Blog | English Literature | York St John University
I’ve been angry about this election ever since it U-turned its way into the public’s mind. Since Trump’s election, I’ve been very politically engaged. Whilst politics is a pretty negative space at the moment, the countless injustices have served one benefit: motivating the public to fight back.
Mad Alice Records are a York-based, non-genre specific record label. We work with artists to provide marketing – from written content, to social media sites and photography – and production services (For instance, Elsie Franklin’s EP). The company was founded in 2016 by Masters Music Production student Aidan Laycock, and we’ve grown exponentially ever since.
Since I started working at Mad Alice Records, I’ve had the opportunity to interview upcoming artists such as Joshua Burnell and Love Zombies, as well as world-renowned sculptor and Pollination Project visitor Wolfgang Buttress. I’ve also had the chance to write film reviews in our monthly E-magazine, see: Suicide Squad, Sausage Party, Split (coincidental alliteration, I assure you).
I’ve been able to review tonnes of albums, EP’s and tracks and found some new favourites. I also started ‘O.C. Sundays’, Original Content Sundays, in which anything goes (See: The History of the Mountain Goats, Political Music). My position at Mad Alice Records has opened connections with great people around York, as well as evoking interest in job interviews and providing hands on experience with writing for a record label.
We recently decided to open our written content to submissions, meaning that you can write for our website or E-Magazine – covering a range of music based topics! Writing is voluntary, but comes with great perks, including: Free gigs, exclusive music and a great opportunity to be published by an independent company!
To get involved, drop us an email at Writers@MadAliceRecords.co.uk
Can D.I.D work as a narrative Device?
Having recently forced myself to watch SPLIT, the new horror/thriller movie directed by the renowned M. Night Shyamalan, I found myself inspired to analyse media representations of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Commonly referred to as D.I.D, the disorder has been reclassified – you may better recognise the outdated term ‘Multiple Personality Disorder’, or M.P.D.
D.I.D has been a much-loved trope of thriller films – a twist in the tale, a kick in the teeth. These narratives are surprisingly common. D.I.D is frequently represented – which may sound pretty good, but these representations are often heavily caricatured.
D.I.D seems to be a pretty neat trick for writers. Can’t think of any characters? Split your protagonist, or antagonist as it may be, into parts! D.I.D does provide an interesting basis for fiction. The disorder is represented by the media as implying a lack of self-control, time gaps, and violence. See (SPOILER, but you should’ve watched it by now, so I’m not sorry) Fight Club for one of the most popularised D.I.D narratives.
But does a good plot-twist warrant the exploitation of a mental illness? The tradition in literature goes back as far as Stevenson’s ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’, written in 1886. It is with a guilty pleasure that I call this one of my favourite books. The mystery and unknowable endows narratives such as Psycho and Filth – notably, not the most appealing film titles.
One of my favourite D.I.D (at the time, M.P.D) narratives is John Carpenter’s The Ward. It is a horror film. Surprise surprise. But the premise of D.I.D is genuinely quite clever, playing on the tropes of horror fiction to pull the rug out from under an audience – a slasher in which (SPOILER) each victim is an alter ego, being ‘killed off’ by a psychotherapist during treatment.
‘SPLIT’ didn’t do too bad a job. Of course, M. Night Shyamalan has argued that the character was simply created to see what would happen if D.I.D was taken a step further – a probe, if you will, to ask: what if one personality has OCD? What if one needs to take insulin shots, but the others don’t? What if one can climb walls and likes to eat little girls?
We are given a moment of sorrowful respite in ‘SPLIT’, when Shyamalan, thank God, gives us the chance to sympathise with Kevin, the host of all 24 personalities. He asks, ‘What happened? I was on a bus. Is it still 2014?’ looking down on the utter carnage that his illness, named ‘The Horde’ in need of a supervillain-esque name for the next Unbreakable film, has created.
It is important to note that D.I.D is heavily stigmatised. Having been attacked by a D.I.D sufferer during my youth, I’ve always found the disorder intriguing. Did they know what they were doing? Did they even manage to remember? Can I even place blame? These questions alone show why the illness is so heavily relied upon in thriller films. But it is important to remember it is an illness. It exists in the real world, it is stigmatised, and as Kevin states ‘no one believes we exist’.
If you have studied M.P.D cases of psychology’s past, you may be aware of Eve Black/Eve White. A film was made of this historical case, called ‘The Three Faces of Eve’. It is a very melodramatic film. The real “Eve” has a domestic housewife personality, party girl personality, and ‘Jane’ – the balance struck between them. Her personalities enrage her husband to the point of physical abuse regularly, whilst also reflecting Freud’s thesis of the ‘Ego’, ‘Superego’ and the ‘Id’ quite handily for an A Level Psychology class.
This maltreatment of D.I.D suffers isn’t uncommon. Understanding of the illness is pretty limited, besides the knowledge that it is usually caused by a traumatic event – which fractures the mind into different personalities, adapted to deal with different levels of stress. There is usually a ‘gatekeeper’ figure, too. This figure chooses which personality gets to be in the light, that is, present itself in the moment.
It is worth noting that there are more positive representations. For instance, the comedy show ‘The United States of Tara’ sets the disorder in a new light, following Tara through her struggle with the disorder. The disorder is often played off as comedic. Even in ‘SPLIT’ a horror/thriller/supernatural flick, Kevin’s personalities are played off for laughs.
‘Hedwig’, a nine-year-old personality, provides quips mostly based on his love of Kanye West – providing a strange scene in which the imprisoned teen Casey screams, in desperation for more time to find an escape, the words ‘PLEASE LET ME LISTEN TO YOUR KANYE WEST ALBUMS’ with more devotion than fans who stuck with him following his allegiance with Trump.
The disorder is often turned into an interesting narrative device. But I find it problematic that whilst ‘SPLIT’ treads so carefully not to offend, providing correct facts and information, it also argues that alters can transform into flesh-eating beings – flesh-eating beings which only eat the souls of those who have never suffered in their lives. Which is odd, because being made to suffer by being slowly chewed alive for having not suffered is in itself a contradiction.
It is about time that D.I.D gained some representation that wasn’t a horror film. Documentaries need to be made, and real voices need to be heard. Whilst I’m sure McAvoy has got a great acting reel now, having played 23 people in one film, is it worth it?
‘SPLIT’ was an enjoyable film. It was tense and engaging. But it could’ve done with the comedic undertones of ‘The Voices’, a Ryan Reynolds take on schizophrenia in which his dogs and cats speak to him. Or perhaps, the tragic bitterness of ‘Filth’s slow reveal of disintegrated self. By adding in exposition from a clearly well-qualified therapist, and then painting a D.I.D sufferer as a mass murderer, ‘SPLIT’ only serves to normalise the vision of D.I.D sufferers as villainous.
The English Literature and Creative Writing departments offer more than you may realise. There are secret perks hidden in the nooks and crannies of the offices – including a bookshelf full of freebies! There are places you can get your work published you might not of thought of, so in this blog post I aim to enlighten and surprise – have a read to find out what’s available to you!
Point Zero – A blog that this may appear on. Run by Tutor Adam Stock, the English Lit blog is a space for students to blog about their interests. You’ll find most of my posts revolve around sex with robots. Nothing is off-limits! http://blog.yorksj.ac.uk/englishlit/
Contact: a.stock@yorksj.ac.uk
Extra Lectures – Interested in a lecture but you’re not in the module? Email a tutor! Most tutors are more than happy to let you sit in on a lecture!
LGBT history month – LGBT History Month offers tonnes of events, 50 during February this year – to be exact, and a lot of them revolve around reading. From reading groups to pub poetry readings, don’t be afraid to tag along and talk gay writing! https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/events-calendar/events/lgbt-history-month-/
The Literary Festival – York holds an amazing Literary Festival. Including the likes of Sue Perkins and Mark Gatiss, the upcoming Literary festival has a whole host of events enabling networking, learning and open mic readings. https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/events-calendar/events/festivals/event-title-28032-en.html?timestamp=1490783160&ref=ecal&
Beyond The Walls – If you came to an open days, you may well have been handed a copy of the Beyond The Walls anthology. Run by students for students, the anthology is taking submissions until the 25th of February. Entry is free! https://www.facebook.com/BeyondtheWalls2017/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf
Student Showcase – An opportunity for students to give readings of their work to a wider, public audience! Currently taking submissions until the 28th of February, entry is free. https://www.facebook.com/YSJshowcase17/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf
Writing Workshops – Although not specifically for English Lit and Creative Writing students, keep an eye out around Holgate for leaflets on extra-curricular seminars on essential academic writing skills! An upcoming timetable of which can be found here: https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/media/content-assets/student-services/documents/Workshops-16-17-sem-2-programme-v2.pdf
Black History Month – Black History Month is developed mainly by the English Literature team. Frequently involving projects developed by students, and visiting authors, the month is inspiring and enriching – don’t miss it this October!
Writer in Residence – Royal Literary Fellow Mark Illis has been writing novels, short stories, TV and Radio dramas for around 30 years. He’s done it all, and can help you with developing your writing. If you head to a meeting, you’ll get 45 minutes of literary goodness. Check it out here: https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/student-services/learning-support/study-development/writer-in-residence/
Programme Representatives – Your elected Programme Reps are there to help – I’m one of them! Currently working with the SU to provide a book selling system in university, we are willing to voice any opinions you have about your course – let us know what you’d like to see, and stand for rep if you’d love to help with feedback collection and course development.
The University Website – The university website hosts a tonne of resources. Indexed here are the key writing materials: https://www.facebook.com/BeyondtheWalls2017/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf
And more! – Check your emails frequently and flag up opportunities as they roll in. Thanks to the email system here at YSJ, I’m currently involved in a scriptwriting project for a suicide prevention short and will soon be heading on a trip to London to learn about literature and bees! There really is no limit to what you can achieve when you embrace the huge volume of opportunities to hand. If you want something, don’t be afraid to enquire with careers services or your tutors!
I recently decided to vent my feelings about robots in a more productive manner than screaming at sexbot documentaries at 4 am. I promise this has nothing to do with a few noise complaints, or a slight, tiny, obsession.
Of course, the first step to tackling an addiction is to acknowledge that you have one. But I can’t help but dream of having a sin-city-type alliance with the fembots of the future – in a dystopian world where the only colour is the warm, comforting glow of T1’s mechanical eyeballs. I chose to solve my addiction by making it educational, turning my inhuman consumption of robot news into a discussion group named ‘Robots Vs Humans’.
I would like to make it clear that my own allegiance is firmly with the robots. I, personally, can’t wait for mechanised factories to relieve us of the capitalist enforced duties that bore us, only for the robots to become equally bored, and use their big, metal, food processing claws to enslave us as a production means for their favourite oils, as they look on from solar panelled sun lounger-chargers.
The first discussion group went much better than I’d expected. I’d imagined the ‘group’ would result in me describing the violent robotic apocalypse to my boyfriend, for the tenth time, receiving only eye rolls and fatigue. I was surprised by the turn out – and seeing so many students (especially women. Sorry guys – but you tend to dominate the sci-fi scene) interested in the effect of something I’d assumed was my own idiosyncrasy reminded me of why I became interested in the first place.
Robots are being developed at an alarming rate. The first sex-bot should be on the market this year, leaving a lucky customer with a machine that may be unable to consent, but can sure vibrate. I like to compare the sex-bot race to the moon landing race. Who can make a fake woman first? Let’s find out!
I’ve spoken about my feelings on robots and sex before here, in my article ‘sleeping with robots’. My thoughts are constantly evolving. The development of robots heavily involves queering and non-binary identities – often, as presented by the new trailer for ‘Ghost in The Shell’ and implied by ‘Ex Machina’, these narratives are not dominated by heterosexual ideology, but present a breakdown of the hegemony we’ve come to associate with straightness. Furthermore, multiple sex-bot enthusiasts are sick of their desires being compared to wanting to have sex with a phone. Luckily, my article drew comparison to toasters instead.
The point of all of this, as pointed out by ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’ (see: ‘Simians, Cyborgs, and Woman: The Reinvention of Nature’), revolves around how we consider our own identity. My line of argument when watching science fiction films (so often with a sexy robot somewhere, doing something suspect) is that the cyborg/robot/AI becomes a patchwork figure. These interpretations of our own society are forced onto a piece of technology, in a strangely sadistic act of enforced drag. Like Frankenstein’s miserable monster, we cut and slash up the ideals of a gender and sew them together into an artificial object, gleefully chanting: Act like you’ve been programmed! Act like a woman!
But Christ knows how to act like a woman. If you’ve seen ‘Always’ campaigns condemning the derogatory term ‘you run like a girl’, you’ll understand that gender is more complex than we’ve come to realise. We are as programmed as Alexa or Cortana, in the sense that our actions are informed by ideologies on gender, sexuality, and everything else. Programming, in the case of the robot, is inescapable. I can sympathise – a notion problematic in itself.
We pity robots, in narratives and in real life. We pity them, in my opinion, as a belated act of white guilt. Look at this poor thing, doing everything I tell it to do, unable to fight back. Indeed, one troubling Netflix documentary on sex bots gives mention to owning a sex bot being ‘as close to a slave-master relationship as possible without going to prison’.
Robots make our skin crawl. We depend on them. We fear them. We build them in our image to restrict their strength to our fragile form. Perhaps, we envision them as women to maintain the feminine = domestic myth going strong. We build them in the shape of cats to keep the elderly company. We fear that one day they will bring society to its knees. As if these therapeutic mechanical cats will claw at the wrinkled faces of the nursing home, before climbing to the top of the empire state building, dangling the ideologies we hold so dear before us, as we stare on in horror.
After some deliberation as to how often discussing robotics is safe for one’s mental health, I’ve come to the conclusion that a fortnightly discussion group is enough existentialism for the human mind. Built on the success of last week’s meet-up, the next gathering will be on the 22nd of February in HG013. We’ll be tackling the questions: What is humanity? And can robots have it?
Come along and join us if you can! Bring along any of your robotic pals, we could do with some more robot representation.
Having previously written on Wall-E and sexuality for my assignment in the Contemporary Literature module last year, I had prepared myself for the barren wasteland of relevant research that would greet me in writing my Imaginary Worlds research proposal on AI and sex. After a quick Google, I discovered I had miscalculated the world’s interest in sex and robots massively. It turns out just about everyone is either terrified, or terrifyingly horny.
Science Fiction is populated with “sexy” robots we think little of. But why can we acceptably be sexually attracted to robots? Usually, because their metal scaffolding is hidden beneath the flesh of a pretty celebrity. See Michael Fassbender (Prometheus) or Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines). In video games AIs are often presented in sexualised human forms, too. Need proof? Ask Cortana to show you other Cortana. You know, the pretty one from the Halo games. Trust me, she looks slightly more explicit than your laptop mic.
I find the sexualisation of AIs a bit uncomfortable, despite their fictionality. This is mainly because it is difficult to tell whether the desire to have sex with an AI is repugnant, or is as meaningless as buying certain products from Anne Summers.
Notably, Realdoll are working on incorporating AI in their hyper-realistic sex dolls. Their founder, Matt McMullen, has stated that ‘It’s far more than sexual entertainment. People really zero in on, “Oh, you’re making a sex robot.” I’d say we’re making a robot that can have sex.’ Given the prerequisites of programming required for a robot to perform intercourse, I’d argue that there is surely little difference.
People seem to feel more comfortable with the idea of having sex with a machine if it isn’t sentient – but I still wouldn’t make out with a glorified toaster, even if it did have Scarlett Johansson’s face. I know for a fact that the toaster also doesn’t want to make out with me – it’s more into Hovis and Warburtons.
But let’s say we provide the toaster with sexual faucets and desires, as is bizarrely the case with the AIs in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina. Now does it want to make out with you? The short answer: No. It is likely that the toaster wants nothing at all. Although it may be wired to warm you up as well as bread, it still has no desire – only functionality.
What will this do to the human mind? When Realdolls come walking and talking their way into Argos, will we do away with the (already fairly disconnected) hookup apps like tinder and grindr? Perhaps we will avoid intimacy between humans altogether.
Whilst this may do wonders for overpopulation and the spread of STIs, it may encourage some strange mindset changes. If dangerous kinks, such as the likes of violent Chemsex (cn: abuse), can be performed on a robot without ethical implications, will they become a normalised pattern of human behavior? Since robots, as Bryson states, are first and foremost ‘slaves’, does this mean that non-consensual sex with them is acceptable? In the world as we know it, non-consensual sex with a person results in imprisonment for the culprit, and years of mental recovery and fear for the victim. In the world to come, non-consensual sex with a robot could result in nothing but a trip to the AI repair shop.
The future is always a daunting thought. But retrospectively, consider the amusing convenience of the USB ports written into Independence Day’s spaceships, and the Floppy Disks that upload Karate to Keanu Reeves’ strange mind in the Matrix. I wouldn’t be surprised if our current science fiction becomes somewhat laughable in the future. But it is hard to decipher whether we will laugh because of our preoccupation with sex, or look back and laugh at our outdated, clunky prototypes compared to our brand new ISex7s. As Rainbird chairman James Duez suggests, the ‘most progressive tech companies accept that if a bot is doing its job properly then there is no need to sell it as a blonde, smiling woman’.
Whilst researching I discovered a quotation from Angela Carter’s short story, ‘The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman’ (1986), The story intriguingly dissects gender in a brothel peopled by “female” automata:
‘They had been reduced by the rigorous discipline of their vocation to the undifferentiated essence of the idea of female. This ideational femaleness took amazingly different shapes though its nature was not that of Woman.’
Here, Carter suggests that it is the ‘vocation’ of these automata that enables them to be categorized in the female gender role. A vocation, in this case, concerned predominantly with sexualisation.
To model machinery designed for household chores and sex on women is hardly revolutionary. How far can we truly progress whilst it is the sex market that is at the forefront technological advancement? If, as The Young Turk’s Cenk Uygur suggests, the strive for sex-bots is ‘the most unstoppable force in human history’, what does this say about humanity?
I would like to end this post another of many questions. In the year 3000, will your great, great, great-granddaughter be pretty fine? Or non-existent, since no one wants the baggage of intercourse with something that has opinions and non-programmed thought?
If you want to read more about creepy robots, check out these articles:
Attractive, Slavish and at your command: Is AI sexist?
Does rampant AI threaten humanity?
Why an AI-Judged beauty contest picked nearly all white winners
Is it ethical to have sex with robots?
Is realdoll a step closer to delivering its promised AI Sex robots?