She could've been a grey box: depictions of gender in Ex Machina

Depictions of Artificial Intelligence gynoids in science fiction film and television are problematic in that they portray over-sexualized, sexist, and stereotypical versions of femininity, and reinforce a binary of men as brain and woman as body. The first section of the text explains how frameworks from Chicana feminism, cyberfeminism, and futurist Alternative futures are applied to films Ex Machina and Blade Runner 2049, television series Westworld, student film The Future of Marriage, and Intel promotional materials. The Literature Review section explores the history behind computing, how technological spaces are viewed as masculine, and most users online are assumed male and white. Also explored are concepts of transcendence, singularity, and liminality. Through analysis of films, a show, and promotions, a feedback loop of patriarchal noise is uncovered. This work seeks to demonstrate possible correlations between science fiction depictions of the female and how these depictions impact the perpetuation of patriarchal domination to the subjugation and detriment to women and the feminine, and argues that sexism is amplified through technology, and technological spaces can be recoded to create a transformed society.