Humans lesson 2

 Humans is set in England - London

Target Audience - Middle class British

Science fiction isn't actually about science or fiction. Its always an allegory, meaning something else. It tells us about the world we live in. 

The robots are the 'other' they are different. The humans are afraid of them because they are taking over the world. 

Ethical debate:

The Hawkins family are a stereotypical middle class family 

Anita is Asian - A British Chinese actor 

Robots don't have ethnicity 


Genre Conventions:

Glowing eyes, 18+ card, Soundtrack is very techno like, lots of synths etc...

Humans is both very conventional but its also not a hard sci-fi novel. Artificial intelligence, Robots vs Humans.


Narrative - How a story is told

Equilibrium (state of balance)

Disequilibrium

Partial restoration of Equilibrium 


Todorov's theory is not just the beginning, middle and end. Its about moving from one equilibrium to another. For example:

Episode 1:

Equilibrium - Buys the robot

Disequilibrium - Anita comes home

Partial restoration of Equilibrium - Starts doing the jobs 

Cliff hanger at the end of episode 1 where anita walks outside with the child in the night is never referred to again. 


Diametric opposition - Binary opposition 

The mother (Laura) is always angry and stressed, Anita on the other hand is calm and collected. She is caring and kind compared to Laura. The youngest sister Sophie begins to like Anita more and this makes Laura feel replaced. 


Hannah Hooch: DAS SCHONE MADCHEN /  the beautiful girl (1919-20)


Art collage 
Representaion of women
Juxtaposition between Women and mechanics 
Idea of possesion
Women are shown as being a status symbol
Objectification 

Anita is constructed and represented as the perfect women

List of Binary oppositions:
- Men and women 
- Human vs. Synths
-Warehouse and the home
-Younger and older sister 
-Young and old
- New and old synths 
- Laura and Anita
- Mattie and Anita 
- Normal synths vs. Conscious synths
- Aggression vs. calm 
- Traditional family vs. Hawkins Family
- Hawkins family vs. David Elster's Family

Exam Question 30 marks 
According to Claude levi-strauss, texts convay their meaning through a system of binary opposition. Evaluate the strucuralist theory. Refer to set episode of Humans in your response.

Synths vs. Humans 
Synths are doing all the manual labor 
Synths are basically better than humans
Humans are scared they are going to take over

Anita vs. Other Synths 
Anita and some others have consciousness compared to all the other synths who cant feel 

Anita Vs. Mattie 
'Don't come in dad i'm masturbating' - she is a typical rude, brash, lazy teenager 
Anita is well spoken and perfect

Odi vs. other synths 
Odi is broken, glitches etc... 
There are newer better synths (different models)
George wants him more as a friend than to do synth jobs.




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