The Posthuman Lifeworld: A Study of Russell T. Davies’s Doctor Who
Jonathan Hay
Publication: Volume 3 Issue 3
Abstract
Via the analysis of a cross-section of episodes from Russell T. Davies’s era of the revived BBC Science Fiction television series Doctor Who (2005–2010), this paper demonstrates that the programme utilises representations of the viewer’s everyday lifeworld to figure a posthuman rhetoric. Through the viewer’s in-phenomenal interaction with its representation of the mundane, the show emphasises the already significantly posthuman nature of the technologically saturated lifeworld of the contemporary individual. It challenges Darko Suvin’s notion of cognitive estrangement, which fails to describe the show’s Science Fictional discourse, and instead proposes the alternate mechanism of cognitive engagement. This inquiry, therefore, reappraises the thematic concerns of the show during the years when Russell T. Davies served as the programme’s showrunner, revealing Doctor Who’s emphasis upon the everyday (post)human lifeworld. It concludes that the show refutes technocentric ideologies, and thus rigorously demonstrates the consonance between the (post)human present and posthuman future.
Keywords: Cognitive Engagement, Mundane, Novum, Science Fiction, Critical Posthumanism, Television Studies, Darko Suvin, Doctor Who
Jonathan Hay (1300404@chester.ac.uk) is a PhD candidate and visiting lecturer at the University of Chester, UK. His doctoral research analyses Science Fiction literature through the lens of Critical Posthumanism. Jonathan maintains that all politics must be centred upon environmental concerns, and believes that civil disobedience is a powerful tool. Jonathan also researches feminist issues, and has produced related work on the subject of bodily languages, selfhood, and transgression.