From Frankenstein To Cyborg: The Imagination Of Liberating The Body

Since Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was published in 1818,the image of "Frankenstein" has gradually become the testing ground or narrative prototype of artificial human figures in the following two hundred years.Critics collectively called these different artificial figures “Cyborg”.The key research topic of this dissertation is the image of “Frankenstein” and the adapted film.From the perspective of Cyborg’s theory,this dissertation mainly focuses on the question of how Frankenstein becomes a founder of the artificial image.The creation of Cyborg not only provided the possibility of self-improvement by using science and technology,but also supplied an avenue for human reflection,through which people can better re-examine and understand themselves.Based on the Cyborg theory,a new type of body concept has been gradually established.Chapter one briefly discusses the importance of re-reading Frankenstein: First of all is the growing market of Chinese science fiction film and the following difficulties.For instance,the new world of domestic science fiction,which was fortunately created by The Wandering Earth recently,has been seriously ruined by Shanghai Fortress,a “pseudo-science fiction”.Therefore,how to make Chinese science fiction industry set a foot on the international stage is one of the key questions in the following article.Secondly,the 200 th anniversary of the birth of Frankenstein makes it a topic among literary circle.As a key founder of science fiction,this novel is facing serious identity crisis nowadays.Due to the appearance of many adaptations and the widespread dissemination of the mass media,the public’s cognition of "Frankenstein" has gradually become symbolized."Frankenstein" has become a symbol of cultural reference,which obscures the original content from Mary Shelley.Chapter two mainly analyzes the extension and regeneration of the artificial figure by researching on the text of "Frankenstein" and its science fiction film Meanwhile,the text image based on "Frankenstein" will be reorganized and discussed as well.It shows the great possibility of post-human that a “monster”,which was created by Mary Shelly,can be changed into “Frankenstein” by the screen,and then split into the image of cyborg,robot,etc.Chapter three argues that Cyborg,as a form of post-humanity,is providing more spaces for physical imagination.Science fiction films have deepened human’s recognition of the past definition of "body" by continuously constructing the image of a new type of artificial person.However the "non-human" mixed image of Cyborg is constantly breaking the existing cognitive paradigm of "body",which is forcing humans to look at themselves and reshape the concept of the body.