Exploring Humanism In Violence An Analysis Of Westworld 2016

The first season of the American sci-fi TV series Westworld was first broadcast on HBO on October 2,2016,and this thesis uses semanalysis to analyze the pervasive violence conveyed in specific plots and characters.From the perspective of humanism,the thesis argues that the essential elements of humanism,which include rationality and sensibility,virtue and beauty,self-consciousness and self-fulfillment,are embodied in Westworld2016 under the veneer of violence.The thesis is composed of three parts.The first part gives a brief introduction to Westworld2016,it also goes over relevant researches and expounds humanism,Kristeva and her theories of semanalysis.Then it is about the purpose,significance and structure of the thesis.The second part is the body part,and three chapters are included.The first chapter explores rationality and sensibility in newcomers' choices,especially William,who is the Man in Black thirty years later,analyzing his choices and obsession with finding himself.The second chapter reveals virtue and beauty conveyed in violence in Westworld2016 by analyzing deaths of two creators and Ford's changes in his attitude towards hosts.One of them commits suicide and the other chooses to die heroically in his own way.They are responsible for the beginning of the violence,and they are also the terminators of it.While the third chapter aims to disclose self-fulfillment and self-consciousness of hosts,including Maeve's process of awakening and Dolores' s act of defiance.The last part recapitulates what the body part has analyzed and draws the conclusion of the thesis that Westworld2016 is an embodiment of humanism under the veneer of violence.