Smutny los automatów. Sztuczni ludzie w dystopijnej ikonografii science fiction

Abstrakt

A robot is an important figure in the patterns of dystopian literature and science fiction cinema. Over the years, artificial humans played the roles of victims or enemies rebelling and fighting with homo sapiens. This conflict was related to the genesis of the robot, that was at the beginning an imaginary character serving the role of mechanical slave. Another important theme developed in dystopian science fiction is the usage of robots in the plots inspired by some counterculture theses. Such inspirations are presented in the short stories and novels of Philip K. Dick who successfully re-interpreted the most popular conventions of the genre. The clichés connected with the iconography of artificial humans also became a significant element of the plots in comic books and cartoons where they are often used to deconstruct some significant stereotypes and indicate postmodern crisis of identity.