Page 173 - Cyberculture and New Media

164 Cyborg Goddesses: The Mainframe Revisited
______________________________________________________________
the celebrity cult highlights these superwomen protagonists as almost akin to
their ancient counterparts. Since these superwomen protagonists manifest in
multiple versions, such as Lara and Alice, they reminisce ancient times when
deities prevailed in diversity. Therefore through films analyzed in this study
it becomes obvious that within historic, mythological and futuristic contexts
the female gender is made to manifest at multiple dimensions in time.
Therefore the cyborg-goddesses’ popularity encompass all times of the
universe. Capable to extend their presence within a physical conception of
time, therefore they seem ingrained into the scientific universe. Furthermore,
the protagonists’ mythological and archeological references allow for fact
and fiction to intertwine in order to highlight the ambiguous and the humane.
As will be mentioned in this study later, within cyborg-goddesses’ scope of
interest lies universal concerns dealt as part of ancient, esoteric as well as
utopic, futuristic contexts. Therefore at all modes of presence the cyborg-
goddesses edge with the universal. In this respect as a gender category they
are females and they have a grasp of superhuman qualifications. As such they
come near to traditional male heroic representations in films. For some, these
female protagonists’ approximation to male heroic qualifications may appear
as a challenge to them. Albeit, such approximation’s potential challenges gets
to be reduced to a minimum with the cyborg godesses’ closeness to the
universals.
Furthermore, one is even inclined to think that the cyborg goddess
figure maybe a bisexual’s fantasy in disguise: as both male and female. As
such the cyborg goddess becomes a multiple media to cope with the
deficiencies of each, yet to maximize the benefits of both genders. Since
bisexuality may appear inherently subversive of established gender borders,
and mainstream convictions, what could be better off than giving to this
superhuman character a beautiful female shape to disguise the intent, and to
let conquer all hearts. In many respects this fantasy is quite well synchronized
with all mainstream modes of being which is rooted in the teachings of the
enlightenment thriving for progress, especially visible in issues such as
human cloning as in the movie Resident Evil: Extinction (2007).
In this respect, cyborg goddesses perform their mainstream role, as
popular culture media icons in current science fiction films. As such, they are
fully feminine and sexy beings, capable of good and evil simultaneously.
They also haul the more difficult task of the consciousness raiser in helping
to transform all embedded prejudices and stereotypes in the conventional
western sense in local and global human cultures. Thus, the cyborg goddess
as a shape shifting and therefore a most ironic being is capable of making use
of pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow and stay ever alive in any condition, no
matter the forcefulness of the circumstances. In this sense, the cyborg
goddess stands for the animus principle, an impetus, a momentum, which
gives a jump-start to newness in the movie, as well as the video game screen.