Full Description
They are invincible warriors of steel, silky-skinned enticers, stealers of jobs and lovable goofball sidekicks. Legions of robots and androids star in the dream factories of Hollywood and leer on pulp magazine covers, instantly recognizable icons of American popular culture. For two centuries, we have been told tales of encounters with creatures stronger, faster and smarter than ourselves, making us wonder who would win in a battle between machine and human.
This book examines society's introduction to robots and androids such as Robby and Rosie, Elektro and Sparko, Data, WALL-E, C-3PO and the Terminator, particularly before and after World War II when the power of technology exploded. Learn how robots evolved with the times and then eventually caught up with and surpassed them.
Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part One: The Robot Pre-Computer
1. The Robot and the Android: The Origin of the Species
2. The Heimlich Maneuver: Robots in Early Fiction
3. Is It Mechanism or Soul? Robots on the Stage
4. The Wonderful Walking Mechanical Men
5. "Quiet, Please—I'm Talking": The Westinghouse Family of Robots
6. Iron Monster Turns Traitor: Amateur Robots
7. Buck, Flash, Tillie and Mickey: Robots in Comic Strips
8. A Tribe of Living Mechanical Men! Robots in Comic Books
9. Utterly Alien and Nonhuman: The Robot in Golden Age Science Fiction
10. The Automaton! Robots in Movies
Part Two: The Robot Post-Computer
11. Robots as Camp
12. Robots and Kids
13. Robots as Androids
14. Robots as Sexbots
15. Robots as Enemies
16. Robots, Robots Everywhere
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
