Posthumanizing Relaxation in Science-Fiction ASMR

Joanna Lapinska

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-27945-4_6

Titel

Posthumanizing Relaxation in Science-Fiction ASMR

Autor*in

Joanna Lapinska

Institut für Theater-, Film- und Medienwissenschaft, Philologisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Universität Wien

Abstract

Steven Shaviro has asked what it feels like to live in the early twenty-first century, an era in which the concept of the human as a superior being towering over all others has become obsolete. It may produce a sense of dread about the unknown future, or it may fill us with joyful anticipation. A posthuman sensibility, which is both pro-active toward and affirmative of human and non-human coexistence in today’s world, surfaces in contemporary intermedia phenomena and post-cinematic art forms, such as autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) videos. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze so-called post-cinematic affect, a specific emotional structure revealed through the science-fiction imagery used in ASMR videos. This structure is co-created through various post-cinematic techniques, which include non-human viewpoints, roles, and perspectives along with fragmentary and non-linear narratives. Science-fiction ASMR seeks to capture the posthuman experience of a reality in which humans, rather than being central, are merely a part of the various “arrangements, attunements and practices of being” (Willis in Fast forward: the future(s) of the cinematic arts, Wallflower Press, London and New York, p. 87, [2]). In ASMR, this experience does not cause fear, but surprisingly breeds contentment and relaxation.

Stichwort

Posthuman sensibilityPosthumanismAutonomous sensory meridian responsePost-cinemaPost-cinematic media

Objekt-Typ

book part

Sprache

Englisch [eng]

Persistent identifier

phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:2044678

DOI

10.1007/978-3-031-27945-4_6

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