Page 177 - Cyberculture and New Media

168 Cyborg Goddesses: The Mainframe Revisited
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3. The Cyborg Goddess: in between Medias
In an era of swift social and cultural changes the journey of the
cyborg goddess differently from the cyborg and the goddess, entails an
oscillation between the video game as well as the movie screen. Therefore,
this status of the cyborg goddess adds just another dimension to her shape
shifting status as a typical representation of antique goddesses in current
times. The multiple presences of the cyborg goddess manifest in
individualized, personalized and in a one on one partnership with immersed
video gamers as well as expanding her area of influence and fame into the
movie screen: from a local to global scale and vice versa.
In this in-between journey of media spaces, the cyborg goddess may
appear as a pawn of its originators and creators, as well as an alien bound up
with a story of origin enfolding in time towards recognition. However, the
journey of the cyborg goddess in between media also gives the impression for
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a goddess pilgrimage occurring in reverse order with the use of cyber media
as a tool. Kathryn Rountree in her article Goddess pilgrims as tourists:
inscribing the body through sacred travel claims that the major intention of
goddess pilgrimages to ancient sites is to have “a contemporary political
consciousness which desires to continue transforming their patriarchal
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societies.” Therefore, although goddess pilgrimages may sound nostalgic
they are not backward-looking. According to Rountree during the spiritual
experiences in goddess pilgrimages the following happens:

authority is taken to lie within rather than without (hence
the absence of supplication by Goddess pilgrims), the
divine is immanent, and healing and transformation occur
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through individuals working with ritual and meditation.

In addition, those pagan pilgrims seek for healing and
transformation rather than looking for “material or spiritual favors, where
devotion is exchanged for the removal of sin” as “any healing or
transformation sought by a Goddess pilgrim is not thought of as being part of
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a deal with a divinity, and there is no supplication on the pilgrim’s part.”
The cyborg goddess as a popular media icon gains similar devotees
as her ancient counterparts have. These cyborg goddesses as emphasized
earlier proliferate in parallel with the capitalist economic culture. Similar to
the temporal sensitivities of goddess pilgrimages where “the gap between the
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past and the present collapses” the cyborg goddess appears in a setting
where the notion of time collapses in the same manner, as if to generate a
complete sense of immersion and oneness with the story line as a total
experience of nostalgia as well as transformation.
However, in its current formats, and differently from its ancient
counterparts the cyborg goddess awaits no more the visits of the pilgrims