eBook

Techno-Orientalism

Roh, David S., Huang, Betsy, Niu, Greta A.

2015,2019

Overview

What will the future look like? To judge from many speculative fiction films and books, fromBlade RunnertoCloud Atlas, the future will be full of cities that resemble Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, and it will be populated mainly by cold, unfeeling citizens who act like robots.Techno-Orientalisminvestigates the phenomenon of imagining Asia and Asians in hypo- or hyper-technological terms in literary, cinematic, and new media representations, while critically examining the stereotype of Asians as both technologically advanced and intellectually primitive, in dire need of Western consciousness-raising. The collection's fourteen original essays trace the discourse of techno-orientalism across a wide array of media, from radio serials to cyberpunk novels, from Sax Rohmer's Dr. Fu Manchu toFirefly. Applying a variety of theoretical, historical, and interpretive approaches, the contributors consider techno-orientalism a truly global phenomenon. In part, they tackle the key question of how these stereotypes serve to both express and assuage Western anxieties about Asia's growing cultural influence and economic dominance. Yet the book also examines artists who have appropriated techno-orientalist tropes in order to critique racist and imperialist attitudes. Techno-Orientalismis the first collection to define and critically analyze a phenomenon that pervades both science fiction and real-world news coverage of Asia. With essays on subjects ranging from wartime rhetoric of race and technology to science fiction by contemporary Asian American writers to the cultural implications of Korean gamers, this volume offers innovative perspectives and broadens conventional discussions in Asian American Cultural studies.

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Subject: ART / History / General / ART / Techniques / General / Asia / Asia -- In literature / Asian American Cultural studies / Asian American writers / Asian diaspora / Asians / Asians in literature / Asians in mass media / Asians in motion pictures / Blade Runner / cinema / cinematic representations / cities / citizens / Cloud Atlas / cultural influence / Dr. Fu Manchu / economic dominance / Film & Video / film acting / film aesthetics / film analysis / film cinematography / film criticism / film culture / film directors / film editing / Film Studies / Firefly / future / global phenomenon / History / History & Criticism / HISTORY / World / History and criticism / Hong Kong / imperialist attitudes / In literature / Korean gamers / literary representations / Media Studies / new media representations / PERFORMING ARTS / racist attitudes / Recreational & performing arts / robots / Sax Rohmer / Science fiction / Science fiction -- History and criticism / Shanghai / SOCIAL SCIENCE / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies / Sociology / speculative fiction / stereotypes / Techno-Orientalism / technological terms / Technology in literature / Tokyo / Western anxieties
• ISBN: 9780813570655, 0813570654, 9780813570648, 0813570646, 9780813570631, 0813570638