My Fair Ladies

[John Bailey]

The Judeo-Christian context is important I think, and maybe keys into
Greek and Roman ideas about the rebellious subject too. All
hierarchical myths in which the subjugated (children, slaves, mortals
vs gods, artificially created lifeforms) are figured as dangerous
potential rebels.

Different story in cultures more informed by Buddhist and animist tradition.

Don't know enough about the Hindu mythos, although I think Hinduism
recognises artificial beings as still potentially having sentience.

On Fri, May 8, 2015 at 11:31 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> Th image:
> http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/Kalima.jpg
>
>
> On Thursday, May 7, 2015, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Kali on the battlefield. Naked except for the drawings of limbs and heads
>> of her killings. Shiva lays peacefully at her feet.
>> Kali was a Feminist.
>>
>> David Morris
>>
>> On Thursday, May 7, 2015, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I think the concept, even in Jewish tradition, is of mixed results. To
>>> attempt creation of a subservient life is a usurpation of God's realm, and
>>> thus is bound to backfire. To attempt even to control Fate, to change its
>>> course, is wrought with danger. The golem, after it does it's doing is hard
>>> to put back in the bottle.
>>>
>>> Wrath unleashed is hard to then stop. The goddess Kali, protective
>>> mother, unleashed her wrath on the battlefield, and became frenzied, killing
>>> everyone in her path, even her own children. Shiva had to lay down and offer
>>> his own life to get her to stop. Had she killed him, all creation would have
>>> disappeared.
>>>
>>> David Morris
>>>
>>> On Thursday, May 7, 2015, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> a bit more nuanced in the Jewish tradition, no? as protector despite its
>>>> unnatural origins?
>>>>
>>>> rich
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, May 6, 2015 at 10:50 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> This is the female version of a golum. Golums always exact a
>>>>> counter-force (karma) because they are forced, unnatural, in Pynchon's
>>>>> universe. They are Technology: human meddling in  some concept of a natural
>>>>> order. In V. this desire for control is embodied embodied (a stand-in for
>>>>> Everything) in Fetishism, which is just a degree or so shy of Necro-desire.
>>>>> The desperate need for Control embodied by Technology is a super-mortal Sin
>>>>> infecting raw humanity, in Pynchon's universe. Humans trying to usurp God
>>>>> (Lucicer's Sin). Pynchon is a very religious/mystic writer.
>>>>>
>>>>> And it is also clear that all of the above nature of humanity's sin are
>>>>> massively amplified by Capitalism.
>>>>>
>>>>> David Morris
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wednesday, May 6, 2015, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> My Fair Ladies
>>>>>> Female Robots, Androids, and Other Artificial Eves
>>>>>> Julie Wosk (Author)
>>>>>> 240 pages, 60 black and white and 12 color photographs
>>>>>>
>>>>>> [...]
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The fantasy of a male creator constructing his perfect woman dates
>>>>>> back to the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Yet as technology has
>>>>>> advanced over the past century, the figure of the lifelike manmade
>>>>>> woman has become nearly ubiquitous, popping up in everything from
>>>>>> Bride of Frankenstein to Weird Science to The Stepford Wives. Now
>>>>>> Julie Wosk takes us on a fascinating tour through this bevy of
>>>>>> artificial women, revealing the array of cultural fantasies and fears
>>>>>> they embody.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> My Fair Ladies considers how female automatons have been represented
>>>>>> as objects of desire in fiction and how “living dolls” have been
>>>>>> manufactured as real-world fetish objects. But it also examines the
>>>>>> many works in which the “perfect” woman turns out to be artificial—a
>>>>>> robot or doll—and thus becomes a source of uncanny horror. Finally,
>>>>>> Wosk introduces us to a variety of female artists, writers, and
>>>>>> filmmakers—from Cindy Sherman to Shelley Jackson to Zoe Kazan—who have
>>>>>> cleverly crafted their own images of simulated women.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anything but dry, My Fair Ladies draws upon Wosk’s own experiences as
>>>>>> a young female Playboy copywriter and as a child of the “feminine
>>>>>> mystique” era to show how images of the artificial woman have loomed
>>>>>> large over real women’s lives. Lavishly illustrated with film stills,
>>>>>> artwork, and vintage advertisements, this book offers a fresh look at
>>>>>> familiar myths about gender, technology, and artistic creation.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> [...]
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/product/My-Fair-Ladies,5458.aspx
>>>>>> -
>>>>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>>>>
>>>>
>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l