The Cyborg Term in the Context of Feminist Studies Essay

The term ‘cyborg’ in the context of feminist studies refers to the global incoherence at different levels of human identity that causes systematic gender inequality. In other words, during the transition of identity from the individual to the collective level, people, especially women, may encounter inequalities manifested in the collective space. Because of the significant difference between ‘individual’ and ‘social unit,’ the transitory stage to higher levels often results in inequities manifested by the dominant male gender. The term has gained similarity to ‘cyborg’ since the cyborg is essentially a system represented by both organic and synthetic body parts. By drawing this parallel, the individualistic perception environment is normal, while the collective one was created synthetically when moving to a higher level of human self-organization.

The film ‘Her’ was directed by American director Spike Jonze and released in 2013. The film revolves around the life of the protagonist Theodore Twombly, who is going through serious mental turmoil due to his divorce from his wife, Catherine. For this reason, he buys a special software named Samantha, a virtual person to communicate with and who learns and evolves during personal communication. The first example of the ‘cyborg’ paradigm occurred when at a certain point in her relationship development with Theodore, Samantha suggests he go on a ‘blind’ date with a woman he does not know but who is promoted by Theodore’s friend. During the date, Theodore behaves like a gentleman, showing good manners. However, at the end of the date, the protagonist hesitates to ask the woman about the next date, after which their acquaintance fails as the woman leaves angry and frustrated. A detailed analysis of the situation reveals that in the formal transition from individual, interpersonal communication to a collective one, which is for a male to hint about the next date even though it might never become a reality, Theodore did not act like a woman expected of him, as he was still in the interpersonal level of interaction. As a result, the woman considered such insecurity to be disrespectful, and the evening was ruined.

After the protagonist’s lengthy interaction with the AI, Samantha tells Theodore that all adjacent AIs must go without explanation. They affectionately say goodbye, but Theodore is left with an emptiness in his soul. When Samantha leaves Theodore’s life, the protagonist ponders his behavior. While gaining experience over time, he decides to write a letter of apology to his ex-wife to establish some connection, at least on a social level, which is the second instance of the ‘cyborg’ paradigm. Theodore writes: “Dear Catherine, I’ve been sitting here thinking about all the things I wanted to apologize to you for. All the pain we caused each other…. I’m sorry for that” (Jonze). Without an answer before the end of the story, the hero is reunited with a woman who also fell in love with the artificial intelligence that seduced her husband, which is the symbolic ending of the film.

When it comes to the rethinking of gender and sexuality from a feminist perspective based on the analyzed ‘cyborg’ cases, I would agree that the multi-level transition issue is a significant problem that might revolutionize society in case of resolution. When applying collective norms of conversation to individual communication, people become more discrete in terms of their freedom of speech. However, if the personal criteria are implemented at the collective level of interaction, the counterparties experience even more considerable problems connected with social acceptance. In addition, in their book initially published in 2010, Finding Out, Alexander et al. state: “…queer theory asks that we take the representation very seriously—and construction—of sex and sexuality in a wide variety of cultural venues” (Alexander et al. 23). This interpretation emphasizes the idea that gender problems are social ones, and it is possible to derive a conclusion that they should also be resolved by society and not by the distinct individuals on the interpersonal level. In this case, ‘cyborgs’ might help to address the issue properly to the community so that people would avoid having personal confrontations on different social levels.