Challenging Binaries in Posthuman Worlds
An Analysis of Lu Yang's The Great Adventure of Material World
in Screen BodiesSearch for other papers by Jori Snels in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
All currencies in US Dollar
Abstract
The Material World Knight is an anime-style superhero from Lu Yang's artwork The Great Adventure of Material World—Game Film (2020) who battles oppressive binary systems on his quest for transcendence. This article uses discourse and visual analysis to study how this short film employs references to Buddhist philosophy and Japanese anime to reconceptualize subjectivity. The study draws on posthuman theory by Rosi Braidotti and Donna Haraway to show how the artwork produces a post-dualist, posthuman, relational concept of subjectivity while also complicating any straightforward interpretations in favor of maintaining complexity and “staying with the trouble.”
Contributor Notes
Jori Snels is a PhD candidate at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She is working on a research project funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) in which she researches how contemporary Chinese digital art reflects on the possibilities and challenges of life in a digital society. She has published her work in the peer-reviewed journals World Art, Art and the Public Sphere, and Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis. ORCID ID: