Terminating Gender : Gender Constructions in the Terminator Series and Films

This book analyses the Terminator TV series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the Terminator films 1-4 in regard to the construction of humanity and gender in general and with respect to the female coded terminator's relationship towards (and its place within) patriarchy specifically. The theoretical framework of this thesis is largely based on some of the texts of Judith Butler, Julia Kristeva, Barbara Creed, Mary Ann Doane, Samantha Holland, Michel Foucault and others. The concept of the cyborg is being analyzed with respect to its perceived other which is in this case the human. Accordingly the femininity of the female coded cyborg has to be seen in relation to the displayed exaggerated masculinity of the male coded cyborg. The theoretical basis for the analysis is made up of postmodernisms fear of technological advancement disturbing human identity through disrespecting the border between human and inhuman; but also a femininity threatening to supersede heteronormative patriarchy creates fear. The fear of the inhuman is shifted towards its coded gender. Thus patriarchy protects itself from the onslaught of femininity through overly virile machines concurrently attributing femininity with the negative aspects of technology.