A Sentimental Android? M3GAN (2022) and Monstrous Doubling as a Negotiation of the Gendered Neo-Liberal Self

Authors

  • Michael Eden University of Arts London

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2024.633

Keywords:

Horror Film, science fiction film, Automaton, AI, Robot, Femininity

Abstract

This paper analyses the android M3GAN in the 2022 film of the same name, problematising recent framings that celebrate M3GAN as a gay icon, a feminist figure, or understand her as embodying our collective fear of artificial intelligence. Instead, I place M3GAN in a long line of narratives that mediate on the role of women in society, following the loosening of possibilities for woman brought about in the Enlightenment. I go on to suggest ways in which contemporary neoliberal values are forcefully communicated in popular culture and how in turn, the subject reacts and internalises ideology.

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Published

2024-09-12

How to Cite

Eden, M. (2024). A Sentimental Android? M3GAN (2022) and Monstrous Doubling as a Negotiation of the Gendered Neo-Liberal Self. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 12(1), 406–444. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2024.633

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