daily lives are surrounded by, immersed in, and intersected by technology. This integration has a long historical trajectory, and one that has certainly been troubled, filtered, and reflected through literature, theatre, and film. Recent years have seen an explosion in cinema technology, with the introduction of computergenerated characters becoming commonplace in film. However, we have seen relatively few „physical‟ robots acting in films. This paper discusses the theoretical implications of cyborg thespians and the way the audience perceives this potential innovation. The paper presents a timeline of the use of robots in cinema, and examines how these cyborg thespians are represented and portrayed. An analysis of the functions and motivations of the robots has been undertaken allowing trends to be identified.
Keywords -Cinema, Media, Robot, Cyborg, Android, Artificial Intelligence, Representation