Humans- representation

• Humans is a polysemic show- it has many meanings- can appeal to a wider target audience - makes it hard to understand
• As Anita is considered a machine it implies women's roles are to do the cleaning, washing and housework
• CYBORG- half robot, half human (used in sci-fi's)
• Donna Harraway- believes we are all cyborg-  she is saying that people's lives are so influenced by technology and things which help us to become more advanced- the use of technology in society helps us to improve our way of life, what we think and what we do in order to make our lives more convenient
• Globalisation- made possible through technologies- allowing us to access things all over the world which is something we heavily reply on
• Anita represents women, east Asian women, she also represents humans (cyborg) - she's much more than just a robot 

What is humanity? What does being 'human' mean?:

• We are more sophisticated 
• We can communicate
• We feel empathy 
• To be inquisitive- to ask question   
• Have feelings
• Education- we want to learn to make our selves better
• Ingenious- we think of things
• We love however it is complicated
• We search for fulfil meant
• We depend on/revolve around technology

Gender performativity: Judith Butler

• Gender categories 
• identity is a performance and it is constructed through a serious of acts and 'expressions' that we perform everyday
• while there are biological differences dictated by sex, our gender is defined through this series of acts- these may include the ways we walk, talk, dress and so on
• therefore there is no gender identity behind these expressions of gender
• gender performativity is not a singular act but a repetition and a ritual. it is outlined and reinforced through dominant patriarchal ideologies 

Feminist theory: bell hooks

• 'Feminism is for everyone'
• She believes in ending patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination- and that the position of the underrepresented is by class and race as well as gender
•  Doesn't have capital letters in her name 

Patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination in Humans:

• the father decides to buy the synths/ Anita- to do the house work 
• implies men are lazy and need a women to do the work
• refuses to take her back when his wife asks too 
• Laura doesn't want her as she feels threatened, pushed out and she feels she needs to do the housework - 'don't do that it's my job'
• they don't view her as having thoughts/feelings 
• first synth was created to replace his wife 
• Joe is 'primary user' suggesting he has more power than any of the others- asserting his dominance 
• Laura is replaced by a synth 
• the sales person is male 
• most ethnic characters in the show are synths