The World of I, Robot (1950).
Isaac Asimov’s Vision of Human-Robot Co-Existence and Its Implication. Introduction Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot, first published in 1950, is a seminal collection of short stories in the realm of science fiction, exploring the intricate dynamics between humans and robots. The cycle of short stories presents a future where robots, governed by the Three Laws […]
Pragmatic Love and Wholesome Hope: 3 Lessons from Blade Runner (1982)
Abstract: The current analysis centers on the concept of “pragmatic love” and its three core characteristics – compassion, courage, commitment – as encompassed in Blade Runner (1982, director Ridley Scott). The analytical protocol pursues a two-step procedure: the definition of each of the three dimensions and its subsequent integration within the mediatic phenomenological experience. […]
The Flight of Change. How to Train Your Dragon.
Exploring Themes of Self-Growth and Determination in How to Train Your Dragon (2010) Released in 2010 and directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, How to Train Your Dragon quickly became a beloved animated film, captivating audiences with its breathtaking visuals, compelling characters, and resonant themes. Based on Cressida Cowell’s eponymous book series, the […]
The Angry Birds Movie (2016)
Detachment and Isolationism or On The Collective Delusion of Optimal Community The year 2016 saw the release of two animation works, which seemed to challenge the status-quo on the volatile and highly competitive entertainment market: Zootopia, the story of an utopian universe in which mammals, both preys and predators, co-exist in peace and harmony, […]
The Return of the Feminine Woman: 3 + 3 Lessons We Can Learn from Frozen (Walt Disney Pictures, 2013)
Moving forward with the times: learning from and with Frozen In her seminal work from 2001 All about Love: New Visions, the feminist scholar Bell Hooks notes: There are not many public discussions of love in our culture right now. At best, popular culture ist he one domain in which our longing for love is […]
Pragmatic Love and Posthumanist Transcendentalism: 3 Lessons from Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Abstract: The current analysis centers on the concept of “pragmatic love” and its three core characteristics – compassion, courage, commitment – as encompassed in Blade Runner 2049 (2017, director Denis Villeneuve). The analytical protocol pursues a two-step procedure: the definition of each of the three dimensions and its subsequent integration within the mediatic phenomenological […]
Rōjin Z: 5 Lessons on Cool Aging from 1991
Popular culture as ideological manifest, aging as social contemplation It is common knowledge, by now, that the anime‘s (Japanese animation) breakthrough in the West took place after the release of the anime film Akira (1988, director: Ōtomo Katsuhiro) – in Japan, however, registered as an absolute flop at the box-office due to the distorsion of […]
Baymax: Big Hero 6 (2014)
The “Enlightened Masculinity” of Kindness and the Power of Love The ineffable stress ratio between what has been referred to so far as “empowered femininity” and “enlightened masculinity” is emphasized by the amount of courage, steady effort and compassion in the mix leading to victory, as partially outlined by Shonen Jump (the leading magazine […]
Re-Framing Masculinity in Japan
Tom Cruise, The Last Samurai and the Fluid Metanarratives of History Abstract After its release in 2003, The Last Samurai became a major success at the Japanese (and international) box-office, simultaneously marking a turning point in the illustration of Japan by Western media, and more specifically, by US-American institutions of mass entertainment, such as […]
Zootopia (2016)
Zootopia (2016): Expansion and Diversification or On the Utopian Faith in Universal Equality/Equity The year 2016 saw the release of two animation works, which seemed to challenge the status-quo on the volatile and highly competitive entertainment market: Zootopia, the story of an utopian universe in which mammals, both preys and predators, co-exist in peace […]