History of (Future) Progress: Hyper-Masculine Transhumanist Virtuality

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-2012

Disciplines

Communication

Abstract

The integration of advanced technologies in the everyday lives of North Americans has been paired with the circulation of rhetorics that help us understand ourselves in this evolving relationship. Using a posthumanist perspective premised on Deleuzian theory, this essay critiques the spread of transhumanist rhetorics through the convergence of football, man, and technology. Specifically, I analyze the FOX graphics used to present Super Bowl XLII while simultaneously making connections to ongoing rhetorics at FOX Sports, the National Football League, and the sports lifestyle industry. The folding of the smooth (male) body into the striated spaces of football and technology reproduces two performances that are particularly problematic in combination: (1) a hyper-masculine one of aggression, strength, and dominance; and (2) a transhumanist one where the human pursues perfection through science and technology. The inability to ever achieve the hyper-masculine transhumanist ideal maintains its pursuit through a virtual regeneration of memory that can be affectively operationalized for purposes of war.

Notes

Reviewed by: Myers, B. & Rowe, D. (June 28, 2012). Transhumanism and the NFL. The Critical Lede, 99. Retrieved at: https://www.thecriticallede.com/

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