Redefining Age in 21st Century Science Fiction Media Through Transhuman Characters

Abstract

Science fiction (SF) films have historically featured limited understandings of aging, by not including aged characters as often, not featuring them in major roles, and by expounding singular ageist cultural narratives of what it means to age and be aged. Stereotypes do abound but my thesis examines 21st century SF from a broad transhumanist perspective and interrogates the cultural formations of age (obsolescence), ability (affordances), and memory (the technological and biological) to intervene in more commonly proliferated images and point to the wider possibilities of aging and agedness. By using a transhumanist approach, I show how these media challenge and expand our understanding of age and aging, paving the way for a reassessment of the relationships between ability and age and memory and age. This analytical approach enables us to interpret the broader SF genre in new ways that opens up the possibility of future interventions.