Transparent Subjects: Digital Identity in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Charlie Brooker's "Be Right Back".

In the twenty-first century, when we interact with corporeal and digital identities alternately, we need to examine whether the distinction between them makes sense anymore. This paper argues that re-reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein alongside a contemporary reinterpretation, the episode "Be Right...

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Published in:Science Fiction Studies Vol. 45; no. 2; pp. 308 - 325
Main Author: Panka, Daniel
Format: Article
Published: University of California Press Jul2018
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Transparent Subjects: Digital Identity in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Charlie Brooker's "Be Right Back".
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        Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus (Book)
        Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851
        Black Mirror (TV program)
        Enlightenment
        Identity (Psychology)
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          Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus (Book)
          Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851
          Black Mirror (TV program)
          Enlightenment
          Identity (Psychology)
      ab: In the twenty-first century, when we interact with corporeal and digital identities alternately, we need to examine whether the distinction between them makes sense anymore. This paper argues that re-reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein alongside a contemporary reinterpretation, the episode "Be Right Back" from the television series Black Mirror (2012-), provides a new perspective on Shelley's prescient vision. Both texts expose the inherent problems of the concept of identity, shaped by the Enlightenment, that emerged during Shelley's time. The contemporary text, as well as testifying to the endurance of the novel's ideas, updates the narrative by offering a possible future acceptance of techno-subjectivity.
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