Body, Soul and Cyberspace in Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema

Magerstädt, Sylvie.Body, Soul and Cyberspace in Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema: Virtual Worlds and Ethical Problems. New York: Palgrave Pivot, 2014.

Reviewed by Emily Hegarty, SFRA Review #315 (Winter 2016): pp. 20-21.[1]

The book is short, and

The first chapter, “Body — Cyborgs, Clones, and Automata: The Matrix, eXistenZ, Avatar,” considers postmodern embodiment. Magerstädt follows Vin- cent Miller in arguing that with the decline of reli- gion and the development of new technologies we are more body-focused and more able to adapt and control our bodies. In some cases, as with the genetic manipulation explored in Gattaca (1997), the tech- nologies of SF films have already become real, forc- ing us to wrestle with their social implications. The second chapter, “Soul — Cyber-Spirituality and Im- mortality: The Thirteenth Floor, Aeon Flux, Transcen- dence,” discusses science fiction as a site of religious discourse, drawing on John D. Caputo’s assertion that cyberspace and virtual reality are inherently religious as they require accessing a space beyond or apart from reality. Magerstädt argues that science fiction cinema uses these tropes to valorize a mate- rial, organic wisdom over abstract pure knowledge, insisting that human intuition or emotion is a valid way of knowing despite the power of technology. Magerstädt views SF as a series of narratives about transcending mortality, which means becoming other than human. This chapter also considers what moral duty is owed to virtual characters, especially when the unbounded nature of virtual space can be corrupting. Later in the book Magerstädt considers the technological sublime as a substitute for religion.

Sylvie Magerstädt. Body, Soul and