In the readings, the author showed the relationship between technology and ethnicity through the mysterious combination of machines and folks in China town, the externalized signs in Hong Kong, and the recognition of human-like beings. One part I think is worthy of analyzing is the “almost lifelike things,” which contains robots, doll… The reason why they are so unique is their combination of lifelikeness and lifelessness, which reflects the vivid artwork from ethnicity (lifelikeness) and high-tech, emotionless machine parts (lifelessness). According to Davis, the attraction of lifelike things for people begins from the fascinating structure of lifelessness and eventually reaches the empathy of emotion in the lifelikeness. It reminds me of the film Finch (Dir Miguel Sapochnik, 2021). It tells a story about a man with a robot. The well-designed robot began to learn new things and human emotions as the story went on, making it a more human-like thing. At the end of the film, we see an “almost lifelike thing” that perfectly balances the high-tech robot body and ethnic human emotions.
Ronghan Lin 3035845980
I appreciate how you brought in another example to discuss the relationship between lifelessness and lifelikeness. What do you think could be the broader themes being explored by these films through their portrayal of machines like robots/ dolls?
I think one thing being explored is when robots/dolls are highly developed and “live” like humans, whether they should have basic human rights and be treated like a person. I think this could reflect animal rights issues nowadays and could also be a rehearsal of the future (age of AI).