Orphan Black’te İnsan Ötesi Dişil Kimlikler ve Sayborg Aliceler

Yıl 2019, Cilt: 36 Sayı: 1, 51 - 60, 17.06.2019

Buket Akgün

https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.460248

Cited By: 1

Öz

Bu makale Lewis Carroll’ın Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) ve Through the Looking Glass (1871) adlı
novellalarının Orphan Black (2013-2017) adlı televizyon dizisindeki alımlanışını posthuman ve feminist kuram
merceklerinden bakarak irdelemektedir. Alice'in büyüme kaygılarına benzer şekilde, dizide Leda adı verilen ve klon
olduklarının farkında olan dişil klonların da kimlik bunalımı yaşadıklarını öne sürmektedir. Bu kimlik bunalımları,
klonların gerek metaforik olarak yeniden doğumlarının takip ettiği yakın ölüm tecrübelerinde gerekse ayna ve ayna
benzeri objeler aracılığıyla sestra'larıyla konuşmalarında görülmektedir. Bu makale posthuman koşuluna ve Rosi
Braidotti’nin özne oluşumu için yeni yollar çağrısına dayanarak, bu klonların klon olduklarının bilincine varma
süreçlerine odaklanmaktadır. Bu klonların oluşum sürecini Julia Kristeva’nın ayna evresi, sembolik ve semiyotik
kuramlarıyla incelemektedir. Yirmi birinci yüzyılda sayborg dişil kimliklerini keşfettiklerinden dolayı, klon
olduklarının bilincinde olan bu Leda klonlarının, Donna J. Haraway’in sayborg Aliceleri olarak okunabileceğini
önermektedir. Nihayetinde bu klonlar varoluşsal krizlerini ve değişim gösteren kimliklerinden kaynaklanan
bunalımlarını topluluk olarak birleşerek atlatırlar. Bu sırada, Alice kitaplarına yapılan göndermeler televizyon dizisi
için sembolizm ve biçim kaynağı görevi üstlenmektedir. Beyaz Tavşan, Tırtıl ve Cheshire Kedisi’nin rehberlik ve
ögütleri gibi, Leda klonlarını tavşan deliğinin derinliklerine ve aynanın öteki tarafına doğru takip ederken, izleyicilerin akıllarının karışmasına veya kaybolmalarına engel olmak için giderek daha derinleşip karanlıklaşarak dallanıp
budaklanan Orphan Black evreninde işaret direkleri sunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

alımlama çalışmaları, kimlik, feminist kuram, feminist kuram, posthumanizm, sayborg, feminist kuram

Posthuman Female Identities and Cyborg Alices in Orphan Black

Öz

This article scrutinizes the reception of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the
Looking Glass (1871) in the television series Orphan Black (2013-2017) through the lenses of posthuman and feminist
theories. It argues that, reminiscent of Alice’s coming of age anxieties, in the series the self-aware female clones, called
the Leda clones, go through their own identity crisis, which can be traced in their near-death experiences followed by
metaphorical rebirths and in their conversations with their sestras through mirrors or mirror-like objects. It focuses on
these clones’ process of becoming self-aware with regard to the demands of the posthuman condition and the call of
Rosi Braidotti for new ways of subject formation. It analyses the clones’ process of becoming through Julia Kristeva’s
theories of the mirror phase, the symbolic, and the semiotic. It suggests that these self-aware Leda clones might be
read as Donna J. Haraway’s cyborg Alices, in that they explore cyborg female identities in the twenty-first century.
These clones eventually overcome their existential crisis and their anxieties over shifting identities through community
bonding. Meanwhile, the allusions to the Alice books serve as a source of symbolism and structure for the series. Like
the guidance and council of the White Rabbit, the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat, they provide guideposts for the
deepening, darkening, and branching Orphan Black universe to prevent the viewers from getting confused or lost as
they follow the Leda clones deeper into the rabbit hole and through the looking glass. 

Anahtar Kelimeler

identity, posthumanism, feminist theory, Reception studies, cyborg, feminist theory

Kaynakça

• References
• Akgün, B. (2004). Wonderland and middle-earth: The mythic quest in the dream/fantasy world (Unpublished master’s thesis). Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
• Auerbach, N. (1992). Alice in Wonderland: A curious child. In D. J. Gray (Ed.), Alice in Wonderland (pp. 334-344). New York, NY: Norton.
• Braidotti, R. (2013). The posthuman. Cambridge: Polity.
• Campbell, J. (1993). The hero with a thousand faces. London: Fontana.
• Carroll, L., Tenniel, J., & Gardner, M. (1974). The annotated Alice: Alice’s adventures in Wonderland & Through the looking-glass. The definitive ed. New York, NY: New American Library.
• Dear, M. (2012). Earthforms. On Beams [CD]. New York City, NY, U.S.A.: Ghostly International.
• Haraway, D. J. (2016). Manifestly Haraway. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.
• Heuslein, J. (2016). I am and am not you. In R. Greene, & R. Robison-Greene (Eds.), Orphan Black and philosophy: Grand theft DNA (pp. 75-84). Chicago, IL: Open Court.
• Krauss, L. M. (2009). Hiding in the mirror: The mysterious allure of extra dimensions, from Plato to string theory and beyond. New York, NY: Viking.
• Kristeva, J. (2005). A question of subjectivity: An interview. In M. Eagleton (Ed.), Feminist literary theory, a reader (pp. 351-353). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
• Levine, A. (Writer), & Wellington D. (Director). (2017, 24 June). Beneath her heart [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• Manson, G. (Writer), & Fawcett, J. (Director). (2013, 30 March). Natural selection [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• Manson, G. (Writer), & Fawcett, J. (Director). (2013, 1 June). Endless forms most beautiful [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• Manson, G. (Writer), & Fawcett, J. (Director). (2014, 21 June). By means which have never yet been tried [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• Manson, G. (Writer), & Fawcett, J. (Director). (2016, 16 June). From dancing mice to psychopaths [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• Manson, G. (Writer), & Fawcett, J. (Director). (2017, 10 June). The few who dare [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• Manson, G. (Writer), & Frazee, D. (Director). (2013, 13 April). Variation under nature [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• Nealon, A. (Writer), & Girotti, K. (Director). (2016, 28 April). The stigmata of progress [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• Nealon, A. (Writer), & Shaver, H. (Director). (2015, 23 May). Certain agony of the battlefield [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• Pence, G. (2016). What we talk about when we talk about Clone Club. Dallas, TX: Smart Pop.
• Porter-Christie, A., & Manson, G. (Writers), & Morton, A. (Director). (2017, 29 July). Guillotines decide [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• St. Cyr, R. (Writer), & Frazee, D. (Director). (2017, 22 July). Gag or throttle [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• St. Cyr, R., & Manson, G. (Writers), & Fawcett, J. (Director). (2017, 12 Aug). To right the wrongs of many [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.
• Troubetzkoy, N., & Manson, G. (Writers), & Frazee, D. (Director). (2016, 26 May). The antisocialism of sex [Television series episode]. In Schneeberg, I., Fortier, D., Manson, G., Fawcett, J., & Appleyard, K. (Executive producers), Orphan Black. New York City, NY: BBC America.