FROM BALACLAVAS TO JUMPSUITS: THE MULTIPLE HISTORIES AND IDENTITIES OF DOCTOR WHO'S CYBERMEN.

Through a detailed analysis of the Cybermen's narrative evolution and changing cyborg appearance, this essay maintains that throughout the decades that spanned its series' run, Doctor Who addressed key fears present in British society: fear of technology, loss of identity, American economic power an...

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Published in:Atlantis (0210-6124) Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 85 - 101
Main Author: Geraghty, Lincoln
Format: Article
Published: Departament de Llengues i Literatures Modernes i d'Estudis Anglesos jun2008
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        au: Geraghty, Lincoln
        affil: University of Portsmouth
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        Doctor Who (TV program)
        Technology & society
        Popular culture
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        English television dramas
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        British Culture
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        Through a detailed analysis of the Cybermen's narrative evolution and changing cyborg appearance, this essay maintains that throughout the decades that spanned its series' run, Doctor Who addressed key fears present in British society: fear of technology, loss of identity, American economic power and totalitarianism. These fears not only evolved alongside the physical appearance of the Cybermen, but also changed in significance as British television audiences accepted the consequences of technological assimilation and looked to the future in anticipation rather than apprehension. The general field of study on the cyborg in popular culture remains transfixed on the products of the big screen; American cinema is the focus for many works which continue to examine the cyborg as a predominantly American reality, for example Star Trek's The Borg dominate the work done by scholars in these fields. Fear of technology, or fear of the automaton, is thus depicted as somehow an inherently American fear. However, this essay attempts to correct this imbalance and bring close attention to bear on the Cybermen as televisual figures of a technological complexity; one that is not necessarily American or cinematic, but rather British and televisual in origin and nature.
        Mediante un análisis detallado de la evolución narrativa de los Ciberhombres y los cambios en la apariencia de los cyborgs, en este artículo se propone que la serie Doctor Who, durante la década en que se transmitió, abordó temores muy presentes en la sociedad británica: el miedo a la tecnología, a la pérdida de identidad, al poder económico norteamericano y al totalitarismo. Estos temores no sólo evolucionaron de forma paralela al aspecto físico de los Ciberhombres, sino que también cambiaron en cuanto a su importancia, debido a que las audiencias televisivas británicas iban aceptando las consecuencias de la asimilación tecnológica y mirando hacia el futuro con más anticipación que aprensión. El ámbito general de estudio del cyborg en la cultura popular se concentra en gran medida en los productos para la pantalla grande; el cine norteamericano es el foco de muchos trabajos en los que el cyborg se sigue examinando como una realidad predominantemente norteamericana; por ejemplo, los Borg de Star Trek dominan el trabajo realizado por los académicos en estos campos. El miedo a la tecnología, o el miedo al autómata, se describe como un miedo de algún modo intrínsecamente norteamericano. Este artículo, sin embargo, pretende corregir este desequilibrio y acercar la atención hacia los Ciberhombres como figuras televisivas tecnológicamente complejas, con una complejidad no necesariamente norteamericana ni del mundo del cine, sino británica y televisiva, por su origen y su naturaleza.
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    language: English
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